Chapter 3 Study Guide Sensation vs Perception o Sensation the process of receiving stimulus energies from the external environment and transforming those energies into neutral energy o Perception the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information so that it makes sense Top down vs Bottom up Processing o Top Down allows the organism to sense what is happening and apply that framework to information from the world o Bottom Up sensory receptors register information about the external environment and send it up to the brain for interpretation Functions of sensory receptors and their neural pathways o Sensory receptors specialized cells that detect stimulus information and transmit it to sensory afferent nerves and the brain o Photo reception detection of light perceived as sight o Mechanoreception detection of pressure vibration and movement perceived as touch hearing and equilibrium o Chemoreception detection of chemical stimuli perceived as smell and taste Extrasensory perception ESP the ability of a person to detect information from the world without receiving concrete sensory input Ex Telepathy and precognition ability to sense future events Absolute vs Difference Threshold o Absolute the minimum amount of stimulus energy that a person can detect o Difference just noticeable difference the degree of difference that must exist between two stimuli before the difference is detected Weber s law the principle that two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage rather than a constant amount to be perceived as different Subliminal perception the detection of information below the level of conscious awareness Examples words being flashed on the screen unnoticed by the viewer but captured by their brain Signal detection theory an approach to perception that focuses on decision making about stimuli under conditions of uncertainty During an experiment if a person is unsure whether or not they heard the stimulus they may just guess and assume that they did Opponent Process Theory theory stating that cells in the visual system respond to complementary pairs of red green and blue yellow colors a given cell might be excited by red and inhibited by green whereas another cell might be excited by yellow and inhibited by blue Trichromatic Theory theory stating that color perception is produced by three types of cone receptors in the retina that are particularly sensitive to different but overlapping waves of light A person with normal vision can match any other color in the spectrum by combining three other wavelengths Inattentional Blindness the failure to detect certain unexpected events when attention is engaged by a task Selective attention the act of focusing on a specific aspect of experience while ignoring others Sensory adaptation a change in the responsiveness of the sensory system based on the average level of surrounding stimulation Perceptual set a predisposition or readiness to perceive something in a particular way Based on expectation top down processing more pure in children Blind spot area on the retina where the optic nerve leaves the eye on its way to the brain Optic chiasm where most of the visual information crosses over to the other side of the brain Parallel processing the simultaneous distribution of information across different neural pathways Binding the bringing together and integration of what is processed by different neural pathways or cells Color blindness condition where some colors are visible but not all Depends on which of the cones is inoperative Figure ground relationship principle by which we organize the perceptual field into stimuli that stand out figure and those that are left over ground Think old lady young woman negative space picture Gestalt psychology a school of thought interested in how people naturally organize their perceptions according to certain patterns The whole is different than the sum of its parts Binocular vs Monocluar vision enable depth perception o Binocular depth cues that depend on the combination of the images in the left and right eye and on the way the two eyes work together o Monocular powerful depth cues available from the image in one eye either the right or the left Depth perception the ability to perceive objects three Apparent movement the perception that a stationary object is Size and shape constancy o Size recognition that objects remain the same size even though the retinal image of the object changes Similar for shape and color dimensionally moving Pitch perceptual interpretation of the frequency of a sound Frequency the number of cycles that pass through a point in a given time interval Timbre tone saturation or perception of quality of a sound Amplitude amount of pressure the sound wave produces relative to standard ear registers sound Frequency vs Place vs Volley Theory Theories on how the inner o Frequency states that the perception of a sound s frequency depends on how often the auditory nerve fires o Place states that each frequency produces vibrations at a particular place on the basilar membrane o Volley modification of the frequency theory stating that a cluster of nerve cells can fire neutral impulses in rapid succession producing a volley of impulses Cochlear implants electronic device that is surgically implanted in the ear and head that allows deaf and profoundly hard of hearing individuals to detect sound Auditory processing in the brain Information about sound moves from the hair cells to the inner ear to the auditory nerve which carries neural impulses to the brain s auditory areas Pain the sensation that warns an individual of damage to the body Fast vs Slow Pathway o Fast fibers connect directly with the thalamus and then to the motor and sensory areas of the cerebral cortex Transmits information about sharp localized pain o Slow pain information travels through the limbic system a detour that delays the arrival of information at the cerebral cortex by seconds Nagging pain reminds brain that we need to restrict normal activity Endorphins neurotransmitters that function as natural opiates in producing pleasure and pain Believed to be released mainly in synapses in the slow pathway Papillae rounded bumps above the tongue s surface that contain the taste buds the receptors for taste Olfactory epithelium the lining of the roof of the nasal cavity containing a sheet of receptor cells for smell Vestibular vs Kinesthetic Sense embedded in muscle fibers and joints o Vestibular sense that
View Full Document
Unlocking...