AP Psych Sensation and Perception Vocab

Sensation

The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment. Sensation is your window to the world.

Bottom Up processing

Information processing that begins with sensory receptors. Use the features of an object to build a perception. No background knowledge or context. Takes longer than top-down but is more accurate.

Ex. Detecting lines angles and colors that form images

Top Down processing

Construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations. Brain organized and interprets info, putting it into context. Big picture —> tiny details.

Prosopagnosia

Facial Blindness! Cognitive disorder of face perception where ability to recognize faces is impaired. No therapies demonstrate improvement. Prosopagnostics use piecemeal recognition strats, using clothing, hair color, body shape, and voice. Brad pitt.

Blindsight

Neurological condition where someone can perceive the location of an object despite having a damaged visual cortex. Unable to see objects, but the brain can still perceive their space.

Transduction

the conversion of one form of energy into another, transforming energy into neural impulses that the brain can interpret.

Absolute Threshold

The minimum stimulation necessary to detect a particular light, sound, pressure, taste, or odor. The stimulus must be detected at least 50% of the time to meet the threshold.

Ex. On a clear night on a mountain, you should see a candle flame 30 miles away

Feel the wing of a bee drop on your cheek from one centimeter

Smell a single drop of perfume in a 3 room apartment

Register a ticking watch 20 ft away

A teaspoon of sugar in a gallon of water

Just noticeable difference

The smallest amount by which two stimuli can differ from us to tell them apart.

Webers Law

For people to perceive a difference the stimuli must differ by a constant proportion perception, not a constant amount. The higher the intensity of a stimulus, the more it will need to change to notice a difference. Remember house and security system example.

Sensory Adaptation

Diminished sensitivity to a stimulus occuring after constant unchanging exposure. Smelling a new scent in the classroom, but after 30 mins you can not notice the odor.

Lights wavelength

the distance from one wave peak to the next, determines its color.

Shorter = bluer

Medium = greener

Longer = redder

Lights wavelength amplitude

(height) determines its intensity, the amount of energy it contains (brightness)

Lens

behind the pupil is the LENS and it changes its shape to help focus images on the retina

Accommodation

To focus the rays, the lens changes its curvature and thickness

Retina

A layer of tissue at the back of the eye, cells in there capture visual information and then it is transductioned to the brain for processing

Fovea

Central point in the retina,

Nearsightedness

If the lens focuses the image on a point in front of the retina, you can see near objects clearly but not distant objects

Farsightedness

If the lens focuses the image on a point behind the retina, you see distant objects better than near objects.

Photoreceptors

convert light into electrical signals that are sent to the visual nerve for brain processing. the retina has two kinds, rods and cones.

Rods

retinal photoreceptors that detect black, white, and gray and are sensitive to movement. Necessary for peripheral and twilight vision bella where the hell have you been loca. Each eye has 120 million rods

Cones

retinal photoreceptors that detect color and are located in the fovea, near the center of the retina. Function in daylight or in well lit conditions. Each eye has abt 6 million cones

Ganglion cells

Receive info from the bipolar cells. Ganglion axons twine together like a rope to form the optic nerve.

Visual/Optic nerve

Carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain, then sent to the thalamus, then to visual cortex in your occiptical lobe.

Blind Spot

You have a blind spot where the optic nerve leaves the eye because there are no receptor cells. Brain fills in the gaps

Trichromatic Theory

3 types of cones, blue (short wavelength) green (medium wavelength) red (long wavelength) These three cones can make millions of combinations of colors. Does not explain afterimages or color blindness well.

Opponent Process Theory

The sensory receptors come in pairs, RED/GREEN BLUE/YELLOW BLACK/WHITE if one color is stimulated, the other is inhibited.

Afterimages

When certain ganglion cells in the retina are activated while others are not. Ex. When blue is activated and yellow is not

Monochromats

have total color blindness, their worlds look like black and white movies. This is rare and results from individuals only having rods or one kind of cone.

Dichromats

Have trouble distinguishing red from green because they have just two kinds of cones

Amplitude

The height of the wave gives us the AMPLITUDE or the perceived loudness of the sound waves.

Pitch

The length of the wave gives us the PITCH of the wave or a tones experienced highness or lowness.

