Gen Psych Exam 3

How our sense receptors and nervous system represent our external environment

What is sensation?

Detection

What is a one word description for sensation?

Bottom up

What kind of processing is sensation?

Begins with sense receptors and works up to higher levels of processing

What is bottom up processing?

How we mentally organize and interpret sensory information

What is perception?

Interpretation

What is a one word description of perception?

Top down

What kind of processing is perception?

Creates meaning from sensory input by drawing on our experiences and expectations

What is top down processing?

Receive, transform, and deliver

What are the three basic steps to all sensory systems?

Sensory stimulation

What does receive mean for sensory systems?

Transform stimulation into neural impulses

What does transform mean for sensory systems?

Deliver neural information to the brain

What does deliver mean for sensory systems?

Process of converting one form of energy into another that our brain can use

What is transduction?

The point at which we detect a stimulus 50% of the time

What is absolute threshold?

The point at which we detect a stimulus less than 50% of the time

What is subliminal threshold?

Unconscious activation of certain associations

What is priming?

The minimum difference a person can detect between any two stimuli

What is difference threshold?

Our diminishing sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus

What is sensory adaptation?

Wavelength and wave intensity

What are the characteristics of light?

Hue or color of light

What does wavelength determine?

The distance from one peak to the next

How is wavelength measured?

Brightness

What does wave intensity determine?

Amplitude or the distance from peak to trough

How is wave intensity measured?

Bluish colors

What characteristic of light is produced by short wavelength?

Reddish colors

What characteristic of light is produced by long wavelength?

Bright colors

What characteristic of light is produced by large wave intensity?

Dull colors

What characteristic of light is produced by short wave intensity?

The eye’s small opening

What is the pupil?

The eye’s colored muscle that dilate or contract the pupil

What is the iris?

Focuses incoming rays

What does the lens do?

Multilayered tissue lining the back of the eye

What is the retina?

Red, green, or blue

What are the three color receptors of the retina?

Black, white, and gray

What doe rods detect?

More light sensitive

What is a characteristic of rods?

Color and fine detail

What doe cones detect?

Function best in daylight

What is a characteristic of cones?

Carries information to the brain

What does the optic nerve do?

The “information highway“

What is the optic nerve referenced as?

Occipital lobe

What part of the brain does the optic nerve communicate with?

Where the optic nerve leaves the eye, there are no receptor cells here

What is the blind spot?

Nearsightedness, near is clear, far is blurry

What is myopia?

Farsightedness, can’t see near, can see far

What is presbyopia?

Decreased ability to see color differences

What is color vision deficiency?

Sound waves

What are the stimuli for hearing?

Jostling molecules of air

What are sound waves?

Loudness

What do the amplitude of sound waves determine?

Peak to trough

How is amplitude measured?

Pitch

What does the frequency of sound waves determine?

From peak to peak

How is the frequency of sound waves measured?

Outer, middle, and inner

What are the three parts of the ear?

Auditoy canal and ear drum

What are the parts of the outer ear?

Hammer, anvil, and stirrup

What are the parts of the middle ear?

A piston

What do the bones of the inner ear function as?

Cochlea, oval window, and basiler membrane

What are the parts of the inner ear?

Snail shaped tube

What is the cochlea?

Sends information to the auditory cortex

What does the basilar membrane do?

Nerve deafness

What is the most common form of hearing loss?

Damage to the cochlea’s receptor cells or auditory nerves

What is nerve deafness?

Cochlear implant

What is a treatment for nerve deafness?

Translate sounds into electrical signals

What does a cochlear implant do?

Damage to the mechanical system of the ear

What is conduction hearing loss?

Conduction hearing loss

What is the less common form of hearing loss?

Pressure, warmth, cold, and pain

What are the skin senses?

Parietal lobe

What part of the brain handles the sense of touch?

Sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami

What are the taste senses?

A pleasant, savory taste

What is umami?

Temporal lobe

What part of the brain handles the sense of taste?

Temporal lobe

What part of the brain handles the sense of smell?

The sense of position and movement of individual body parts

What is kinesthesia?

Muscles, tendons, and joints

Where are motion sensors found?

The sense of position and movement of individual body parts including the sense of balance

What is vestibular sense?

The inner ear that sends messages to the cerebellum

What part of the body handles vestibular sense?

Organizing pieces of information into a whole

What is gestalt?

Perceiving an object as distinct from its surroundings

What is figure/ground?

Figure/ground

What is the first task in perception?

Grouping

What is the second task in perception?

Organizing the figure into meaningful form

What is grouping?

Grouping nearby figures together

What is proximity as a rule in grouping?

Grouping together figures that are the same

What is similarity as a rule in grouping?

Perceiving smooth continuous lines or patterns rather than discontinuous ones

What is continuity as a rule in grouping?

Filling in gaps to create a whole

What is closure as a rule in grouping?

Perceiving spots, lines, or areas as a single unit when uniform or linked

What is connectedness as a rule in grouping?

Allows us to judge or estimate the distance an object is from us

What does depth perception do?

May be innate

What is a characteristic of depth perception?

An experiment used to measure depth perception in infants by placing them on a table with a checkered pattern and a glass side that simulates a steep dropoff

What is the visual cliff?

Depth cues using both eyes

What are binocular cues?

The greater the difference between the two images the retina receives of an object, the closer the object is to us

What is retinal disparity?

A muscular cue indicating the extent to which the eyes turn inward when looking at an object

What is convergence?

Retinal disparity and convergence

What are examples of binocular cues?

Depth cues available to each eye seperately

What are monocular cues?

When we can identify things regardless of the angle, distance, or brightness. When we can perceive objects as unchanging while the stimuli from the object changes.

What is perceptual constancy?

Mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

What is perceptual set?

Top down

What kind of processing is perceptual set?

Experiences, expectations, contexts, emotions, and motivation

What factors can influence perceptual set?

Context and culture

What factors are shown through the box vs. a window on top of someone’s head? This is because based on some things, you will perceive a box above someone’s head vs. a window above someone’s head.

Subjective awareness of ourselves and the environment

What is consciousness?

Reflecting on past events, looking ahead and planning goals, or paying close attention when learning a new task

What are some examples of consciousness?

Awareness focuses on only a particular stimulus

What is selective attention?

Texting in class or TV noise while studying

What are some examples of selective attention?

Attending to one voice among many voices

What is the cocktail party effect?