AP Psych Unit 2 Pt. 1 Review

Sensation

Detecting a physical energy (a stimulus) from the envionment and convert it into neural signals.

Perception

When we select, organize, and interpret our sensations.

Bottom-up processing

Analysis of the stimulus begnis with sense receptors and works up to the level of the brain and mind.

Top-up processing

Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes as we construct perceptions, drawing on experience and expectations, which flow down to lower-level functions, such as the senses.

Transduction

The process of converting energy of a stimulus into neural activity

Acoustical Transduction

Conversion of sound waves into neural impulses in the hair cells of the inner ear

Just Noticeable Difference (Difference Threshold)

Minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time.

Absolute Threshold

Minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time.

Lower

Is it good to have lower or higher absolute thresholds?

Lower age group

What age group typically has a lower absolute thresholds?

Weber’s Law

Two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount), to be percieved as different.

Relates to JND

Sensory Adaptation

Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.

Short wavelength

High frequency, bluish colors, high-pitched sounds

Long Wavelengths

Low frequency, reddish colors, low-pitched sounds.

Amplitude

Brightness is determined by…

Great Amplitude

bright colors and loud sounds

Small amplitude

dull colors and soft sounds

Order of the eye

Cornea, Pupil, Iris, Lens, and Retina

Cornea

Protective coverin that bends light to provide focus

Pupil

Small, adjustable opening through which light enters.

Iris

Muscle that expands and contracts to change the size fo the opening (pupil) for light into an image and then projects it onto the retina.

Lens

Lies behind the pupil, uses a process known as accommodation to focus the light into an image and then projects it onto the retina.

Accommodation

The process the lens uses of changing shape to focus on near or far objects onto the retina. Allows for a clear, sharp image.

Nearsightedness

Nearby objects are seen more clearly than distant objects

Farsightedness

Faraway objects are seen more clearly than near objects

Retina

Inner surface of your eye that contains rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin converting the image into a specific chemcial message

Rods

Photoreceptors that sense black an white

Cones

photoreceptors that sense colors.

Ganglion cells

Part of the photoreceptors in the retina thats axons twine together to form the optic nerve

Bipolar Cells

Part of the photoreceptors in the retina that activates ganglion cells.

Optic Nerve

Carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain

Thalamus

Sensory switchboard that connects to the visual cortex

Visual Cortex

Processes visual signals

Parallel Processing

processing several aspects of the stimulus simulatenously

Feature Detectors

nerve cells in the visual cortex respond to specific features, such as edges, angles and movement

Trichromatic Color Theory (Young-Helmholtz)

the retina contains three receptors that are sensitice to red, blue, and green. Proof of this theory is color deficient patients. Occurs in the cones

Monochromatic color blindness

a person cannot see any color at all

Dichromatic color blindness

A person perceives only two of the three visual pigments

Opponent Process Theory

We process four primary colors combined in pairs of red-green, blue-yellow, black-white. Takes place in the ganglion cells and proof of this theory is afterimages.

Prosopagnosia

Face blindness

Blindsight

response in spite of visual deficit

Auditory Canal

Area where sound travels through

Eardrum

A tight membrane that vibrates when sound waves pass across it.

Outer Ear

Contains the auditory canal and the eardrum

Middle Ear

Contains the hammer, anvil, and stirrup

Hammer

Passes vibrations to the anvil

Anvil

Passes vibrations to the stirrup

Stirrup

Sends the vibrations to the cochlea

Inner Ear

Contains the cochlea

Cochlea

A coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear, sound waves traveling through the cochlear fluid trigger nerve impulses.

Conduction Hearing Loss

damage to the mechanical system that transmit sound waves to the cochlea, most often the bones of the middle ear

Sensorineural hearing Loss

Damage to the cochlea’s hair cells or the auditory nerve.

Place Theory

We hear different pitches because different sound waves trigger activity at different places along the cochlea’s basilar membrane

Frequency Theory

The rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerves matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch.

Volley Theory

Neural cells work together, alternating when they fire. Operating in rapid succession, they can achieve a combined frequency above 1000 waves per second.

Sound Localization

The ability to identify the position and changes in position of sound sources based on acousitc information

4 distinct touch senses

Pressure, warmth, cold, and pain

Phantom limb

the ability to feel sensations and even pain in a limb or limbs that no longer exist

Gate-Control Theory

Neurons in our spinal cord (interneurons) act as “gates” that either block pain or allow it to be sensed.

Gustation

Sense of taste

Chemical Snese

What sense is Taste (Gustation)

Yes

Do each of our taste buds sense all types of taste?

Six taste sensations

Sweet, Salty, Sour, bitter, Umami, Oleogustus

1.5-2 weeks

How often do our taste buds replicate/reproduce

Chemical sense

What sense is smell (Olfaction)

Limbic System

Where smell travels through

Pheromones

A chemical signal that is released outside the body by members of a species and that influences the behavior of other members of the same species in non-humans. It may serve to attract a mate or act as an alarm.

Kinesthesis

The sense for our body parts’ position and movement

Vestibular Sense

Monitors the head (and body’s position). Located in the inner ear in the semicircular canals that allows us to balance.

Sensory Interaction

one sense may influence another.

Vision

The sense that we rely on and trust the most.

McGurk Effect

Vision influences what we hear. An auditory illusion.

Synesthesia

The crossing of 2 or more senses.

Selective Attention

The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

No

Can you multi-task?

Valuable Sensory Information

What do we lose when we change our focus from one thing to the next and switch back and forth between different tasks.

Cocktail Party Effect

Ability to attend to only one voice among many, especially to hear key details.

Change Blindness

A form of inattentional blindness in which we fail to notice a change in our environment

Schema

A collection of basic knowledge about a concept or entity that serves a guide to perception, interpretation, imagination, or problem solving.

Perpetual Set

Mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

Gestalt Psychology

A figure is a “form” or a “whole”. Deals with figure-ground and grouping

Figure-Ground

organization of the visual field into objects (figures) that stand out from their surroundings (ground)

Grounding

After distinguishing the figure from the ground, our perception needs to organize the figure into a meaningful form using grouping rules: closure, proximity, and similarity.

Proximity

Grouping figures together based on closeness

Closure

Filing in gaps to create a complete, whole object

Similarity

Grouping objects according to how similar they are to each other.

Infants have depth perception

What did Gibson and Walk try to prove with the Visual Cliff

Crawling age

How old are the research subjects?

Gibson and Walks Conclusion

Infants and animals have depth perception once they are able to walk.

Binocular Cue

Depth cues that requires the use of two eyes. Includes Retinal disparity and convergence.

Retinal Disparity

Images from the two eyes differ and the combination of the two images allows us to see depth

Convergence

When two eyes move inward (towards the nose) to see near objects and outward (away from the nose) to see faraway objects

Monocular Cues

Depth cues that require the use of only one eye. Includes relative size, interposition, relative clarity, texture gradient, and linear perspective

Relative Size

If two objects are similar in size, we perceive the one that casts a smaller retinal image to be farther away.

Interposition

Objects that occlude (block) other objects tend to be perceived as closer

Relative Clarity

Because light from distant objects passes through more light than closer objects, we perceive hazy objects to be farther away than those objects that appear sharp and clear.

Texture Gradient

Indistinct (fine) texture signals an increasing distance

Linear Perspective

Parallel lines, such as railroad tracks, appear to converge in the distance. The more the lines converge, the greater their perceived distance.

Apparent Movement

Can be visually perceived even when objects are not actually moving

Motion Perception

Objects traveling towards us grow in size and those moving away shrink in size. The same is true when the observer moves to or from an object.