Sensation/Perception/Conciousness/Learning

Sensation

process by which receptors in our sensory organs receive and detect stimuli

Perception

process through which our brain makes sense of the stimuli

5 senses

sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch

what are other senses?

• pain, pressure, temperature

• vestibular sense

• kinesthetic sense

• proprioception

Tranduction

process of transforming stimuli into the electrical and chemical signals of neurons

Sensation, ________, Perception

transduction

“absolute” thresholds

weakest stimuli that can be detected 50% of the time

• bee’s wing falling on your cheek

difference thresholds

minimum difference between two stimuli that can be noticed 50% of the time

• can you tell the difference between 49 and 45 grams?

Weber’s Law of Just Noticeable Difference

states that each of the senses has its own constant ratio determining difference thresholds

• brightness of lights: 8%

• weight: 2%

• loudness: 4%

• saltiness: 8%

• electric shock intensity: 1%

Sensory Adaptation

the way our senses adjust to different stimuli

• our eyes adjusting to darkness outside or dark room

Sensory information enters the body through our ______ organs

sensory

Sensory Stimuli:

1. Vision: ____ waves

2. Audition (hearing): _____ waves

3. Olfaction (smell)/Gustation (taste): chemicals

light, sound

Wavelength is the _______ of frequency

inverse

1. short wavelength = _______ frequency

2. long wavelength = _________ frequency

high, short

Vision has _____ waves and is determined by the ______ spectrum

light, electromagnetic

hue of colors is determined by the _____ of wavelength

length

red = ______ frequency

violet = _______ frequency

low, high

Amplitude

determines how bright a color is

• taller = brighter

Pupil

where light passes

Lens

focuses light of retina

Iris

color of eye

Muscle

expand + contract

Retina

senses light

Optic nerve

carry signal into brain

the retina has ____ and ______

rods, cones

if you do not have a _____ you are colorblind

cone

Rods and Cones both detect ______ waves

light

2 Photoreceptor cells

Cones(5%) and Rods(95%)

Cones

• concentrated around the fovea

• detect differences in color (3 types of cones)

• do not function in dark conditions

Rods

• dispersed across the retina

• achromatic (cant detect color)

• do not require much light

Hearing uses _____ waves

sound

Hearing:

• high frequency = ____ pitch

• low frequency = ______ pitch

• high amplitude = ______

• low amplitude = _______

high, low, louder, quieter

Pinna part of ear

where piercings are

Eardrum

vibrates

What is between the Malleus and Stapes

Incus

The semicircular canal determines ______

balance

Inside the Cochlea

1. Basilar membrane

   • hair cells (cilia)

2. Tectorial membrane

vibrations push these together, hair cells come in contact and cause nerve impulses

Chemosensory System

smell and taste work in harmony

• caused by contact with molecules of the substance you are smelling or tasting

Skin Senses and Body Senses

• touch, pressure, temperature, pain

  1. Vestibular senses (balance)

  2. Kinesthetic senses (motion of body without seeing)

  3. Proprioception (position of different parts of body)

Smell can detect chemical properties

1. olfactory _____

2. olfactory ______

1. olfactory bulb- odors

2. olfactory epithelium- pass sensations to brain

Taste

1. Papilla (____ on tounge)

2. Taste buds (receptors for _____)

bumbs, taste

Perception

translation from raw data of sensation into an understandable conclusion

• our understanding of what our senses are detecting

Processing

• bottom up- we build our perceptions from smaller bits of information

  • lines form letters form words form sentences form stories

• top down- we infer missing details from our broad perceptions (group things together if similar and coming up with simple explanation)

  • Gestalt principles

  • Priming- (looking at white paint, what do cows drink? water not milk)

Hallucination

perceptual misrepresentation of incoming stimuli (visual auditory, or otherwise)

• side effect of our mind’s effort to make sense of ambiguous or “noisy” stimuli

Synesthesia

• rarely happens

• sensory experiences mixed together (taste something when hearing something)

  • the sound of the color green, the taste of a musical note

  • Color-grapheme synesthesia- most common form

Infant Perceptual Preferences

newborns show marked preferences for faces

Attractiveness Perception

assuming people who are attractive are good people

Face Detection

seeing things or images that look like faces

Fusiform Gyrus function

• face perception, object recognition

how is Facial Detection Bias adaptive?

if you do not detect the face of a bear you can be killed

The book, “The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat” talks about what?

face blindness

Prosopangnosia

inability to distinguish between faces

• think everyone has the same face

Thatcher Effect

• face is upside down but we see mouth and eyes the right way

Depth Perception

judging how far away things are

• Binocular cues

  • Retinal disparity

  • Pupillary convergence

• Monocular Cues

  • Relative size

  • Parallax

  • Texture/detail

  • Linear perspective

Depth Perception:

1. Binocular cues

   • Retinal disparity

   • Pupillary convergence

   1. Monocular Cues

      • relative size

      • parallax

      • texture/size

      • linear perception

1. Binocular cues- depth views with the use of two eyes

   • Retinal disparity- left and right fields of vision provide different visual images

   • Pupillary convergence- eye demonstrates inward rotation of both eyes towards each other

2. Monocular Cues- with one eye, process what you are looking at

   • relative size- measure how far away something is

   • parallax- objects closer move faster than objects farther away

   • texture/size-

   • linear perception- perceive depth and distance of object

Moon Illusion

moon low in sky looks larger than higher in sky but moon is same size

Muller-Lyer Illusion

2 sticks, one with closed fins and one with open fins look same length

Devils Turning Fork

drawing of an impossible object

Theory of Mind (TOM)

beliefs about others’ beliefs and intentions

• realize that people have minds and own perspectives and think on their owns

Testing for TOM Emergence

example: sally put ball in basket, girl puts it in a box, where will Sally look?