Cochlea

A snail shaped tube in the inner ear. Incoming vibrations cause the cochleas membrane to vibrate, jostling the fluid that fills the tube.

Vestibular sense

located above the cochlea in the inner ear and is our sense of body movement and position that enables our sense of balance. this is controlled by your semicurcular canals

Semicircular Canals

contain fluif and moves in response to the movements of your head. If you twirl around and come to a halt, the fluid will not immediately return to its neutral state and you will experience dizziness.

Conduction Deafness

Can be caused by damage to the eardrum or middle ear bones that conduct sound waves to the cochlea

Can be because of disease, but usually heredity and age. Can be treated w/ hearing aid

Sensorineural Deafness

damage to the cochleas hair cells or the auditory nerve. since they do not regenerate, there was no treatment until the cochlear implant was invented.

Place theory

presumes that we hear different pitches because different sound waves trigger activity at different places along the cochlea’s basilar membrane. brain determines the PITCH by recognizing the place. High frequencies at the beginning.

problem - explains how we hear high pitched sounds, but not low ones

Frequency theory

suggests that the brain reads pitch by the speed of neural impulses travelling the auditory nerve. ex. a 100 hz tone would be signaled by 100 impulses per second in the auditory nerve.

problem is that an individual neuron can not fire faster then 1000 times per second.

Volley Theory

By firing in rapid succession, they can achieve a combined frequency above 1000 waves per second. Best theory. Think of soldiers alternating firing so they can reload and shoot at the same time.

Localizing sound

cornea

The clear tissue that covers the front of the eye to protect it and help focus stuff (to a certain degree...focusing is more the lens's job)

selective attention

The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus, like the cocktail effect (notice your name in a crowd). You take in around 11000000 bits of info per sec but only can only consiously process around 40

inattentional blindness

failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere. e.g. invisible gorilla experiment

Iris

the color part of the eye; made of muscle that contracts/relaxes to control the size of the people allowing light to enter the eye. It can dilate or constrict the pupil is response to light availablility. It can also respond to cognitive and emotional states.

kinesthesis

sense of muscle movement, posture, and strain on muscles/joints; provides information on speed and direction of movement; works with vestibular sense

subliminal perception

Sensory information that is detected without our conscious knowledge

Intensity

The amount of energy in a light or sound wave, which we perceive as brightness or loudness, as determined by the wave's amplitude.

iris

A ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening.

monocular cues

depth cues available to either eye alone. (linear perspective, relative clarity, texture gradient, interposition, relative size)

linear perspective

A monocular cue for perceiving depth; the more parallel lines converge, the greater their perceived distance. (think railroad tracks)

relative clarity

a monocular cue for perceiving depth; hazy objects are farther away than sharp, clear objects. happens due to more air between you and the object.

texture gradient

a monocular cue for perceiving depth; a gradual change from a coarse distinct texture to a fine, indistinct texture signals increasing distance. objects far away appear smaller and more densely packed

interposition

monocular visual cue in which two objects are in the same line of vision and one patially conceals the other, indicating that the first object concealed is further away

relative size

a monocular cue for perceiving depth; the smaller retinal image is farther away (two people of the same height...if one appears taller than the other, you assume that that person is closer to you)

perception

the mental process of sorting, identifying, and arranging raw sensory data into meaningful patterns. interpreting what is coming through your winder (kinda like top-down)

parallel processing

The processing of several aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions, including vision, hearing

pitch

auditory experience corresponding to the frequency of sound vibrations, resulting in a higher or lower tone. high frequency = high note

pupil

small opening in the center of the iris that allows light to enter the eye

retina

the light-sensitive inner lining of the back of the eyeball; contains receptor cells (rods/cones). These cells capture visual info that is transduced to the brain to be processed.

bipolar cells

In the retina, the specialized neurons that connect the rods and cones with the ganglion cells.

retinal disparity

binocular distance cue; based on the overlay of two retinal fields when both eyes focus on one object. eyes are 2.5 in apart so your eyes get slightly different images that your brain combines into one, using the differences to judge what objects are closer to you

synesthesia

when the stimulation of one sense triggers another. e.g. hearing music makes you see a certain color

pheromones

Chemical signals released by an animal that communicate information and affect the behavior of other animals of the same species.

