Psych exam 2

sensation

detection of sensory info in your environment thru a sensory receptor

sensory receptors

specialized cells or neurons that respond to specific stimuli

transduction

converting sensory stimulis energy into neureal signals

vestibular sense

sense responsible for balance

propioception

sense responsible for body position

kinesthesia

sense responsible for body movement

noniception

sensory detection of potentially harmful stimuli associated with pain

thermoception

sense of temperature

absoulute threshold

the minimum amount of stimulation needed to detect something 50% of the time

just noticable diffrence

the smallest diffrence between 2 stimuli that can be detected 50% of the time

webers law

the ability ot detect a diffrence depends on the proportion of change compared with the original stimulus

Perception

process of organizing, interpreting,and consciously experiecing sensory information

bottom up processing

system in which perceptions are built from incoming sensory input

top down processing

using previous knowledge, experiences, and expectations to interpret sensory information

three stages of preception

1. selection

2. organization

3. interpretation

selection

choosing what sensory information to pay attention to

selective attention

focusing on certain information while ignorning other irrelitave information

organization

arragining sensory information into a meaningful mental representation

2 parts of organization

1. constancy

2. depth

constancy

preciving objects as relatively stable despite changes in sensory input

depth

preciving depth and three dimensonal space

interpretation

assigning meaning to organized sensory information

perceptual hypothesis

educated guesses your brain makes when interpretting sensory information based on past experiences and expectations

what type of process is sensation

physiological because our receptors are detecting stimuli

physiological

physical fuctioning of our bodies

what type of process is perception

psychological bc our brain is organizing and interpreting information

psychological

mental processes

microsaccades

tiny involuntary eye movements that occur even when youre trying to look at something steadily

factors that affect perception

1. motivation

2. beliefs, values, prejudices, expectations

3. life/cultural experiences

4. habituation

5. sensory adaption

6. attention

motivation

our desires and needs can influence what we percieve

signal detection theory

ability to indenify a stimulus even whe it is occuring in a distracting environment

beliefs, values,and expectations

our existing beliefs can influence how we interpret information

life and cultural experiences

previous experiences influence how you interpret the world

whats the Muller Lyer illusion

optical illusion where equal lenght lines appear diffrent in lenght due to the surronding arrow shape

habituation

your brain gradully stops paying attention to repeated, unchanging stimulus

sensory adaptation

sesnroy receptors become less responsive to a constant stimulus

inattenional blindness

failing to notice something visible because your attention was directed elsewhere

amplitude

height of a wave meausred from the peak to the trough

wavelength

distance between two corresponsing points on a wave, such as peak to peak

frequency

number of wave cycles passing a point per second

how is frequency measured

in Hertz (Hz)

visibile spectrum

portion of electromagentic raditation humans can see

how many nanometers of wavelenghts can humans see

from 380-740

pitch

how high or low a sound seems

cornea

the clear, protective covering at the front of the eye that helps focus incoming light

jobs of the cornea

1. protect the eye

2. allow light to enter

3. bend light to help focus it

pupil

opening in the center of the iris through which light enters the eye

what happens to the pupil in bright light

it becomes smaller to reduce incoming light

what happens to the pupil in darkness

it becomes larger to allow more light to enter

iris

colored round muscle part of your eye that changes the size of your pupil

lens

clear structure behind the iris that helps focus light onto the retina and finishes the focusing process

retina

light sensitive lining at the back of your eye

fovea

central area of the retina responsible for your sharpest vision containing a high concentration of cones

photoreceptors

specialized cells that respons to light: rods and cones

ganglion cells

neurons that send visual info to the brain thru the optic nerve

photopigment

light sensitive molecule in photoreceptors that undergo changes when exposed to light

bipolar cells

retinal cells that transmit info from photoreceptors to ganglion cells

cones

help you see fine details such as color and work best in bright light conditions

rods

help you see in dim lighting and detect movement especially in peripheral vision

optic nerve

carries visual info from your retina to the brain

blind spot

area where the optic nerve exits the retina and has no photoreceptors

parts of the retina

1. fovea

2. photoreceptor cells

3. ganglion cells

optic schema

X shaped structure where some optic nerve fibers cross to the opposite side of the brain

visual crotex

area of the occiptial lobe responsible for processing visual info

occipital lobe

brain region responsible for visual processing

myopia

you can see objects nearby but struggle to see objects far away

hyperopia

you have difficulty seeing nearby objects clearly

presbyopia

when the lens becomes stiff

trichromatic theory

color vision begins with three types of cones (red,green, blue) and their combined activity

opponent process theory

colors are processed in oposing pairs

colorblindness

difficulty in destinguishing certain colors because of diffrences in cone function

red green color blindness

most common inherited color vision deficiency

why is color blindness more common in males

gene responsible for color blindess is found on the X chromosome

aspects of sounds

1. pitch

2. loundness

3. timbre

pitch

how high or low a sound is = Hz

loudness

how loud or soft a sound is measured in decibles (dB)

timbre

what makes two sounds with the same pitch and loudness sound diffrent

theories of pitch perception

1. place theory

2. frequency theory

place theory

ptich depends on where the basilar membrane vibrates the most

basilar membrane

mebrane inside the cochlea that vibrates in response to sound

cochlea

fluid filled structure in the inner ear responsible for hearing

frequency theory

pitch is represented by the timing of neural impulses

noise induced hearing loss

hearing damage caused by exposure to excessively lound sounds

pain perception

the experience of pain, influenced by physcial signals and psychological factors

types of pain

1. inflammatory

2. neuropathic

inflammatory pain

associated with tissue damage and inflamamtion

neuropathic pain

caused by damage or disease affecting the nervous system

gustation

sense of taste

taste budys

group of taste receptor cells that detect chemicals in food

taste transduction

process of converting chemical stimulation into elecrical signals using the nervous system

olfaction

sense of smell

olfactory recpetor cells

located in the mucus region and contains cilia that interacts with odor molecules and is connected the the olfactory bulb

olfactory bulb

brains tructure that recives and processes incoming smell information

cilia

small hair like extrension that interact with odor molecules

gesalt psychology

your brain doesnt see pieces but a whole

principles of gesalt psychology

1. figure ground relationship

2. proximity

3. aimilarity

4. countinuity

5. closure

figure ground relationship

ability to seperate an object from its background

proximity

we tend to group things that are physically close toghether

similarity

we tend to group things toghether that look alike