AP Psych Sensation & Perception

sensation

taking in information using the senses

absolute threshold

weakest level of a stimulus that you can detect 50% of the time

signal detection theory

some stimuli may have no absolute threshold because they can change due to outside factors (fatigue, attention, expectations)

difference threshold (just noticeable difference)

minumum difference between any 2 stimuli that can be tetected 50% of the time

ex: moment that water is hot enough to get in the shower, moment that soup is salty enough to be good

weber’s law

the larger the difference the faster you can notice it

bottom up processing

react then think

info processing starts with senses than moves to thought

top down processing

think then act

processing based on pre-existing knowledge

vision

humans can see between 400 and 700 on the electromagnetic spectrum

how does eye work

when we see something, the light reflected from the object goes trough the cornea ito the pupil

cornea

rigid transparent structure on the surface of the eyeball

vitreus humor

myopia

nearsightedness

cant see far away

hyperopia

farsightedness

cant see close up

prosopagnosia

face blindness

types of visual receptors

rods and cones

rods

help you see in dim light

dark adaptation

gradual ability to see better in dim light

fovea

part of your eye that helps with sharp vision

cones

color vision

daytime vision

details

located in the center of the retina

trichromatic theory

cones respond to 3 primary colors, red green blue

opponent process theory of color

actually see colors as their opposite but then process them differenrly (after images)

color blindness

some cones in the eyes don’t work

dichromatic color blindness

2 kinds of cones are functional, can’t distinguish red and green

monochromatic color blindness

one or none cones function

amplitude

height of sound wave

determines volume

frequency

number of sound waves

higher and lower pitch

shorter the wavelength the higher the pitch

frequency theory

frequency of sound waves traveling up auditory nerve helps sense pitch through frequency

cochlea

snail shaped

contains hearing receptors

basilar membrane

in cochlea

contains the hair cells for hearing

hair cells are connected to neurons that are connected to the audirory nerve

conduciton deafness

damage to ear bones

ex: born with deformity, injure din an accident

nerve deafness

damage to cochlea hair cells auditroy nerve

mostly accumulated over time

balance

tells us the position of our bodies

determined by ear fluid

semicircular canals

places in ear that holds liquid for balance

like a level

pain

pain is a tactile infection

somatosensationthe

gate theory

pain signals must go through a gate to get to the spine (spinal cord)

only one pain message can get through at a time

epidural is ex of something that blocks the gate

how are taste and smell similar

both are chemical senses

the stimuli are molecules

smell is referred to as

olfaction

taste is referred to as

gustation

perception

your interpertation of sensory data

sleective attention

the focusing of our awareness

like a flashlight, only focuses on one thing

sometimes when don’t hear people talk you actually dont hear them

cocktail party effect

name snaps you out of selective attention at least for a second

gestaldt psychology

field that focuses on your ability to percieve overall patterns

figure ground processing

ability to distinguish a figure from its background

ex: hidden pictures

depth perception

our perception of distance

use cues to figure out how close something is to you

monocular cues

cues about distance based on the image from one eye

binocular cues

cues about distance based on image from 2 eyes

binocular cues

retinal disparity and convergence

retinal disparity

slightly different view the 2 eyes have of the same object

both eyes open fuses both images together = depth

convergence

closer an object is to the nose the closer together the eyes will be

crosseyed

phi phenomenon

illusion of movement created when there is none

2 or more stationary lights change → gives illusion of movement

ex: restaurant sign lights, tacky christmas lights