Consciousness

awareness of ourselves and our enviornment

4 Biological Rhythms

1. Annual cycles

2. Monthly cycles

3. Daily cycles

4. 90-Minute cycles

Annual cycle

pattern of behavior that recurs over the course of a year

• species migrate, reproduce and hibernate

Monthly cycle

female menstrual cycle averages 28 days

Daily cycle

humans experience 24 hour cycles of varying alertness (sleep), body temperature and hormone secretion

90-minute cycle

over course of full night’s sleep we go through various sleep stages in 90 minute cycles

Circadian Rhythms

24 hour cycle and include sleep and wakefulness

• light triggers suprachiasmatic nucleus to decrease (morning) melatonin from the pineal gland and increase (evening) it at night fall

Measuring sleep: about every 90 minutes, we pass through a cycle of _____ distinct sleep stages

five

Awake and Alert:

• during strong mental engagement, the brain exhibits low amplitude and fast, irregular ____ waves (15-30 cps)

• ex: an awake person involved in a conversation shows beta activity

beta

Awake and Alert:

• when an individual closes his eyes but remains awake his brain actively slows down to a large amplitude and slow, irregular ____ waves (9-14 cps)

• ex: meditating person exhibits an alpha brain activity

alpha

Sleep Stages 1-2:

• during early, light sleep (stages 1-2) the brain enters a high-amplitude, slow, regular wave form called _____ waves (5-8 cps)

• ex: a person who is daydreaming also shows theta activity

theta

Stages 3-4:

• during deepest sleep (stages 3-4), brain activity slows down

• large amplitude, slow _____ waves (1.5-4 cps)

delta

Stage 5: REM Sleep

• after reaching deepest sleep stage (4), the sleep cycle starts moving backward towards stage 1

• although still asleep, the brain engages in low-amplitude, fast and regular _____ waves (15-40 cps) much like awake-aroused state

• person during this sleep exhibits Rapid Eye Movement (REM) and reports vivid dreams

beta

90 Minute Cycles During Sleep

with each 90 minute cycle, stage 4 sleep decreases and the duration of REM sleep increases

Why do we sleep?

• we spend 1/3 of lives sleeping

• if an individual remains asleep for several days, they deteriorate in terms of immune function, concentration, and accidents

5 bad things that come from Sleep Deprivation

1. Fatigue and subsequent death

2. Impaired concentration

3. Emotional irritability

4. Depressed immune system

5. Greater vulnerability

frequency of accidents increases with loss of _____

sleep

4 Sleep Theories

1. Sleep Protects

2. Sleep Recuperates

3. Sleep Helps Remembering

4. Sleep and Growth

Sleep Protects

sleep keeps us from dangerous conditions such as predators

Sleep Recuperates

sleep helps restore and repair brain tissue

Sleep Helps Remembering

sleep restores and rebuilds our fading memories

Sleep and Growth

during sleep, the pituitary gland releases the growth hormone

• older people release less of this hormone and sleep less

6 Sleep Disorders

1. Somnabulism

2. Nightmares (REM)

3. Night terrors (non-REM)

4. Hypogenic/Hypnopompic hallucinations

5. Narcolepsy

6. Sleep Apnea

Somnabulism

sleep walking

Nightmares

frightening dreams that wake a sleeper from REM

Night terrors

no imagery of dream, psychological reaction, racing heart rate

Hypogenic and Hypnopompic

Hypogenic- right as you are falling asleep hallucination

• ex: falling off a cliff feeling while falling sleep

Hypnopompic- right as you are waking up hallucination

• ex: feeling that you are being controlled or observed, eyes open and alert before you regain control of muscles

Narcolepsy

opposite of insomnia, inability to stay awake

Sleep apnea

• cousin of snoring

• minor form of abstruction of airway during sleep

• tissue in mouth becomes relaxed and sags and partially abstructs airways

• can be blocked and brain is alerted and wakes person up

When we dream, what is the order of the waves?

beta, alpha, theta, delta

4 reasons why we dream

1. Wish Fulfillment

2. Information Processing

3. Physiological Function

4. Activation Synthesis

Wish Fulfillment

• Manifest Content

• Latent Content

Sigmund Freud suggested that dreams provide a release for unacceptable feelings

• Manifest Content- actual images and thoughts from a dream, what you experienced

• Latent Content- meaning of the dream

Information Processing

acquiring, storing, and using knowledge

Physiological Function

dreams helping to preserve pathways of all neural networks

Activation Synthesis

dream engages in a lot of random neural activity, dreams are just something that happens

when deprived of REM sleep and then allowed to sleep, we experience an ____ rebound

REM

Franz Anton Mesmer

mistakenly discovered “animal magnetism”

Who can be hypnotized?

people prone to daydreaming

Can hypnosis lead to recovered memories?

yes

Can hypnosis reduce the experience of pain?

yes