unit 3 psych

modules 20-25

senstation

process of gathering sensory data and representing stimulus energies

perception

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

bottom up processing

starting with the sensory input and attemption to make sense of it. no prior knowledge

top-down processing

guided by prior knowledge

selective attention

tendency to focus on particular stimulus. conscious effort

cocktail party effect

being able to pick out one voice among a crowd of others

stroop effect

read colours in black and white quicker if there are presented in incongruent colours

selective inattention

conscious effort to sreen out unwanted stimuli because it causes anxiety, its threatening, or it's thought to be of no importance

inattentional blindness

failing to see visible obejcts when our attention is focused elsewhere

change blindness

failure to notice changes in the visual environment

transduction

conversion of one form of energy into another

psychophysics

study of the relationship between the physical characteristics and our psychological experience of them

absolute threshold

lowest levels of awareness with no competing stimuli present. detected 50% of the time

difference threshold

minimum difference between 2 stimuli to be detected 50% of the time (noticeable difference)

weber's law

2 stimuli must differ by a constant proportion to be able to perceive a difference

signal detection theory

predicts how we detect stimuli

subliminal perception

perception of stimuli below the threshold for constant recognition

sensory adaptation

diminished sensitivity to stimuli

perceptual set

mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

parapsychology

controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory inputw

wavelength

distance from one peak to another

hue

colou

intensity

brightness

cornea

covers the front part of the eye, shape bends light towards the center of the eyeballp

pupil

opening in the iris (black part)

iris

coloured part of the eye. muslce that adjusts by opening and closing in response to the brightness in the environment

lens

light passes through the lens, curved and flexible, changes its curvature to help focus on images

aqueous humor

behind the pupil and iris, chamber filled with watery fluid

vitreous humor

light waves pass through this jelly like fluid on the way to the retina

retina

light sensitive layer at the back of the eye, contains recpetors (cones and rods)

accomodation

lens flips and focues the inverted image

rods

detect black and white, dim light

cones

bright light, perceives colours

fovea

cones are located here, central point of the retina

optic nerve

nerve that sends signals from teh eyes to the brain

peripheral vision

ability to see things on the side of our field of visionte

tunnel vision

absence of peripheral vision

blind spot

where the optic nerve leaves teh eye hole in teh retina. no seeing

young-helmholtz trichromatic color theory

3 cones in the retina, only produces red, green, or blue. o

opponent-process theory

focuses on what happens in teh brain rather than the eye

afterimage

phenomenon where a visual sensation remains after the stimulus is removed

myopia

near sightedness

presbyopia

farsightedness

astigmatism

cornea is irregulary shaped

glaucoma

damage to the optic nerve and destroyed vision

feature detectors

neurons that respond to the strength of visual stimulia

parallel processing

feature detectors can react to stimuli simulataneously

gestalt

pattern

figure-ground

focused on the figure, ground is blurry

proximity

see things differently based on spacing

similarity

group similar items

continuity

eyes want to move through one object and continue through another

connectedness

items connected by a visual element are more related than similar items not connected

closure

fill in the blanks to form a whole

depth perception

ability to see the world in 3 dimensions to know how far away an object is

visual cliff

baby experiment where they would see if babies had depth perception

binocular cues

using both eyes to judge depth

retinal disparity

by comparing retinal images from 2 eyes, brain commutes distance.

convergence

based on how far inward teh eyes need to move when focusing on an object

monocular cues

depth perception cues that require only one eye

linear convergence

makes parallel lines appear to converge and a vanishing point

interposition

partial blocking of one object by another object leaving the blocking object seem closer

relative size

causes us to perceivesomething as farther away beacuse it looks smaller than an obhect in the foreground

relative height

makes objects higher in field of vision appear farther away

relative clarity

blurrier objects seem further away

light and shadow

nearby objects reflect more lgith than distant ones

motion parallax

objects closer to us appear to move faster than those further away

phi phenomenon

movement of a series of pictures. stroboscopic

perceptual constancy

a top down process that recognizes objects without being deceived by changes

colour constancy

perceiving objects as having consisten colours even in different lighting

brightness constancy

same brightness in varied lighting

shapre constancy

unchanging shape

size constancy

unchanging sizea

audition

ears processing sound waves

sound waves

vibrations that travel through the air. slower than light

amplitude

how mcuh pressure is being forced through through the ear

pitch

wavelength of sound

pinna

outer ear, allows it to catch sound waves and directs them into teh ear canal

tympanic membrane

eardrum, waves cause vibrations in a series

middle ear

auditory ossicles

malleus

hammer

incus

anvil

stapes

stirrups

inner ear

concentrates on the vibrations of the eardrums on the cochlea

cochlea

snail shaped organ, sound waves trigger neural impulses

auditory nerve

signals travel the the thalamus via the brain stem and then onto the temporal lobe's auditory cortex

sensorineural hearing loss

damage to the inner ear, the auditory nerve or auditory processing areas of the brain

conduction hearing loss

condition in which there are poor transfer of sounds from teh membrane or the inner ear

cochlear implant

electrode is surgically implanted within the cochlea and externally placed behind the pinna. nerve deafness

place theory

higher and lower tones have specific places in the brain

frequency theory

as the pitch rises, the entire basilar membrane vibrates at the frequency of the pitch

gate control theory

the spianl cord contains a "gate" that blocks pain signals

sweet

energy source

salty

sodium

sour

potentially toxic acid

bitter

poisons

umami

proteins

olfaction

smell

kinesthesia

movement sense

vestibular sense

balance