Psychology sensation and perception

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Sensation

Process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system recieves and represents stimukus energies from our environment

Perception

Process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

Bottom-Up Processing

Adding up just our sensations to make a perception | Occurs when we sense basic features of stimuli and integrate them Up Processing

Top-Down Processing

Our expectations and experiences added together with sensations from our environment | Occurs when previous experiences and expectations are first used to recognize a stimuli

Psychophysics

Study of relationships between physical characteristics of a stimuli, such as their intensity and our psychological experience of them

Threshold

The dividing point between energy levels that do and do not have detectable effects

Absolute Threshold

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

Signal Detection Theory

Predicts how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus | Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a persons experience, expectation, motivation, and level of fatigue | In stressful situations, we perceive false alarms

Subliminal

Below ones absolute threshold for conscious awareness (less than 50% of the time) | We can process information without being aware of it

Difference Threshold

Minimum difference that a person can detect between two stimuli

Wavelength

Distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of next

Hue

Dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light (red orange yellow green blue indigo violet)

Intensity

Amount of energy in a light or sound wave determined by the waves amplitude | We perceive as brightness or loudness

Amplitude

A measure of how big a wave is

Cornea

Clear outer covering of the eye behind which is fluid | As the light waves pass through the cornea, it's curved surface bends or focuses the waves into a narrower beam

Pupil

Round opening at the front of the eye that allows light waves to pass into the eyes interior

Iris

Colored circular muscle that surrounds the pupil and controls the amount of light entering the eye | Dim: iris relaxes, allowing more light in Bright: constricts, less light in

Lens

Focuses on object on the back of the eye | Bends and focuses light waves into an even narrower beam (by accommodation)

Accommodation

Process by which the eye lens changes shape to focus the image of near objects on the retina | Distant: light waves need less bending so muscles stretch lens so the surface is less curve
Near: need more bending so muscles relax and allow surface to be more curve

Retina

Very back of the eyeball, where transduction occurrs
Front Layer

Rods

Located on periphery | Detect grey scale colors

Cones

Located in fovea | Function in daylight/well lit | Notices fine detail

Fovea

Central focal point | Contains most cones

Optic Nerve

Comes neural impulses from the eye to the brain, impulses make a brief stop at the thalamus before going to the occipital lobe

Blindspot

Created at the point where the optic nerve exits the eye

Colorblindness

Inability to perceive colors

Monochromats

Have only rods or one type of functioning come

Dichromats

Green vs red | Only two types of cones | Inherited genetic disorder | Sees in shades of green

Acuity

Sharpness of vision

Nearsighted (myopia)

Eyeball is too long so objects are focused on a point in front of the retina

Farsighted (presbyopia)

Eyeball is too short so objects are focused behind the retina

Prosopagnosia

Facial recognition is impaired while other aspects and intellectual functioning remain intact

Feature detections

Nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of stimulus (shape, angle, movement)

Specifically cortical cells

Respond to lines of a particular width, angle, or movement stimulus

Parallel processing

Processing of several aspects of a problem simultaneously | Brains natural mode of information processing for functions

Blindsight

Ability to respond to something not consciously perceived

Young-Helmotz Trichromatic Theory

Retina contains 3 color receptors (blue,green, red)

After Image

The firing of cones not used after viewing something is steady in order to bring the visual system back on balance

Opponent-Process Theory

Opposing retinal processes enables color vision (red green, yellow blue, white black)

Color constancy

Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelength reflected by the object

Audition

Sense of hearing (auditory)

Decibel

Measurement of how loud a sound is | Sound makes air pressure changes that our ears detect and turn into nerve impulses

Frequency

Number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time

Pitch

How high or low a sound is
Low pitch: Longer waves, lower frequency
High pitch: shorter waves, higher frequency

External ear

Pick up sound waves and send them down the auditory canal

Tympanic membrane

Sound waves hit the tympanic membrane, causing it to vibrate

Pina

Concentrate sound waves into auditory canal

Middle ear

3 tiny bones (function: amplify vibration) that concentrate vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea oval window

Hammer

Gets vibrated by the tympanic membrane

Anvil

Sends vibrations to the stirrup

Stirrup

Connected to the cochlear oval window and causes it to vibrate

Inner ear

Inner most part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canal, and vestibular sacs

