Unit 3: Sensation and Perception

the minimum amount of energy or chemicals that can be detected 50% of the time by our senses.

The smallest change in stimulation that can be detected 50% of the time (ex. shower temperature difference)

States that the difference threshold is a constant proportion of the specific stimulus

a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise). (hits, misses, false alarms, correct rejections)

when a signal is present and you noticed the signal

when a signal is present but you don't notice the signal

when a signal is not present but you notice the signal

when a signal is not there and you don't notice the signal

the notion that we may respond to stimuli that are below are level of awareness (only happens in controlled laboratory studies)

the branch of psychology that deals with the relationship between physical stimuli and mental phenomena (transduction)

turning energy into a neural impulse

the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

can listen to one person in the crowd but attention turns away when you hear your name being called

concentrating on more than one activity at the same time

failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere (ex. gorilla test)

failing to notice changes in the environment (form of inattentional blindness)

The experience of sensory stimulation

The process of creating meaningful patterns from raw sensory information

starts at your sensory receptors and works up to higher levels of processing (lines, angles, colors) (slower but more accurate)

constructs perception from this sensory input by drawing on your experiences and expectations (faster but less accurate)

diminished sensitivity as time continues (ex. don't realize your pen is in your ear after a while)

an organism's decreasing response to a stimulus with repeated exposure to it (ex. what your house smell's like)

The circumstances, atmosphere, attitudes, and events surrounding a text.

a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another (ex. seeing ABC or 12, 13, 14 when looking at an image)

Concepts or mental frameworks that you already know and organize to interpret/categorize information. (ex. school schema)

change schema to fit new information

black and white vision, provide night vision, very sensitive to light, respond to light and dark, many rods connect to single bipolar cell (120 million)

respond to color as well as light and dark, works best in bright light, found mainly in the fovea, only a single cone connects to a bipolar cell

cells in the visual cortex that are sensitive to an image moving in a particular direction across the retina

cells in the visual cortex that are sensitive to specific features of the environment

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

three different types of cones (red, green, blue/violet), experience of color is the result of mixing of the signals from these receptors

mixing of lights and different hues (lights, TV, computer monitors)

mixing pigments (ex. paint)

dichromatic - when someone cannot see either red/green shades or blue/yellow shades

people can only see in shades of grey

transparent protective coating over the front of the eye

small opening in the iris though which light enters the eye

the colored part of the eye

focuses light onto the retina

lining of the eye containing receptor cells that are sensitive to light

center of visual field

the nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain

area where axons of ganglion cells leave the eye

receive input from receptor cells (rods and cones)

receive input from bipolar cells

increased sensitivity of rods and cones in darkness

The visual processing areas of cortex in the occipital and temporal lobes.

decreased sensitivity of rods and cones in bright light

sensory experience that occurs after a visual stimulus has been removed

the rods and cones

in vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field

colors (red, green, etc)

vividness of a hue

how close it is to the color white

Horizontal distance between waves (hue/color)

the number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time

red colors (low frequency)

blue/purple colors (high frequency)

Height of a wave (intensity/brightness)

bright colors

dull colors

outer ear, collects sound waves

the area of the temporal lobe responsible for processing sound information

vibrates in response to sound waves

concentrates vibrations from the tympanic membrane

sends concentrated vibration to the cochlea

ossicles (protect or amplify certain sounds)

a coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses

receives vibration from stirrup

Membrane in the cochlea which contains receptor cells, called hair cells

Center part of the cochlea, containing hair cells, canals, and membranes

receptor cells that turn (sound) energy of movement into neural impulses

connection from ear to brain that provide information to both sides of the brain

-use both monaural (1) and binaural (2) cues

-louder sounds are closer

-sounds will arrive at one ear sooner than the other to help determine the direction the sound is coming from

ossicals are effected (physical damage, uses hearing aids)

problems with transduction/nerve sending message to the brain (uses cochlear implant)

Pitch is determined by location of vibration along the basilar membrane

pitch is determined by frequency of hair cells produce action potentials

pattern of sequential firing determines pitch

changes in pressure caused by molecules of air moving

the number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time (determines pitch and is measured in hertz)

Height of a wave, determines loudness (measured in decibels)

multiples of the basic tones

quality of texture of sound

starts when something touchs your skin ->travels along sensory nerves connecting to the spinal cord ->signal sent to somatosensory cortex

registers and processes body touch and movement sensations

sensory receptor within the skin that turns the touch into electrical receptor sending it to the brain

pain or discomfort felt in an amputated limb

neurological "gate" in spinal cord which controls transmission of pain to brain

the sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance

provide information about equilibrium and body position

sense of the location of body parts in relation to the ground and each other (allows coordination of body parts)

sense of smell

complete loss of smell

used by animals for communication, provides information about identity

sense of taste

the organ of taste transduction (dissolve in saliva and activate receptors sent to the parietal lobe)

There are both people who experience the sense of taste with far greater intensity than average, and those who cannot sense taste at all.

describing one kind of sensation in terms of another ("a loud color", "a sweet sound")