sensation

the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from out environment...your window to the world

perceptual consistancy

perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent shapes, size, lightness, and color) even as illumination and retinal images change. e.g. door still looks like a rectangle even when you open it and it looks like a trapezoid from your perspective

apparent movement

An illusion of movement perception that occurs when stimuli in different locations are flashed one after another with the proper timing. e.g. flipbooks or animations

size constancy

the perception of an object as the same size regardless of the distance from which it is viewed; example someone height. This is why you can place common objects "for scale" in photos

frequency

The number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time (for example, per second).

middle ear

The chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing three tiny bones (Hammer, Anvil, and Stirrup) that concentrate the vibrations (conduction) of the eardrum on the cochlea's oval window. Ear HAS bones

cochlear implant

a device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve by electrodes threaded into the cochlea. The effects are the best if implanted early on in life.

cochlea

A coiled, bony, fluid-filled tude in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses.

airpods/headphones

there is strong evidence that these are causing hearing loss since they direct sound straight into the auditory canal. (turn your volume down if you are using these :) )

Theories of Hearing

the brain interprets loudness from the number of activated hair cells. There are 3 main theories: place theory, frequency theory, volley theory

Afterimages

images that occur when a visual sensation persists for a brief time even after the original stimulus is removed. When certain ganglion cells in the retina are activated.

inner ear

The innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs.

basilar membrane

A membrane inside the cochlea which vibrates in response to sound and whose vibrations lead to activity in the auditory pathways.

hearing loss

caused by damage to hair cells. Ringing in the ears after being in a loud environment indicates damage to hair cells

skin senses

there's four: touch, pressure, temperature, pain...activating receptors for hot and cold at the same time produces a hot sensation. Gentle stroking of a pain spot produces an itching sensation

touch

usually underestimated, touch is essential to human development. Babies gain weight faster and go home sooner if stimulated by hand massages.

Kinesthesis

the system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts. e.g. you can still walk with your eyes closed since you know where your body parts are without looking at them

pain

your body's way of telling you that something is wrong. Your experience of pain depends partially on genetics.

localizing sound

-Sound waves coming from the left reach the left ear sooner than the right ear

-Neurons receiving input from the two ears are sensitive to this difference, which provides a code for sound localization.

• However you have a problem when incoming sound is equidistant from both of your ears since the sound reaches at the same time.

olfaction sense

sense of smell

olfactory receptor cells

the sensors responsible for smell. These guys respond selectively depending on what you smell and they send signals to the brain immediately after receiving a stimulus. these guys do NOT report to the thalamus

supertaster

a person who experiences the sense of taste with far greater intensity than average due to more tastebuds

nontaster

having the fewest taste buds, tolerate many somewhat bitter foods

taste senations

sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami (meaty), oleogustus (fat)

taste buds

groups of cells located on the tongue that enable one to recognize different tastes (sweet, sour, bitter, salty, umami, oleogustus) found in the bumps on your tongue (called papillae)

gustation

the sensation of taste

Phantom Limbs

continuing sensations, including pain, in a limb long after it has been amputated. The brain is basically creating pain since it is trying to compensate for the fact that it is missing a limb so it interprets random central nervous system activity.

Gate-control theory

The spinal cord contains a "gate" that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain. It's opened by the activity of pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers and is closed by activity in large fibers or information coming from the brain. Sometimes, you dont notice an injury until way later due to endorphins blocking the pain signals

Sensory interaction

The principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences its taste. (McGurk effect)

cocktail party effect

Ability to concentrate on one voice amongst a crowd e.g. hearing your name in a crowd.

Depth perception

Ability to see objects in three dimension although the image that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance

proximity

grouping objects just because they are closer together

similarity

the tendency to perceive things that look similar to each other as being part of the same group

closure

we fill in gaps to create a complete, whole object (like top-down processing)

figure-ground relationship

the organization of the visual field into objects that stand out from their surroundings e.g. words on paper (words are figure, paper is ground)

Gestalt Psychology

a psychological approach that emphasizes that we often perceive the whole rather than the sum of the parts. focuses on how people group objects together

Perceptual set

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another e.g. thinking that french fries from a McDonalds bag will taste better than one from a white paper bag.