PSY 364 Exam #2

Are sensation and perception different? If so, how are they different (define them)?

Yes. Sensation is the process by which we detect information in the environment. Perception is the interpretation of sensory information.

Based on the findings from Hubel and Wiesel, what would happen to a kitten’s vision if its eye was sutured shut between 1-8 weeks of age and then reopened? What would happen if you did the same thing to an adult cat for an equal amount of time? What does this suggest about the development of the sensory systems?

The sutured eye of the kitten would be blind after reopening, but the eye of the adult cat would still have visual functioning.

This suggests that the development of the sensory systems requires sensory stimulation early in life; perhaps providing evidence for critical periods of development.

What is the common cause hypothesis of aging?

The loss of cognitive functioning and perceptual functioning have the same cause; age-associated loss in the integrity of brain physiology.

According to Piaget, what happens when we encounter an event that doesn’t fit within an existing scheme?

We experience disequilibrium and form a new scheme (called accommodation) and then assimilate that new experience into the new scheme.

According to socioemotional selectivity theory, what causes changes in emotional processing from young adulthood to older age?

Our life goals change as we perceive that our time to accomplish them gets limited.

In young adulthood we perceive that there is a lot of time to accomplish our goals, so we focus on future planning and value novelty. In older age, we tend to focus on emotionally meaningful aspects of life because we view that there is less time to accomplish long-term goals.

Do you think that the process of cognitive aging be slowed? If so, what do you think may be a good strategy to do so?

Cardiovascular exercise? (yes, can reverse brain atrophy)

Mental exercise on a particular domain? (can sharpen the skills of that particular thing)

What is working memory and how does it differ from long-term memory?

Working memory is a mental workspace where we can temporarily store and manipulate information.

Long-term memory is a permanent storage space for information; no manipulation of information happens in long-term memory.

What are the four hypotheses regarding why information processing improves from infancy through childhood?

changes in basic capacities

changes in memory strategies

better metacognition

increased knowledge about the world

What type of memory retrieval is relatively preserved in older age and which shows declines with age?

Recognition

Recall

Give one similarity between the reasons why infants (compared to older children) and older adults (compared to younger adults) have poor information processing. Also, provide one reason for change in information processing that is different between development through young childhood and development into older age.

a) Changes in basic capacities

–Slower processing speed and less efficient working memory

b) Knowledge is an important factor in development through young childhood, but differences in knowledge does not explain the reduction of information processing in older adults.

Sensation

The process by which we detect information in the environment

process by which sensory receptor neurons detect information and transmit it to the brain

What things can we sense?

detect presence of light, sound, odor

What do we sense with?

eyes, ears, nose, touch, taste

These sensations can be but together to mean anything

Perception

Interpretation of sensory input

What does perception do?

It recognizes what we see, smell, etc… and puts the sensory information together to make a percept

True

True or False

all of your physical and mental actions—depends on your ability to sense and perceive the world around you.

Constructivists/ Nurtures stance on perception

is constructed through learning

understanding the input coming in through our senses requires interacting with the environment and figuring out what those sensations mean

Nativists/ Natures stance on perception

it does not require learning’

argue we must be born with ability to recognize objects

innate capabilities and maturational programs are the driving forces in perceptual development. Infants come equipped with basic sensory capabilities, which are further refined according to an innate plan

Methods of studying infant perception

habituation

preferential looking

evoked potentials

eye movements

operant conditioning

Habituation

discrimination learning

* learning to be bored
* when infants get bored by a stimulus after it being presented (repeatedly showing them the same color)

Preferential Looking

duration of looking at one of a pair

look longer at unexpected things

Two stimuli are simultaneously shown to an infant to determine which one they prefer, which is inferred to be the one they look at longer. Adding head-mounted, eye-tracking cameras has allowed researchers to more precisely measure preferential looking.

Evoked Potentials

recorded as child looks

Electrical activity in different parts of the brain is measured while the infant watches, listens to, or is otherwise exposed to stimulation. Electrodes are attached to the surface of the skull and a computer records the pattern of electrical activity corresponding to various stimulus

Eye Movements

record where child looks

Operant Conditioning

Positive reinforcement of one stimulus in a pair

infants are conditioned to reliably respond a certain way to a certain stimulus (e.g., they are rewarded for turning their head every time they hear a sound). Once this response is well established, the researcher can examine the conditions under which the infants will, or will not, continue to produce the behavior. Presumably, continued head turning suggests that infants do not detect a noticeable difference between the original and new stimuli, whereas lack of the conditioned response is evidence that they do distinguish between the two stimuli.

