PSC ch.4

  1. absolute sensory threshold
    the minimum amount of a stimulus you need to perceive a sensation
  2. sensation
    detection of an reaction by sensory stimuli through sensory organs and transmission of response to the brain

    sensory stimuli -> sensory organs -> brain

    -biological impact
  3. perception
    -processing and interpretation of sensory stimuli

    -psychological impact that is driven by our present/past experience
  4. difference threshold
    the minimum amount of stimuli needed to perceive a difference
  5. Weber's law
    Webster believes that to perceive a difference, the stimuli must have different constant proportion and not have a constant amount


    • example:
    •   using extra $200 for laptop (unlikely to spend)
    •                  vs.
    •     using extra $200 for house (likely to spend)
  6. signal detection theory
    detection of a stimulus depends partly on a person's:

    • experiences
    • expectations
    • alertness
    • motivation
  7. blindsight
    the ability to respond visual stimuli without having any conscious visual experience
  8. fovea
    -it is densely packed with cones

    -has the highest visual
  9. interaural time difference
    to perceive a difference in arrival time of sound between the two ears

    allow us to localize sound
  10. feature detection
    the way neurons in the visual pathway respond to specific features of a stimulus

    angle, shape, direction of movement
  11. subtractive color mixing
    physical mixing of color to remove reflected wavelengths

    combination of pigments

    ex. mixing paints

    you see color black
  12. additive color mixing
    mixing of different wavelengths of light to increase reflected wavelengths

    combining light to get white
  13. color constancy
    we perceive familiar objects as having consistent color

    even if changes in illumination alter the wavelengths being reflected
  14. bottom-up processing
    sensory information starts from low level to high level of processing area

    low level = entry level sensation
  15. top-down processing
    information from higher order processing areas influences sensory information at low level areas

    -we use our expectations and past experiences to interpret sensation
  16. TASTE

    What is the stimulus energy needed?
    gustation (the action of tasting)

    sweet, salty, sour, bitter, umami
  17. TASTE

    What sensory organs are involved?
    sensory organs to taste include, tongue, mouth and throat
  18. TASTE

    What sensory receptor types are involved?
    the cilia is a small hairlike receptor that sticks out to receive info
  19. TASTE

    What is the pathway to the brain?
    taste receptors in taste bud transmit signal along a cranial nerve through the thalamus, to other areas of the brain resulting perception
  20. SMELL

    What is the stimulus energy needed?
    • Olfaction-the sense of smell
    • the only sense that doesn't go to thalamus first

    volatile chemicals act as stimulus energy
  21. SMELL

    What is the pathway to the brain?
    pathway to the brain glides along the olfactory nerve to areas of the cortex and amygdala
  22. SMELL 

    What sensory organs are involved?
    the nose and nasal passage
  23. SMELL

    What sensory receptor types are involved?
    olfactory receptors, in the olfactory epithelium, transmit the signal to the olfactory bulb which transmits it along the olfactory nerve to areas of the cortex and amygdala
  24. TOUCH

    What is the stimulus energy needed?
    touch is stimulated through temperature and pressure
  25. TOUCH

    What sensory organs are involved?
    skin is a sensory organ for touch
  26. TOUCH

    What sensory receptor types are involved? How is the sound transduced, as in converting energy from one form to another?
    receptors are found everywhere, mainly at base of hair follicles

    • 2 type of fibers transduce pain signals
    • fast fibers create sharp and immediate pain

    short fibers create dull, chronic pain that makes the person remember not to make same mistake
  27. TOUCH

    What is the pathway to the brain?
    temperature and pressure receptors in your skin transmit signal from brain stem to thalamus
  28. SOUND

    What is the stimulus energy needed?
    stimulus like noise with different wavelength (noise), frequency (pitch) and amplitude (intensity)
  29. SOUND

    What sensory receptor types are involved? How is the sound transduced, as in converting energy from one form to another?
    • sound wave enters pinna
    • moves down ear canal
    • vibrates ear drum
    • cause ossicles to vibrate
    • vibrate oval window creating waves in cochlear fluid

    • waves in fluid cause basilar membrane to move
    • this bends hair cells
    • moving hair cells transmit neural signal to auditory nerve
  30. SOUND

    What is the pathway to the brain?
    the pathway to the brain starts from the auditory nerve

    going to thalamus

    specifically to the medial geniculate nucleus

    and the thalamus will transfer the wave to the auditory cortex
  31. What are the 2 types of photoreceptors in the retina?
    • rods
    • cones
  32. What are the functions of the 2 types of photoreceptors?
    • Rods
    • -found in periphery
    • -respond to low light
    • -night vision


    • Cones
    • -found in center
    • -respond to high light
    • -color vision
    • -vision acuity
  33. How does light move through cell layers in the retina?
    1. bleaching - light enters the eye and break down photopigments

    2. causes membrane changes in photoreceptor

    3. activates interneurons

    4. interneurons work to exaggerate signals from photoreceptors

    5. pass signals to ganglion cells

    6. ganglion cells- first neurons in visual pathway with axons

    7. collect info from a group of bipolar cells/interneurons

    8.send signal to optic nerve

    9.optic nerve sends signal from retina to brain

    10. half of he nerves cross over at the optic chiasm

    11. from optic chiasm signal goes to thalamus

    12. info then sent to visual cortex
  34. What are the functions of our "other senses"?
    kinesthetic sense

    vestibular sense
  35. kinesthetic sense
    • position of your body and limbs in space 
    • and in relation to one another
  36. vestibular sense
    sense of balance
  37. How do we use monocular cues to judge depth?
    Monocular cues judge depth through the use of separate eyes

    top down processing


    linear perspective
  38. monocular cues -linear persepective
    parallel lines, width length decreases when distance increase

    ex. train tracks
  39. monocular cues - relative size/ height
    we perceive objects that are higher in our view as being farther away

    objects that are farther away seem smaller on the retina than close objects of the same size
Author
kamanwoo
ID
241220
Card Set
PSC ch.4
Description
how we perceive information
Updated