AP Psychology test 3

reversible figure

a drawing that is compatible with two different interpretations that can switch back & forth

cochlea

a fluid-filled, coiled tunnel that contains the receptors for hearing

bottom up processing

a progression from individual elements to the whole image

top down processing

a progression from the whole to the elements

perceptual set

a readiness to perceive a stimulus in a particular way

pinna

a sound-collecting cone located in the external ear

after image

a visual image that persists after a stimulus is removed

perceptual hypothesis

an inference about what form could be responsible for a pattern of sensory stimulation

Poggendorf Illusion

angular displacement theory: the brain exaggerates all acute angles and minimizes all obtuse angles so we perceive the two lines as not connecting

moon illusion

appears smaller overhead than on the horizon

saturation

based on purity/richness

binocular fusion

brain's ability to fuse two pictures together

inner ear

choclea- sound enters the cochlea through the oval window which is vibrated by the stirrup; the sound is then sent along the auditory nerves to the thalamus and then to the temporal lobe

nearsightedness

close objects are clear but cannot see far

binocular depth cues

clues about distance based on the differing views of the two

monocular depth

clues about distance based on the image in either eye alone

hue

color based on wavelength short=blue mid=green long=red

opponent process theory

color perception depends on receptors that make antagonistic responses to 3 pairs of colors

pictorial depth cues

cues about distance that can be given in a flat picture

External ear

depends on the vibration of air molecules. consists of mainly the pinna. Sound waves are collected by the pinna and are funneled along the auditory canal toward the eardrum

Middle ear

depends on the vibration of movable bones. Vibrations of the eardrum are transmitted inward by a mechanical chain made up of the three tiniest bones in your body (the hammer, anvil and stirrup)

Inner ear

depends on waves in a fluid which are converted into a stream of neural signals sent to the brain. Consists largely of the cochlea. Waves in the fluid of the inner ear stimulate the hair cells which then convert this physical stimulation into neural impulses that are sent through the thalamus to the auditory cortex in the temporal lobe.

just noticeable difference

difference between the absolute threshold and time it takes you to notice it go up

farsightedness

distance is clear near is blurry

ames room

emphasizes the impact of experience/beliefs in perception; we are used to seeing rectangular rooms so we assume that the room we are looking at is rectangular and therefore when one person appears to be farther form the ceiling than the other they look shorter because we do no assume that we are looking at a trapezoidal room

color blindness

encompasses a variety of deficiencies in the ability to distinguish among colors

light adaptation

eyes become less sensitive to light in high lighting

inattentional blindness

failure to see fully visible objects or events in a visual display because one's attention is focused elsewhere

adaptation

get used to something, may cause the just noticeable difference to go up

brightness

height of waves

trichromatic theory

human eyes have 3 types of receptors with differing sensitivities to different light wavelengths

visual agnosia

inability to recognize objects by sight

sounds waves

increased amplitude (dB)-> increased loudness purity influences timbre wavelength influences pitch

depth perception

involved the interpretation of visual cues that indicate how near or far away objects are

visual illusion

involves an apparently inexplicable discrepancy between the appearance of a visual stimulus and its physical reality

optical illusions

know which gastalt principle associates with which illusion

process of vision

light comes through the cornea, goes through the lens and is focuses, sent back to the retina (upside down), processed in the retina, leaves through the optical disk and flipped by the optical nerve then sent to the vision cortex

auditory localization

locating the source of a sound in space

light

measured in amplitude (height) and wavelength (distance between peaks) -amplitude affects brightness -wavelength affects color -purity is how mixed the color is -saturation is the richness of the color -ultraviolet spectrum- short wavelengths -infared- longer wavelengths

absolute threshold

minimum stimulus it takes for you to notice it

retina

neural tissue lining the inside back surface of the eye. absorbs light, processes images, and sends visual info to the brain

feature detectors

neurons that respond selectively to very specific features of more complex stimuli

accomodation

occurs when curvature of the lens adjusts to alter visual focus

pupil

opening in the center of the iris; regulates the amount of light that passes through the eye

continuity principle

people tend to connect things in curves or straight lines (smooth images)

law of good form

people tend to organize forms in the simplest way possible

Phi phenomenon

perceiving movement because it is being presented in an incremental fashion

Gate theory

perception of pain saying that there is a "gate" in our spinal chord that can shut and atop the pain

external ear

pinna- cones that collect soundwaves and funnel them to the eardrum through the auditory canal

sense of touch

pressure, warmth, cold, pain -pain accumulates the slowest -endorphins also prevent the feeling of pain -fast pathway- immediate pain -slow pathway- long term pain

feature analysis

process of detecting in specific elements in visual input and assembling them into a more complex form

dark adaptation

process where eyes become more sensitive to light in low lighting

ventral stream

processes the details of what objects are out there

dorsal stream

processes where the objects are, stereopsis->depth perception, gives sound/sight depth

