PSY 120 - Exam 2 Purdue

transduction

conversion from sensory stimulus energy to action potential

absolute threshold

the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time

subliminal messages

stimuli below our absolute threshold

just noticeable difference (JND) or difference threshold

the minimal change in a stimulus that can just barely be detected

Who was Ernst Weber?

-proposed a theory in difference threshold

- created Weber's Law

What is Weber's Law?

The difference threshold is a constant fraction of the original stimulus

perception

the way sensory information is organized, interpreted, and consciously experienced

bottom-up processing

perceptions are built from sensory input

top-down processing

the use of preexisting knowledge to organize individual features into a unified whole

sensory adaptation

diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

inattentional blindness

a failure to perceive objects that are not the focus of attention

What can affect perception?

- attention

- motivation

signal detection theory

the ability to identify a stimulus when it is embedded in a distracting background

Müller-Lyer illusion

illusion of line length that is distorted by inward-turning or outward-turning corners on the ends of the lines, causing lines of equal length to appear to be different

amplitude of a wave

the height of a wave measured from the highest point on the wave (peak or crest) to the lowest point (trough)

wavelength

the length of a wave from one peak to the next

the visible spectrum

a small portion of the larger electromagnetic spectrum, the portion where sunlight is perceived by the human eye as various colors

the electromagnetic spectrum

the complete range of electromagnetic waves placed in order of increasing frequency

sound waves

a longitudinal wave consisting of compressions and rarefactions, which travels through a medium

pitch of sound

the frequency of a sound wave determines...

decibles (dB)

the unit loudness is measured in

photoreceptors or cones

a receptor in the eye that responds to light

rods in the eye serve what function

a photoreceptor cell that detects low- intensity illumination and are important in night vision; lacking great color resolution and spatial recognition

optic chiasm

point at which optic nerve fibers cross in the brain

trichromatic theory of color vision

all colors in the spectrum can be produced by combining red, green, and blue; there are three kinds of cones

opponent-process theory

the theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision. For example, some cells are stimulated by green and inhibited by red; others are stimulated by red and inhibited by green

afterimage

the continuation for visual sensation after removal of the stimulus

depth perception

our ability to perceive spatial relationships in three-dimensional space

binocular cues

they rely on use of both eyes

binocular disparity

the slightly different view of the world that each of our eyes perceive

monocular cues

cues that only enter one eye

linear perspective

the fact that we perceive depth when we see two parallel lines that seem to converge in an image

synesthia

may occur doe to a breakdown in the bottom-up and top-down processing; when one sense takes over another

Stroop Effect

the tendency to read the words instead of saying the color of ink

pinna

the visual part of the ear

basilar membrane

thin strip of tissue within the cochlea that contains the hair cells which serve as the sensory receptors for the auditory system

temporal theory

frequency is coded by the activity level of a sensory neuron

place theory

different portions of the basilar membrane are sensitive to sounds of different frequency

monaural vs binaural

using one-eared vs two-eared to localize sound

interaural level difference

sound coming from one side of the body is more intense at the closest ear because of the attenuation of the sound wave as it passes through the head

interaural time difference

small difference in the time at which a given sound wave arrives at each ear

deafness

partial or complete inability to hear

cogenital deafness

people who are born deaf

conductive hearing loss

hearing loss because of age, genetic predisposition, or environmental effects (loud music), illness (measles or mumps), or damage due to toxins

sensorineural hearing loss

hearing loss caused by a failure to transmit neural signals from the cochlea to the brain

Meniere's disease

loss in sensorineural hearing loss

vertigo

the sensation of dizziness

cochlear implant

electronic devices that consist of a microphone, a speech processor, and an electrode array. it receives incoming sound information and directly stimulates the auditory nerve to transmit information to the brain

umami

associated with taste; Japanese for 'yummy'

taste buds

formed by groupings of taste receptor cells; life cycle: 10 days to 2 weeks

olfactory receptor cells

located in a mucous membrane at the top of the nasal cavity (inside the nose)

olfactory bulb

a bulb-like structure at the tip of the frontal lobe where the olfactory nerves begin

pheromones

chemical messages

meissner's corpuscles

respond to pressure and lower frequency vibrations

merkels disks

respond to light pressure

Pacinian corpuscles

detect transient pressure and higher frequency vibrations

Ruffini corpuscles

detect stretch

thermoception

temperature perception

nocieceptors

a signal indicating potential harm and maybe pain

inflammatory pain

pain that signals some type of tissue damage

neuropathic pain

pain from damage to neurons of either the peripheral or central nervous system; pain signals sent to the brain

congenital insensitivity to pain (congenital analgesia)

people born without the ability to feel pain

vestibular sense

our ability to maintain balance and body posture

Proprioception

perception of body position

kinesthesia

perception of the body's movement through space

Max Wetheimer

published idea that individuals percieve motion in rapidylu flickering static images

Gestalt Psychology

a psychological approach that emphasizes that we often perceive the whole rather than the sum of the parts

figure-ground relationship

The principle by which we organize the perceptual field into stimuli that stand out (figure) and those that are left over (ground).

law of continuity (gestalt)

we are more likely to perceive continuous, smooth flowing lines rather than jagged, broken lines

principal of closure

we organize our perceptions into complete objects rather than as series of parts

pattern perception

our ability to discriminate among different figures and shapes

perceptual hypthesis

educated guesses that we make while interpreting sensory information

What is learning?

a relatively permanent change in behavior due to experience

reflexes

a motor or neutral reaction to a specific stimulus in the environment

instincts

innate tendencies that determine behavior

associative learning

when an organism makes connections between stimuli or events that occur together in the environment

observational learning

learning by observing others; also called social learning

classical conditioning

a process by which we learn to associate stimuli and to anticipate events

Ivan Pavlov

a physiologist who completed the salivating dog experiment

unconditioned stimulus (UCS)

a stimulus that elicits a reflexive response in and organism (meat given to dogs)

unconditioned response (UCR)

a natural (unlearned) reaction to a given stimulus (the dogs salivating)

neutral stimulus (NS)

a stimulus that elicits no response before conditioning (bell)

conditioned stimulus (CS)

a stimulus that elicits a response after repeatedly being paired with an unconditioned stimulus (the bell was paired with the meat)

conditioned response (CR)

behavior cause by the conditioned stimulus (associating bell with being fed which triggers salivation)

higher-order conditioning or second-order conditioning

pairing a new neutral stimulus with the conditioned stimulus

acquisition

when an organism learns to connect a neutral stimulus and an unconditioned stimulus

spontaneous recovery

the return of a previously extinguished conditioned response following a rest period

stimulus discrimination

when an organism learns to respond differently to various stimuli that are similar

habituation

when we learn not o respond to a stimulus that is presented repeatedly without change

Who is John B. Watson?

founder of behaviorism

What was the Little Albert experiment?

a little kid was exposed to and conditioned to fear certain things

operant conditioning

organisms learn to associate a behavior and its consequence

law of effect

behaviors that are followed by consequences that are satisfying to the organism are more likely to be repeated and behaviors that are followed by

stimulus discrimination