AP Psych Module 16-21-sensation/perception/eyes/ears

Tresholds

Absolute and Difference

Extrasensory Perception

Clairvoyance (perceiving remote events) telepathy (mind-mind communication) precognition (read future) psychokinesis (mind over matter) 50% of Americans believe in ESP No scientific evidence, high likelihood of chance

Parallel Processing

Doing more than one thing at a time Divides info into subdivisions

Gestalt Psychology

Gestalt:german word for form/whole an organized whole; our minds tend to integrate pieces of info into meaningful wholes whole exceeds sum of its parts

Supercell

Info passes to other cortical areas where team of cells (supercell cluster) respond to more complex patterns

Bottom Up Processing

Info processing that begins at sensory receptors and works up to the perception ability of the brain Used when have no prior experience

Top Down Processing

Info processing where perception is constricted based off prior experiences and expectations

Sensory Adaption

Longer exposure you have to a consistent stimulus, the less aware of it we become due to neurons firing less Ex.clothes on body, smells in a candle store

Retina

Multilayered tissue on eyeball's inner surface Receptor cells convert light energy to neural impulses and forward this to brain which reassembles images where we begin to process visual info

Nearsightedness vs Farsightedness

Nearsightedness- occurs because lens focuses image in front of retina Farsightedness-occurs because lens focuses image behind the retina

Optic Nerve

Nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain Optic chasm send info from left eye to right hemisphere and vice versa

Sensations of Touch

Pressure-tickled 2+ adjacent pressure pts Cold Warmth-cold and warmth=hot Pain-gentle touch=itchy

Pathway to the brain

The optic nerves leave the eyes and cross each other at the optic chasum. From here, the "right side optic nerve" signals go to the left and the "left side optic nerve" signals to the right. They are routed through the thalamus. Fibers are routed from there to the visual cortex of the occipital lobe

Perception

The process of organize and interpret sensory info Enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events Making sense of what stimulated our sensory receptors

Opponent Processing Theory

These are opposing, 2 color process in the retina and Thalamus 1.Red-green 2.Yellow-blue 3.White-black Neural fatigue

Young Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory

Three types of cones/color receptors in the brain : Red, green, blue All colors are a combination of these three being activated

Conversions of Energy Light Energy Sound Waves Chemical Energy Pressure, Vibration, Texture Balance/Orientation in space

Vision Hearing Taste and smell Touch Proprioception/Kinesthetic Awareness

Experiences change based on emotion

When sad more likely to perceive a word as sad or a scene When angry more likely to see neutral things as aggressive

Perceptual Set

a mental dispostion to perceive one things and not another similiar to priming ex. folk, cloak, soak, what's the white part of an egg? person will say yoak

Signal Detection Theory

a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus amid background stimulation Stimuli detection depends on person's experience expectations, motivations, and alertness Assumes no single absolute threshold Stimuli must involve synchronized activity in the brain to reach consciousness

Perceptual Adaption

ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or inverted visual field

Ganglion Cells

activated by bipolar cells

Pain

allows us to adjust out bodies and alerts us to damage Nociceptors work as thresholds-only fire when detect harmful amounts of temperature/pressure/chemicals remember peak moment/how much pain we feel at the end cultural expectations/presence of others

Cones

allows you to see fine detail, color function in daylight/well lit environments

Shape and Size Constancy

an object's shape/size stays the same with changes in distance from object

Relative Motion

as we move, objects that are stable may appear to move

Auditory Nerve

axons connect hair cells to the auditory nerve impulses sent to thalamus and then auditory cortex can hear 2 different versions of our voice

Volley Principle

both theories are true in different situations neural cells can alternate firing

Fovea

central focus point of retina

Inner Ear

cochlea, semicircular canals, vestibular sacs

Iris

color muscle surrounding the pupil that dialates/constricts in response to light/emotions

Middle Ear

consists of three tiny bones-hammer, anvil, stirrup pick up vibrations cause this to vibrate

Brightness Constancy

constant brightness as illumination changes

Conductive Hearing Loss

damage to the mechanical structures which conduct sound to the cochlea

Stroop Effect

demonstration of inference time words and colors example

Monocular Cues

depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either eye alone

Binocular Cues

depth cues, such as retinal disparity, that depend on the use of two eyes judging the distance of two nearby objects

Rods

detect black, white, grey, and heaviest involved with darkness-peripheral share bipolar cells

Amplitude (sound)

determines the loudness

Frequency (sound)

determines the pitch long waves-->low frequency-->low pitch short waves-->high frequency-->high pitch

Frequency Theory

differences in pitch are due to rate of neural impulses traveling up the auditory nerve explains low pitch very well

Place Theory

differences in pitch result from stimulation of different areas of the cochlea's basilar membrane explains high pitch very well high pitch:large vibrations near the beginning of membrane low pitch:vibrate more of membrane, including end

Wavelength

distance from peak to peak of light/sound wave determines the hue

What causes red eye in a photo?

eyes haven't adapted to flashes of light so flash goes all the way back and shows retina

Change Blindness

failing to notice change in the environment

Inattentional Blindness

failing to see visible objects when our attention is focused elsewhere ex.change blindness

Closure

fill gaps to create a complete, whole object

Lens

focuses incoming light into an image on the retina

Selective Attention Cocktail Party Effect ADHD

focusing our conscious awareness on a particular stimulus while all other stimulus are processed unconsciously divided attention ex.Cocktail Party effect-we can drown out all the surrounding convos to focus on ours but we unconsciously hear things like your name from across the room ex.ADHD-inablitity to selectively focus our attention;attempt to focus on all stimuli at once driving and texting/talking vs driving and talking to passenger?