Ponzo illusion

railroad tracks; our depth perception interprets the slanted lines on each side as getting farther away yet still parallel so when the line in the distance does not get smaller in accordance with the decreasing space between the two slanted lines it appears to be bigger

retinal disparity

refers to the fact that objects within 25 ft project images to slightly different locations on the right and left retinas, so the right and left eyes see slightly different views of the object

receptive field of a visual cell

retinal area that when stimulated affects the firing of that cell

Human hearing range

roughly 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz

basilar membrane

runs the length of the spiraled choclea, holds the auditory receptors, called hair cells

perception

selection, organization, and interpretation of sensory inpot

vestibular sense

sense of balance, imbalance in fluid in your ear causes a sense of imbalance

olfactory

sense of smell(does not go through the thalamus, olfactory bulb in brain helps you smell)

gustatory

sense of tase

gustatory system

sensory system for taste

zollner illusion

similar to poggendorf we exaggerate the acute angles and minimize the obtuse angles so it seems like the lines are not parallel based on the angles of the smaller lines crossing the longer lines

kinesthetic sense

smoothness in motion (not a robot)

process of hearing

sound waves go into the pinna down the auditory canal to the eardrum then to the 3 bones (hammer, anvil, stirrup) which vibrate and go through the oval window into the cochlea and through the basilar membrane and down the auditory nerves to the temporal lobe

Cones

specialized visual receptors that play a key role in daylight and color vision

rods

specialized visual receptors that play role in night and peripheral vision

sensation

stimulation of sense organs

transduction

taking one form of energy and turning it into another

perceptual constancies in vision

tendency to experience a stable perception in the face of continually changing sensory input

weber's law

the larger stimulus you start with the longer it takes to notice a difference

optic chiasm

the point at which the axons from the inside half of each eye cross over and then project to the opposite half of the brain

gastalt theory

the whole is greater than the sum of its parts

similarity principle

things that are alike are grouped together (similar in shape/size/color)

proximity principle

things that are near each other seam to belong together

fovea

tiny spot in center of the retina that contains only cones

lens

transparent eye structure that focuses the light rays falling on the retina

Muller-Iyer illusion

two arrows one with inward facing ends one with outwards facing ends. This is an illusion based on the continuity principle because we follow the open arrows so it seems longer than the closed arrows.

Sound waves

vibrations of molecules (which must travel through some physical medium such as air) the wavelength affects the perceived quality of pitch while amplitude(dB) affects the perceived quality of loudness and the purity affects the perceived quality of timbre

figure and ground

we can differentiate between foreground and background and we can change what we focus on

closure principle

we group elements to create a sense of closusre

experiment with sunglasses and pendelum

when you cover 1 eye with sunglasses and watch the pendelum it looks like it is moving in a circle this is because the light to one eye is slowed down due to retinal disparity

cornea

where light enters the eye

mid ear

3 small bones the hammer,anvil and stirrup, which vibrate the soundwaves on the oval window

Place theory

Hermann von Helmholtz (1863) proposed that the perception of pitch corresponds to the vibration of different portions, or places, along the basilar membrane. This assumes that hair cells at various locations respond independently and that different sets of hair cells are vibrated by different sound frequencies. The brain then detects the frequency of a tone according to which area along the basilar membrane is most active

Frequency theory

Rutherford (1886) said that the perception of pitch corresponds to the rate, or frequency, at which the entire basilar membrane vibrates. This theory views the basilar membrane as more like a drumhead. It says that the whole membrane vibrates in response to sounds, but that a particular sound frequency causes the basilar membrane to vibrate at a specific rate. The brain detects the frequency of a tone by the rate at which the auditory nerve fibers fire.