PSYC 320: EXAM 1
52 Cards in this Set
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Perceptual Process
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A sequence of steps leading from the environment to perception of a stimulus, recognition of the stimulus, and action with regard to the stimulus
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Transduction
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Transformation of environmental energy into electrical energy
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Principle of Transformation
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A principle of perception that stimuli and responses created by stimuli are transformed between the environmental stimulus and the environment
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Neural Processing
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Operations that transform electrical signals within a network of neurons or that transform the response of individual neurons
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Frontal Lobe
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Receives signals from all senses; involved in coordination of info received through 2 or more senses
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Occipital Lobe
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Primary receiving area for vision
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Temporal Lobe
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Primary receiving area for hearing.
Termination point for the ventral stream (what) for visual processing
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Parietal Lobe
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Primary receiving area for touch.
Termination point of the dorsal stream (where and how) for visual processing
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Principle of Representation
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Principle that states that everything a person perceives is based not on direct contact with the stimuli, but on representation of stimuli on receptors and in the NS
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Bottom-up processing
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Processing that is based on the information on the receptors; data-based processing
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Top-down processing
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Processing that starts with the analysis of high level information (knowledge); also called knowledge based processing.
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Rat-man demonstration
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Demonstrated top-down processing on perception
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Psychophysical Approach
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Analyzing perception by determining how a person's perception is related to stimuli in the environment. Relationship between environment and perception
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Physiological Approach
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Analyzing perception by determining how a person's perception is related to the physiological processes occurring within the person. Determining relationship between stimuli and physiological responding & between physiological responding and perception
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Absolute Threshold
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The minimal stimulus energy necessary for an observer to detect a stimulus
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Difference Threshold
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The minimal detectable difference between two stimuli
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Weber's Law
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A law stating that the ratio of the difference threshold (DL) to the value of the stimulus (S) is constant.
According to the relationship, doubling the value of a stimulus will cause a doubling of the difference threshold.
The ratio DL/S is called Weber's fraction
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Magnitude Estimation
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The psychophysical method in which the subject assigns numbers to a stimulus that are proportional to the subjective magnitude of the stimulus
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Response Compression
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The result when doubling the physical intensity of a stimulus less than doubles the subjective magnitude of the stimulus
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Response Expansion
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The result when doubling the physical intensity of a stimulus more than doubles the subjective magnitude of the stimulus
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Steven's Power Law
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A law concerning the relationship between the physical intensity of a stimulus and the perception of the subjective magnitude of the stimulus.
Law States that P=KS^n
P= magnitude
K=Constant
S=Stimulus intensity
n=exponent
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Electromagnetic Spectrum
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Continuum of electromagnetic energy that extends from very-short-wavelength gamma rays to long-wavelength radio waves.
Visible light is very narrow band in this spectrum
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Visible Light
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The band of EM energy that activates the visual system and that, therefore, can be perceived, 400nm-700nm
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Optic Nerve
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Bundle of fibers that carry impulses from the retina to the LGN and other structures.
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Retina
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A complex network of cells that covers the inside back of the eye. Composed of receptors, horizontal, bipolar, amacrine, and ganglion cells.
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Rod
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A cylinder shaped receptor in the retina that is responsible for vision at low levels of illumination
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Cones
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Cone-shaped receptors that are primarily responsible for vision in high levels of illumination and for color vision and detail vision
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Outer Segments
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Part of the rod and cone visual receptors that contain the light-sensitive visual pigment molecules
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Dark Adaptation
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Visual adaptation that occurs in the dark, during which the sensitivity to light increases. Increase in sensitivity is associated with the regeneration of the rod and cone visual pigments
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Fovea
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A small area in the human retina that contains only cone receptors . Is located in line of sight, so when looking at an object, center of its image falls on fovea.
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Peripheral Retina
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The area of retina outside of the fovea
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The Blind Spot
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The small area where the optic nerve leaves the back of the eye. Since there are no visual receptors, images falling onto this spot cant be seen
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Spectral Sensitivity Curve.
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Function relating a subject's sensitivity to light to the wavelength of light.
Rods and cones are maximally sensitive to 500-560nm
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Ganglion Cell
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A neuron in the retina that receives inputs from bipolar and amacrine cells. The axons of the ganglion cells are the nerve fibers in the optic nerve
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Bipolar Cells
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A retinal neuron that receives inputs from the visual receptors and sends signals to the ganglion cells
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Lateral Inhibition
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Inhibition that is transmitted laterally across a nerve circuit.
In the retina, lateral inhibition is transmitted by the horizontal and amacrine cells
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Hermann Grid
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A display that results in the illusion of dark areas at the intersection of two white corridors .
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Simultaneous Contrast
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The effect that occurs when surrounding one color with another changes the appearance of the surrounded color. Occurs for chromatic and achromatic stimuli
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Receptive Field
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A neuron's receptive field is the area on the receptor surface that, when stimulated, affects the firing of the neuron
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Center-Surround Organization
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Arrangement of a neuron's receptive fields in which one area is surrounded by another area. Stimulation of the center and surrounding areas cause opposite responses
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Lateral Geniculate Nucleus
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Nucleus in the thalamus that receives inputs from the optic nerve and communicates with the cortical receiving area for vision
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Visual Receiving area
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The area in the occipital lobe where signals from the retina and LGN first reach the cortex
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Simple Cortical Cell
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A neuron in the visual cortex that responds best to bars of a particular orientatin
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Complex Cell
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A neuron in the visual cortex that responds best to moving bars with a particular orientation
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End-stopped cell
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A cortical neuron that responds best to lines of a specific length that are moving in a particular direction
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Selective Adaptation
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A procedure in which a subject is selectively exposed to one stimulus, and then the effect of this exposure is assessed by testing with a wide range of stimuli.
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Neural Plasticity
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The capacity of the NS to change in response to experience
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Infertemporal Cortex
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An area of the brain outside of Area V1 (striate cortex), involved in object perception and facial recognition.
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Prosopagnosia
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A form of visual agnosia in which the person can't recognize faces
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Specificity Coding
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Type of neural code in which different perceptions are signaled by activity in specific neurons
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Grandmother Cell
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A hypothesized type of neuron that responds to a very specific stimulus (like your grandmother)
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Distributed Coding
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Type of neural code in which different perceptual qualities are signaled by the pattern of activity across many neurons.
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PSYC 320 Exam 1