True

True or False

vision is present at birth

What vision is present at birth

detect changes in brightness

visually track moving objects

Visual acuity

ability to perceive detail

Infants visual acuity

newborns are 40X worse than adults

There is best at about 8 inches from their face

Visual accommodation

ability of the eye to change shape of lens to focus vision

When does visual accommodation develop

around 6-12 months of age

When does color vision mature

at 2-3 months of age

When can infants start to discriminate colors

by 4 months

What do infants prefer to look at

objects with contour, contrast, and movement

contour

transitions between light and dark

contrast

difference between light and dark

What type of patterns do infants prefer

moderately complex (clear checkerboard) and as they mature it is more highly complex

Can infants perceive forms or patterns

it is sensation vs perception

They are able to see a bunch of lines on a visual stimulus but they do not see that they make a coherent whole

For example when a newborn looks at a face they don’t see the face but splotches of light

When do infants start to recognize faces

by 2-3 months

still debate on whether is is born or learned from experience

but probably won’t recognize a face without learning

are infants born with the ability to perceive faces or do they learn how to from experiences

Depth Perception

it appears newborns have size constancy

Size Constancy

recognize that an object is of the same size despite changes in its distance from the eyes, which would project different images on the retina.

Visual Cliff

holding an infant on the edge of a cliff and being lured to cross the “deep” side.

This cliff consists of an elevated glass platform divided into two sections by a center board (see photo on this page). On the “shallow” side a checkerboard pattern is placed directly under the glass. On the “deep” side the pattern is several feet below the glass, creating the illusion of a drop-off or “cliff.” Infants are placed on the center board and coaxed by their mothers to cross both the shallow and the deep sides.

slow down

did the babies heart rate slow down or speed up when being held above the cliff

visual cliff findings of Gibson and Walk

a crawler (7mo) will not cross the cliff

They are able to perceive the cliff by 2 months old

The fear of the drop off requires them to be able to crawl

How did the response of the visual cliff change with age

at 2 months they responded with interest of the cliff and not fear (evident by HR slowing down)

Fear at 7 months when crawling

also discovered experiences changed perception about the cliff from interest to fear

Humans and hearing characteristics

can hear before birth

newborns discriminate sounds that differ in loudness, duration, direction, and pitch of sounds

2-3 months old distinguish phonemes

born with the ability to learn any speech sound

What types of voices do newborns prefer

mother’s/females

evident by In womb (38 weeks), heart rate increases for mother’s voice and decreases for unfamiliar female voices

How does sensitivity to sounds change with age

lose sensitivity to sounds not needed for home language

shows increased sensitivity for native language sounds

Why would an infant prefer a mother’s voice?

Because they prefer a voice they are familiar with and recognize familiar speech patterns

What was Kisilevsky interested in

whether fetuses can perceive and learn familiar patterns associated with speech.

* respond to different sounds with movement
* by 36-40 weeks show HR decreases to vowel sounds vs non-language sounds
* change of gender

Kisilevsky hypothesis

fetuses are able to remember and recognize human voices that they are exposed to in the utero

Kisilevsky methods

fetuses were played recoding of mothers and strangers reading an adult poem

Kisilevsky results

HR similar to before audio started and once removed

HR speeds up for mothers voice compared to strangers voice and after recording stops HR stay separated for awhile

It shows that they recognize difference in speech patterns

Kisilevsky Conclusions

They can recognize familiar speech characteristics

Language may develop through an interaction between genetic maturation and in utero experience

When do senses become interrelated

within the first month of life

Cross-model perception (integrating sensory information)

previously seen objects identified by touch alone

Nurture stance on sensory information

sensory system requires stimulation to develop normally

what is the critical/sensitive period for integrating sensory information

first 3-4 months of life

examples: hubel and wissel cat study, infant cataracts results in blindness, delayed understanding after cochlear implant

Hubel and Wissel study

studied cats by sewing the eyes shut in kittens for the first 8 weeks of life. When opened kitten had blindness. It can even occur just after a week. However they found that in adult cats vision was unchanged after being sewn shut and reopened.