Cochlea

Bony coiled exterior that resembles a snail shell | Contains receptors for hearing | Function is transduction (transforming vibrations into nerve impulses)

Place Theory

Brain determines medium to higher pitched sounds on the basis of the place on the basilar membrane where maximum vibrations occur

Frequency theory

Rate of nerve impulses traveling up to the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense it's pain

Volley Principle

Accounts for us hearing frequencies over 1000 waves/second | Group of neural cells fire in raped succession achieving a combined frequency of 1000 times/second

Conduction Hearing Loss

Hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to cochlea

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlear receptor cells or the auditory nerve

Cochlear Implants

Translate sounds into electrical signals and are wired into the cochlear nerve and then convey some information to the brain

Pain

Unpleasant sensory and emotional experience that may result from tissue damage, ones thoughts or beliefs, or environmental stressors

Gate-Control Theory of Pain

No painful nerve impulses compete with pain impulses in trying to reach the brain | If gate is open, then pain impulses reach the brain

Olfaction

Sense of smell | 6 million receptors

Reasons for smell

Intensify tastes of foods | Warns us of potentially dangerous food | Elicit strong memories

Sensory interaction

Principle that one sense may influence another, as when smell and food taste is influenced

Kinesthesis

System for sending the position and movement of individual body parts

Vestibular sense

Sense of body movement, position, and sense of balance

Perception

Organization, identification, and interpret sensory information in order to represent the world around us

Selective attention

Focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus | Perception requires attention, even unattended stimuli sometimes have subtle effect | Similar to subliminal stimulation

Inattentional blindness

Failing to see visible objects when our attention is distracted elsewhere

Visual Capture

Tendency for vision to dominate the other sense

McGurk Effect

Perceptual phenomenon that demonstrates an interaction between hearing and vision in speech perception | Occurs when auditory component of one sound is paired with the visual component of another sound, leading to the perception of s third sound

Troxler Effect

Optical illusion affecting visual perception | When one focuses on a particular point for even a short period of time, an unchanging stimulus away from the fixation point will fade away or disappear

Illusory Contours

Visual illusions that evoke the perception of an edge without a luminance or color change across that edge

Stroboscopic Movement

Perceptual system of the problem posed by alternation appearance and disappearance of a stimulus object

Figure/Ground Principle

Organization of visual field into objects that stand out from their surroundings

Cocktail Party Effect

Focusing in on one voice or thing at a party where multiple things are going on

Proximity

Grouping nearby figures together

Similarity

Grouping figures that are similar

Continuity

Perceive smooth, continuous patterns when interpreting series of points and lines

Connectedness

Perceive spots, lines, or areas as linked

Closure

Fill in missing parts to make a picture

Depth Perceprion

Ability to see objects in 3D even though the images that strike the retina are 2D

Visual Cliff

Laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals

Binocular Cues

Depth cues that depends on the use of 2 eyes

Retinal Disparity

Greater the disparity between the two images the retina receives of an object, the closer the object is to the viewer (3D)

Monocular Cues

Distance cues that rely on the use on 1 eye

Interposition

One objects partially blocks or views one another

Relative Size

Objects are the same size, but the ones that cast smaller image is farther away

Relative Clarity

Hazy objects look farther away because distant objects pass through more atmosphere

Texture Gradient

Change from a coarse, distinct texture to a fine, in distinct texture signals an increase in distance

Relative Height

Objects higher in our field of vision viewed as farther away (except above the horizon, then we perceive it as closer)

Relative Motion

Objects that are stable may appear to move

Linear Perspective

Parallel lines appear to converge with distance

Light and Shadow

Nearby objects reflect more light to our eyes

Phi Phenomenon

An illusion of movement created with 2 or more adjacent lines blink on and off in succession

Perceptual Constancy

Perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change

Muller-Lyer Illusion

he illusion that fools us is not universal

Perceptual Interpretation

Each individual person has their own unique interpretation of the simulation from their environment

Selective Blindness

Psychological lack of attention | Inattentional blindness

Perceptual Adaptation

In vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field