AP Psyche Unit 4 Vocab

Corneaa

Eye’s clear and protective outer layer

Iris

Forms colored portion eye; controls size of the pupil opening

Lens

Changes its shape to help focus images on retina

fovea

Depression in the retina of the eye where visual activity is highest

Retina

Contains rods, cones, and layers of neurons that process visual information

Photoreceptors

Rods & cones - where transduction occurs in vision

Rods

• 100 million

• dim light

• black and white vision only

• peripheral and twilight vision

Cones

• 6 million

• center of retina ( near)

• bright or daylight

• color perception

Optic nerves

Transmits visual info from the retina to the brain

Blind spot

Point of exit for ganglion cell axons, no photoreceptors

Prosopagnosia

Heterological condition condition of characterized by the inability to recognize the faces of familiar people

Sensation

Process in which our sensory receptors receive info from our environment

Perception

process of organizing and interpreting sensory info into meaningful object

Basic senses: energy

detect a type of energy that gives info about the environment

Basic senses: Chemical

providing info about the chemical composition of substances

Basic senses: Body position senses - Kinesthetic

Gives feedback about position and orientation of specific body parts

Basic senses: Body position senses - Vestibular

• How our head (body) is oriented in space;

• influences balance

• semicircle canals

Sensation and perception theories: Bottom up processing

Analysis that begins w/sensory receptors and works up to sensory interpretation

• part 1: sensory

• Part 2: taste

• Part 3: for and interpretation

Sensation and perception theories: Top Down processing

• Perception based off previous events

• previous experience and expectation affect the detection and analysis of info from the senses

• explains visual illusions

Sensation and perception theories: : Signal detection theory

Predicts how and when a person detects a signal

Psychophysic

Method that measure the strength of a stimulus and the observer’s sensitivity to the stimulus

Threshold: Absolute

Minimum stimulation needed to register external stimulus 50% of time

Threshold: Difference threshold (JND)

Minimal change in a stimulus that can just barely be detected

Threshold: Difference Threshold (JND)- Weber’s Law

The size of the JND is a constant proportion of the size of the intial stimulus

• % change matters to JND…not amount

Transduction

Energy from the outside is converted to neural impulses to be processed by our brains

Transformation of stimulus energy into a neutral impulse

Ex. Rods/cones detect light waves

Brightness (intensity)

Determined by amplitude; related to perceived brightness

Color (hue)

Dimension of color determined by length of wavelength of light

Trichromatic: young-helmholtz theory

Suggest that retina (cones) contain three receptors sensitive to red, blue and green colors

Opponent Process theory

Hering, proposed that we process four primary colors opposed in pairs of red-green, blue-yellow, and black-white

Issues: After Image

The image remains after the stimulation to the retina has ended

Issues: Color blind

Prevents from discriminating between contains colors due to a weakness in one of the cones

Issues: Inattentional blindness

Failure to see objects in visual field when attention is directed elsewhere

Issues: Change blindness

Failure to notice changes over time in the environment

External/outer ear: Pinna

visible outer ear on either side of your head; helps pinpoint and locate sound

External/outer ear: Ear canal

where sound travels to each eardrum

Middle ear: Tympanic membrane (ear drum)

Vibrate at a rate that corresponds to the sound’s frequency transmits to ossicles

Middle ear: Ossicles

• Hammer

• avnil

• stirrup

Pick up eardrum vibrating, amplify them and pass them along to the cochlea in the inner

Inner ear: Semicircular canal

Fluid filled channels that help maintain balance

Inner ear: Cochlea

A coiled-fluid-filled tube through which sound waves are transduced into nerve impulses

Audition

Place theory

Sound frequencies stimulate basilar membrane on specific hair cells (places) resulting in perceived pitch

Frequency Theory

Nerve impulses traveling in auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense the pitch

Auditory Localization

Brain determining the location of sound depending on ear

Mcgurk Effect

Interaction of vision and hearing auditory component + visual component of another end = new sound

Deafness

Inability to process sound

Conductive deafness

Problem transferring sound waves anywhere along the [insert word] through the outer or middle ear

• Help - hearing aids

Sensorineural

damage to the inner ear (Cochlea, hair cells) CAn be by excessive )loud sounds, earbuds, concerts)

• Help - implants