McGurk Effect is an example of what

cross model sensory integration

What is the McGurk Effect

where what you expect to hear effects perception and you will change the integration to hear what you want/expect

like where they say something but lips look like they are saying something else you go with what you see

How early have we witnessed the McGurk Effect

present at 5 months in infants

How does McGurk effect change with age

increases throughout childhood and continues into adulthood

How does attention change in childhood

attention span increases

better at concentrating on a task

attention becomes more selective

able to ignore distractions

more systematic perceptual searches in order to achieve goals and solve problems

Kannas and Colombo comparison of 3.5 and 4 year olds

3\.5 year olds did worse if there was any type of distraction compared to no distraction

4 year olds only did worse for continuous distractions, no differences between intermittent and no distraction

How sensory and perceptual capacities decline with age in adults

may begin in early adulthood

noticeable in 40s and typical by age 65

gradual and minor changes in normal adults

compensation gradually increases with age

sensory threshold

point at which the least amount of stimulus can be detected (just a noticeable difference)

* increases with age

Vision and age

visual impairments increase with age

* most common is cataracts

Aging of the eye

layers of the retina- cell deterioration and loss

vitreous humor- floating deposits= seeing things in images

pupil- smaller = makes images darker

lens- thicker, yellow, less flexible = less focused image and may cause color blindness

cornea- thicker and less clear

Sensory and perceptual problems with age

by age 70- 9/10 wear corrective lenses

1 in 4 will have cataracts

pupil is less responsive to light - dim lighting is problematic, dark and glare adaptation difficult

Retinal changes with age

cells die, no longer function

* make it harder to detect light

age related macular degeneration

loss of center visual field (damage to retina and blurry vision)

tunnel vision

loss of peripheral vision

glaucoma

increased eye-fluid pressure

* damages optic nerve

cataracts

blurry/dim vision

what is the most common vision

20/40

Optimal visual acuity for older adults

high contrast and bright light

attention and visual search characteristics of adults

selective attention declines

* more easily distracted from task
* attend to irrelevant cues
* inhibitory deficit hypothesis
* Novel, complex tasks become more difficult. However familiar and well practiced skills remain

Hearing and speech changes in older adults

most have mild hearing loss

presbycusis

presbycusis

loss of high pitched sounds

* more common and earlier in men

speech perception in adults

dependent on hearing abilities

novel and complex tasks more problematic

listening conditions important

* background noise problematic

common cause hypothesis

the loss of cognitive functioning and perceptual functioning have the same cause

–Age-associated loss in the integrity of brain physiology

–Both intellectual functioning and perceptual functioning are both products of the overall physiological integrity of the brain

–There is a third variable that explains aging

•Intellectual functioning and perceptual functioning both correlate highly with it

cognition

the activity of knowing and process by which information processed and problems are solved

does cognition change across the lifespan

yes

Piaget

used genetic epistemology and the clinical method

he was also a constructivist

genetic epistemology

how we come to know reality

epistemology- study of how we acquire knowledge

genetic means development here

clinical method

question and answer technique

used to discover how children reason

constructivism

using experiences to understand reality (schemas)

intelligence

how well we adapt

schemas

organized patterns of action or thought that people construct to interpret their experiences

represent reality

cognitive structures—organized patterns of action or thought that people construct to interpret their experiences

action schemas example

sucking or reaching in infants

adults- throwing a ball

conceptual schemas example

a concept for how a song unfolds, or a story unfolds

assimilation

using existing schemes to interpret new experiences

disequilibrium

caused by when things do not match existing schemes

accommodation

process of modifying existing schemes to better fit new experiences

Process of change in Piagets theory

equilibrium --- disequilibrium ---- assimilation and accommodation --- equilibrium

Four stages according to Piaget

sensorimotor stage - birth - 2 years

preoperational - 2 - 7 years

concrete operations - 7-11 years

formal operation - 12+ years

what does invariant sequence mean in piaget theory

this order of stages does not change

means there is universal development

characteristics of Piaget’s theory

invariant sequence

rates may vary

requires maturation and experience

sensorimotor stage

birth - 2 years

newborn uses reflexes and motor actions to understand world

* all knowledge/intelligence is just sensory and motor