AP PSCYH Unit 4 SG

The detection of external stimuli via the five senses and transmissions of this information to the brain

Sensation

Sensory receptors throughout the body register information about the external environment and send it up to the brain for processing

Bottom-up processing

The process of organizing and interpreting sensory so that it makes sense

Perception

Using your knowledge, expirence, or context to understand and interpret sensory perceptions

Top-down processing

Delayed reaction time when you must say the color of a word but not the name of a word

Stroop effect

When you take in sensory infromation, you are using__________________

Bottom up processing

When you recognize or assign meaning to that sensory information, you are using _____________________

top-down processing

Focusing your awareness on one particular task

Selective attention

The ability to focus auditory attention on a particular or sound while filtering out others

Cocktail party effect

Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed else where

Inattentional blindness

conversion of sensory input into electrical impulses

- Receive sensory stimulation through receptors

- Transform that stimulation into neural impulses

- Deliver the information to the brain

Transduction

The study relationship between physical stimuli and the sensations and perceptions they produce

Psychophysics

The weakest amount of a stimulus that a person can detect 50% of the time

Absolute Threshold

Predicts how and when we detected a faint stimulus amid background

- Detection depends partly on a person's experience, expectation, motivation, and alertness

Signal detection

The minimum amount of something before a person notices the change 50% of the time

Difference threshold

Law states that for an average person to perceive a difference two stimuli must differ by a constant percentage, not constant amount

Weber's Law

When constantly exposure to an unchanging stimulus we become less aware

Sensory adaptation

Below one's conscious awareness

Subliminal

When exposure to one's stimulus influences the response to another stimulus. Happens subliminally

Priming

Priming activates ___________ associates

unconscious

Our tendency to perceive one thing and not another based on expirence and expectations (top-down processing)

Perceptual set

The distance from one wave peak to the next

wavelength

Wavelength determines___________

hue

The wave's height

amplitude

Amplitude determines _________ or ___________

brightness, intensity

Clear, protective outer layer where light enters the eye

Cornea

Colored muscle that surrounds the pupil and control its size

Iris

A small adjustable opening that allows light to pass through

Pupil

Transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina

Lens

The process by which the lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina

Accommodation

light sensitive inner surface of the eye

Retina

Where does transduction occur

retina

Receptors in the retina that detect color and fine detail

Cones

Small depression in the center of the retina and where acuity is strongest

Fovea

Acuity means

sharpness

Receptors in the retina that enable black and white and peripheral (side) vision

Rods

Connects rods and cones to ganglion cells

Bipolar cells

Their axons make up the optic nerve which carries neural impulses to brain for processing

Ganglion cells

The point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating this because no receptor cells are located there

Blind spot

The point in the brain where the optic nerve fibers from each eye cross over each other

optic chiasm

The processing of many aspects of a stimulus simultaneously

Parallel Processing

The theory that the retina contains three different color receptors red, green, and blue

trichromatic theory

the inability to see colors in a normal

Colorblindness

The ability to perceive color is controlled by three types of cells with opposing colors

Opponent Process theory

A visual illusion in which retinal images persist even after the stimulus has been removed

Afterimages

The tendency to perceive a familiar object as having the same color under different conditions of illumination

Color Constancy

The amount of light an object reflects relative to its surroundings

context affects color perception

Relative luminance

An organized whole

Gestalt

Tendency to organize images into meaningful groups/forms

grouping

this group is called when we group nearby figures together

proximity

this group is called when we perceive smooth, continuous patterns rather than discontinuous ones

Continuity

This group is called when we fill in gaps to create a complete whole objects

Closure

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

Figure ground form perception

Depth cues that depends on the use of both eyes in called

Binocular cues

By comparing the images in the two eyes, the brains computes distance

Retinal disparity

The closer an object is to your have, the more your eyes have to move inward to see it

Convergence

Depth cues that only require one eye Used for further distances

Monocular cues

Makes parallel lines appear to converge at a vanishing point in the distance

Linear perspective

we perceive something farther away if it looks smaller than an object in the foreground that we assume in similar size

Relative size

if one object partially blocks our view of another, we perceive it as closer

interposition

When large and small objects move at the same speed, the large objects appears to move more slowly

Motion perception

Objects that are closer appear to move faster than objects that are further away

Motion parallax

When the brain perceives a rapid series of slightly varying images as continuous movement

Stroboscopic movement

An illusion of movement when two ore more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession

Phi Phenomenon

We perceive familiar objects as constant even while our retinas receive changing images of them

Shape constancy

We perceive objects as having a constant size even while our distances from them varies

Size constancy

Loud sounds have ______ amplitudes

high

Softer sounds have _______ amplitudes.

low

The number of wavelengths that pass by a point in a period of time

Frequency

a tone's experienced highness or lowness

pitch

external part of the ear that catches sound waves (outer ear)

Pinna

Channels sound waves to the middle ear (outer ear)

Ear canal

(Middle ear) Thin membrane that vibrates when sound waves hit it

Eardrum

(Middle ear) Pick up vibrations and transmit them to the inner ear

Ossicle bones

(Inner ear) spiral fluid filled tube that produces nerve impulses in response to sound vibrations

Cochlea

(Inner ear) The cochlea's membrane covered opening

Oval Window

(Inner ear) The inner lining of the cochlea where hair cells are located

Basilar membrane

(Inner ear) Sensory receptors that bend in response to sound vibrations. They trigger impulses in the auditory nerve

- Can be permanently damaged by prolonged exposure to loud noises

- Ringing in your ears is a sign that your hair cells are stressed/injured

Hair cells

caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the outer and middle ear

- Damage to eardrum

- Damage to ossicle bones

- Damage to auditory canal

Conduction hearing loss

A chronic buzzing/ringing in the ears

Tinnitus

Caused by damage to the cochlea's hair cells or to the auditory nerve

- Cannot be reversed

Sensorineural hearing loss

- attached to the side of the head and wired into the cochlea

- Translates sounds into electrical signals that traveled up the auditory nerve to the brain

Cochlear Impalnt

Says that higher and lower tones excite specific areas of the cochlea's basilar membrane

Place Theory

Says that the brain detects pitch by monitoring the frequency of neural impulses traveling up the auditory nerve

Frequency Theory

Various neurons can alternate firing. By firing in rapid succession, they can achieve a combined frequency above 1000 waves per second

Volley Principle

Place theory best explains how we_________________

sense high pitches

Frequency theory best explains how we _____________________

sense low pitches

The placement of our ears allows us to have stereophonic (multidirectional) hearing

Locating sounds

What are the 5 basic taste sensations?

sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami

receptors instantly alert the brain of smells through their axon. This is called

Olfactory Brain

What are the 4 senses of touch

pressure, warmth, cold, pain

This is a physical and psychological experience

Pain

Sensory receptors in your skin muscles and organs that detect hurtful temperatures, pressure, or chemicals

Nociceptors

Theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass the brain

Gate control theory

Detect pain and send signals that open the spinal gate and move to the brain

Small nerve fibers

Stimulated by activity such as massage or electrical stimulation close the gate and block the pain signals

Large nerve fibers

The system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts

Kinesthesis

Monitors the heads position and movement so the body knows its position in space

Vestibular sense

Our senses may influence one another as when the smell of food influences taste

Sensory interaction

An illusion that occurs when the auditory component of sound is paired with the visual component of another sound; this tricks the brain into hearing the wrong sound

McGurk Effect