Depth Perception

from the two dimensional image hitting our retinas, we construct a three dimensional image in our brains allows us to judge danger of an incoming car or height of house

Relative Size

if we assume two objects are similar in size, most people perceive the one that casts the smaller retinal image as farther away

Phi Phenomenon

illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on & off in quick succession

Earphones and Music

iphones:70% volume is 90-100 decibels using often can lead to having the hearing of 50 year old by the time you're in your 20's

Bipolar Cells

light energy chemical changes that's spark neural signals activating this exist between photoreceptors and ganglion cells

60/60 Rule

listen to 60% volume for 60 min then take a break

Sound

measured in decibels absolute threshold 0 decibles-means the min amount of sound

Oval Window

membrane at the beginning of the cochlea vibrates in response to signals received from the middle ear, vibrations jostle liquid

Absolute Thresholds

min stimulation necessary to detect light, sound, pressure, taste and order 50% of the time

Feature Detectors

nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus such as shape, angle, and movement

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

nerve deafness damage to the hair cells and auditory nerves (furniture on carpet) repeated exposure to loud noises lead to this cochlear implants transmit electrical signals from transmitter on the scalp to cochlea into nerve itself through electrode

Interposition

one object partially blocks our view of another

Figure and Ground

organization of the visual field into objects(figures) that stand out from their surroundings(ground)

Pinna

outer ear a flap of cartilage which channels sound waves down into the auditory canal

Auditory Canal

outer ear canal that hold the Tympanic Membrane (eardrum) sound waves cause this membrane to vibrate

Hearing Process

outer ear to eardrum to middle ear to cochlea to basilar membrane to hair cells to auditory nerve to auditory cortex

Linear Perspective

parallel lines appear to meet in the distance

Continuity

perceive smooth, continuous patterns

Color Constancy

perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color even if changing illumination alters the wavelength reflected by the object

Perceptual Constancy

perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change

Grouping

perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups

Importance of Touch

physical/emotional development premature babies can gain weight/leave hospital sooner if touched more

Blind Spot

point at which optic nerve leaves the eye creating a blindspot because no receptor cells are located here

Cornea

protects the eye and bends light to focus

Transduction

receive sensory stimulation (w/in certain range) transform that stimulation into a neural impulse Deliver that neural impulse to our brains

Schemas

representation of a plan or theory in the form of an outline or model

Photoreceptor Cells

rods, cones

Basilar Membrane

runs through liquid of cochlea, lined with sensory receptors called hair cells, moving liquid bends hair cells which creates neural impulses

Audition

sense/act of hearing hear the range/frequency of the human voice best

Light and Shadow

shading produces a sense of depth consistent with our assumption that light comes from above

Pupil

small adjustable opening lets light pass through

Cochlea

snail shaped tube in the inner ear filled with liquid

Subliminal Stimuli

stimuli you cannot detect 50% of the time below absolute threshold

Psychophysics

study of relationship between the physical characteristics of stimuli and our psychological experience of them

Context Effects

the context you find yourself in will effect how you perceive a situation

Difference Threshold

the min difference between two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time

Sensation

the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system RECIEVE and REPRESENT stimulus energies from our enviroment

Weber's Law

two stimuli must differ by a constant min % to be precieved

Processing Visual Info

visual info goes to neural layers goes to rods/cones goes to bipolar cells goes to ganglion cells goes to optic nerve goes to brain

Amplitude (vision)

wave height determines a color's intensity/brightness

Cocktail Party Effect

we can drown out all the surrounding convos to focus on ours but we unconsciously hear things like your name from across the room

Proximity

we group nearby figures ex. II II II we will see those lines in 3 groups of 2's

Stereophonic Hearing

we hear "three dimensionally" sound on the right/left reach corresponding ear slightly before reaching the other ears are sensitive enough to distinguish where sound comes from

Relative Height

we perceive objects higher in field of vision as farther away

Experiences change based on motivation

when hungry more likely to see food as more delicious when tired more likely to see distances as longer

Every 10 decibels corresponds to a tenfold increase in sound intensity

whisper-20 normal conversation-60 dangerous-80-85 damaging-100 loud concert-115 pain-125 12 gauge shotgun-165

Nociceptors

work as thresholds-only fire when detect harmful amounts of temperature/pressure/chemicals