nervous system, sleep, and perception

hindbrain

brain stem and cerebellum drives vital functions

inner cortex

emotions motives and memory

outer cortex

reasoning, planning, creating, and problem solving

medulla

is the part of the hindbrain that controls vital functions

pons

regulates sleep and waking

cerebellum

helps balance and coordination

thalamus

processes all senses except smell

hypothalamus

body clock, homeostasis

amygdala

memory and emotions specifically fear and aggression

hippocampus

helps establish long term memories

frontal lobe

movement, thinkin, and planning

parietal lobe

touch sensation and spatial awearness

occipital lobe

visual processing

temporal lobe

sound processing and speech

wernickes area

located in the temporal lobe and comprehends speech

brocas area

in the frontal lobe and is speech production

the corpus collosum

connects the left and right hemispheres

somatic nervous system

the nerves that are connected to connected to the sensory receptors and the skeletal muscles

automatic nervous system

the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system

sympathetic nervous system

gets you ready for a threat

parasympathetic nervous system

relaxes you after the threat is gone

circadian rhythms

The human biological clock is actually a tiny cluster of neurons in the hypothalamus. 24 hour cycle that re sets with the sun.

jet lag

A state when biological rhythms are not in phase with one another

hypnogogic state

a twilight state that is neither daydreaming or sleeping that occurs as you begin to fall asleep but are not yet sleeping

stage one

Feel self drifting on the edge of consciousness. (alpha waves)

stage 2

Minor noises won’t disturb you. Theta waves

stage three

Breathing and pulse have slowed down. Theta waves and some Delta waves

stage four

deep sleep delta waves

REM (rapid eye movement)

Increased eye movement, loss of muscle tone and dreaming. Beta waves

why do people sleep

repair, Adaptive responses, REM

what dreams mean

reflection of current life situations and concerns, interpret brain activity, and information processing/ mental processing.

insomnia

Involves insufficient sleep, the inability to fall asleep quickly, frequent arousals, or early awakenings

sleep apnea

Involves insufficient sleep, the inability to fall asleep quickly, frequent arousals, or early awakenings

narcolepsy

Sudden and unpredictable daytime attacks of sleepiness (lapses into REM sleep) and loss of muscle tone (cataplexy) during moments of excitement

sleep talking and walking

during stage 4 and is more common in children

sensation

the detection of external stimuli sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch, balance and pain

perception

the process of the brain organizing and interpreting sensory information

types of colorblindness

Monochromats: • People who are totally colorblind

Dichromats: • People who are blind to either red-green or yellow-blue

Proprioception

- sense of where your body & limbs are located in space and how they’re moving.

Tactile Sensation

- sense of touch (pressure) that isn't painful.

Nociception

pain sensations elicited by noxious stimuli everywhere but brain.

Temperature

separate reactions from cells sensitive to stimuli that are either warmer or colder than the body

sensory threshold

how much sensory input you can handle

sensory adaptation

getting adapted to constant stimuli

absolute threshold

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

difference threshold

minimum difference between two stimuli that one can detect 50% of the time • increases with magnitude of stimulus

webers law

the ratio of the smallest noticeable change in a stimulus to the original intensity of the stimulus is a constant.

bottom up processing

Sensory receptors send signals to the brain, which then processes the stimuli and creates a perception

top down processing

making sense of stimuli by using what you already know to interpret new information.

perceptual grouping

principles that associate distinct elements by virtue of image properties, such as proximity, similarity, and occurrence within common regions.

figure-ground distinction

figure: Entity perceived to stand apart from the background

ground: Background against which a figure appears

closure

The tendency to fill in gaps in figures and see incomplete figures as complete

subjective contours

Boundaries that are perceived but do not appear in the stimulus pattern

depth perception

Binocular depth perception: depth cues using both eyes

monocular depth perception: depth cues using only one eye

Retinal disparity

The slight difference in lateral separation between two objects as seen by the left eye and the right eye - each eye receives a slightly different view from the other.

Convergence

Turning inward of the eyes, which occurs when they focus on a nearby object - as things get closer, your eyes get more crossed.

Interposition

one object, by partially blocking another, is perceived as being closer.

Linear Perspective

Parallel lines appear to converge at the horizon.

haze

More distant objects are likely to appear hazy and blurred.

elevation

The higher on the horizontal plane, the farther it appears.

texture gradient

Objects seen at greater distances appear to be smoother and less textured.

shading

Shadows appear on bottoms of objects that protrude and tops of objects that recede.

Motion Parallax

a monocular depth cue that makes objects closer to an observer appear to move faster than objects that are farther away

Illusions

Demonstrably incorrect experience of a stimulus pattern, shared by others in the same perceptual environment

Ambiguous figures

Images that are capable of more than one interpretation

Muller-Lyer Illusion

When viewing the illusion, people tend to perceive the line with arrowheads as shorter and the line with arrow tails as longer, even though the lines are actually the same length.

Focal Mode

Foveal vision (cone cells) what is perceived

Ambient Mode

Peripheral vision (rod cells) where the object is