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transduction
the translation of incoming stimuli into neural signals
sensory adaptation
decreasing responsiveness to stimuli due to constant stimulation
sensory habituation
our perception of sensations is partially due to how focused we are on them
step one: gathering light
light is reflected off objects and gathered by the eye
light intensity and light wavelength
longest to shortest wavelengths - ROYGBIV
step two: within the eye
reflected light first enters to cornea, then goes through pupil. pupil is dilated to let in more light. image projects off of retina
step three: transduction
transduction occurs when light activates the neurons in the retina
cones - first layer of cells activated by light
fovea - contains highest concentration of cones
rods - cells that respond to black and white
ganglion cells are activated, sends impulses to lateral geniculate nucleus (LGNN), messages are then sent to visual cortices in the occipital lobes
step four: in the brain
visual cortex of brain receives the impulses from the cells of the retina and the impulses activate feature detectors
David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel - discovered that groups of neurons in the visual cortex respond to different types of visual images
afterimages
visual illusion in which retinal impressions persist after the removal of a stimulus
opponent-process theory
sensory receptors arranged in the retina come in pairs
red/green pairs
yellow/blue pairs
black/white pairs
trichromatic theory
three types of cones in the retina: cones that detect the different colors blue red and green
amplitude
height of the wave and determines the loudness of sound
frequency
length of the waves and determines pitch
place theory
hair cells in cochlea respond to different frequencies of sound based on where they are located in the cochlea
frequency thory
lower tones are sensed by the rate at which the cells fire (frequency)
conduction deafness
occurs when something goes wring with the system of conducting the sound to the cochlea
nerve deafness
hair cells in cochlea are damaged by usually loud noise
gate-control theory
helps explain how we experience pain the way we do
some pain messages take priority
papillae
bumps on tongue, taste buds
olfactory bulb
smell
gathers messages from olfactory receptor cells and sends info to brain
energy senses
vision - rods, cones
hearing - hairlike cells in cochlea
touch - temperature, pressure, pain nerves
chemical senses
taste (gustation) - sweet, sour, salty, bitter
smell (olfaction) - smell receptors connected to the olfactory bulb
body position senses
vestibular sense - hairlike cells in the three semicircular canals
kinesthetic sense - receptors in muscles and joints
absolute threshold
smallest amount of stimulus we can detect
difference threshold
smallest amount of change needed in stimulus before we detect change
weber’s law
the more intense the stimulus the more it will need to change
signal detection theory
effects of distractions we experience while perceiving the world
false positive
when we think we perceive a stimulus that is not there
false negative
not perceiving a stimulus present
top-down processing
we perceive by filling in gaps in what we sense
schemata
mental representations of how we expect world to be
perceptual set
predisposition to perceiving something in a certain way
bottom-up processing
we only use features of the object itself to build a complete perception
figure ground relationship
figuring out what is background and figure of a image
constancy
our ability to maintain a constant perception of an object despite changes
visual cliff eexpirement
Eleanor Gibson
determine when infants can perceive depth
monocular cues
depth cues that do not depend on having two eyes
binocular cues
cues that depend on having two eyes
interposition cue
objects that block the view to other objects must be closer to us
convergance
as an object gets closer to our face, our eyes must move toward each other to keep focused on object
extrasensory perception
claiming to perceive a sensation outside of normal senses
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