Sensation & Perception

Bottom up

Process of taking in info from the environment through sensory inputs; automatic; associated with sensation.

Top down

Having to inspect something in order to notice details; intellectual; associated with perception.

Detection threshold

Minimum amount of sound, pressure, taste or other stimuli that we can detect (50% of the time); absolute threshold.

Discrimination

Ability to distinguish between 2 stimuli; difference threshold.

Weber's Law

The ability to tell the difference between degrees of stimulation; 2 stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage.

Sensory Adaptation

When you get used to the data from one of your senses.

Sensory Interaction

When two senses interact with each other in order to heighten an experience.

Smell

Olfactory; temporal lobe.

Taste

Gustation.

Transduction

When your brain takes data and turns it into life experiences.

Psychophysics

The study of physical stimuli and its interaction with sensory systems.

Hue

Wavelength of light.

Pitch

Frequency of sound.

Brightness

Amplitude of light.

Loudness

Intensity of sound.

Saturation

Complexity of light.

Timbre

Complexity of sound.

Pheromones

Hormones that are released onto something else.

Feature detectors

Neurons that allow you to identify different aspects of an image.

Foveal Vision

The central vision.

Parallel Processing

The brain's ability to process incoming stimuli of differing quality.

Stroop effect

Delay or interference in reaction time due to conflicts between vision.

McGurk effect

When there is a conflict between vision & hearing, vision will always win.

Acuity

Sharpness of an image.

Myopia

Nearsightedness.

Glaucoma

Pressure on the optic nerve.

Cataracts

When your eye lens gets cloudy.

Dichromatism

Only 2 colors work in your eye.

Monochromatism

Only 1 color works (black and white).

Place theory

High pitch is picked up by basilar membrane; specific hair cells vibrate depending on frequency of sound.

Frequency theory

The brain reads pitch by monitoring the frequency of neural impulses traveling up the auditory nerve.

Volley principle

Neurons can work together to perceive sounds at frequencies faster.

Conduction hearing loss

When something didn’t develop correctly or something in the ear responsible for vibrations is damaged.

Sensorineural hearing loss

When the parts are firing but the hairs in the cochlea are damaged.

Kinesthesis

Our system that senses the position and movement of body parts.

Vestibular sense

Keeps track of your head's relation to the ground.

Gate control theory

Spinal cord contains a neurological gate that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain.

Nociceptors

Pain receptor cells.

Analgesia

The inability to feel pain.

Anhedonia

The inability to feel joy or pleasure; reward system didn't develop properly.

Synesthesia

When your sensory wires get crossed.

Prosopagnosia

When you can’t recognize someone based on their facial features (face blindness).

Pareidolia

Seeing faces in things that don’t have faces.

Gestalt

All aspects of an image, allowing us to recognize details.

Proximity

How close everything is.

Similarity

The organization of items with common characteristics.

Continuity

An object that doesn’t have any breaks.

Connectedness

Two objects have a connection in some way.

Closure

Shapes being so close that they seem to touch.

Figure ground

Prioritizes a figure over the supposed background.

Perceptual set

The predisposition to see something in a certain way.

Monocular Cues

Things you only need one eye for.

Distance

How far away something is.

Relative size

The bigger something is, the closer it is to you.

Interposition

If you can see all of something, it's close.

Relative motion

Landscape is going in the opposite direction you are moving.

Relative clarity

The clearer you can see the details on something, the closer you are.

Texture gradient

Details of objects will start to disappear the farther away they get.

Relative height

Objects higher in our vision are perceived as being farther away.

Linear perspective

Parallel lines eventually appear to meet in the distance.

Binocular Cues

Things you need two eyes for.

Depth

The distance from the top or bottom of something.

Convergence

Your eyes shifting inwards to be able to see something close to you.

Retinal disparity

When your brain calculates data from both eyes to estimate where one object is.

Color constancy

Being able to tell the color of something despite the amount of light.

Perceptual constancy

Associating certain objects with standard shapes, sizes, colors and other characteristics.

Brightness constancy

The ability to tell the tone of a color despite the amount of light.

Phi Phenomenon

An optical illusion that causes you to see a series of still pictures as if they’re moving.

Stroboscopic Effect

When you play slightly altered pictures in rapid succession.

Selective attention

Your brain decides to focus on one thing and ignore everything else.

Dichotic listening

The process of receiving different auditory messages simultaneously in each ear.

Inattentional blindness

Visual component of selective attention.

Change blindness

Not noticing a change in something due to a disruption/distraction.

Choice blindness

Not knowing why you made a choice and sticking with it.

Visual cliff

Tests the depth perception of a baby by placing them on a table over a ledge.

Natural deprivation

Being born blind or deaf.

Simulated deprivation

Placed in a sensory deprivation tank, unable to see, feel, hear, taste, or smell.

Mirror Neurons

Mimic data collected from your senses.

Blindsight

Subconscious visual track; being aware of something you can't see.

Hot/Cold readings

Assistants eavesdrop on conversations in the audience.

Barnum effect

When a description is general enough that it seems believable.

Shotgunning

A bunch of info is thrown at you until something sticks.

Rainbow Ruse

Going to extremes that are applicable to everyone.