Psych Unit 3
sound waves
- compressing and expanding air molecules - detecting small change in air pressure changes due to sound waves compressing and expanding air molecules
color constancy
perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object
perceptual consistency
perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change
age and taste
babies love sweet and salty foods and avoid salty and bitter ones (instinct without experience)
interposition
if one image covers another, it looks closer/larger
stroboscopic movement
seeing a rapid series of slightly different images right after the other as movement
gustation
taste
Garcia effect
taste aversion
Ossicles
three tiny bones in the middle ear that transmit sounds to the cochlea
relative motion/motion parallax
As we move, objects that are actually stable may appear to move - like when in a car and you are looking out a window
who is the founder of psychophysics
Gustav fechner
wavelength
The distance between two corresponding parts of a wave
Synesthesia
a condition in which one sensation produces another
intensity
amount of energy in a wave, determined by the amplitude, relates to the perceived loudness
Gestalt
an organized whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts
bottom up processing
analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information - often dealing with taste
conduction hearing loss
caused by damage to eardrum or bones in the middle ear
sensorineural hearing loss
caused by damage to structures of the inner ear - nerve deafness (damaged hair cell receptors)
outer ear
collects and sends sounds from the auditory canal to the eardrum that vibrates with the waves
What are sensation and perception?
conscious experience
David Hubel and Torsten Wiesel
demonstrated that specialized cells in mammalian brain respond to complex visual features in the environment
monocular cues
depth cues available to either eye alone
binocular cues
depth cues that depend on the use of two eyes
where does smell go?
directly to the brain and there is an immediate response of these receptors and molecules
tympanic membrane
eardrum -- tissue barrier that transfers sound vibration from the air to the bones of the middle ear - can be damaged by objects in ear or loud noises
elderly and taste
elderly lose their sensitivity to taste and smell as they age (will lean towards stronger tastes that don't upset their stomachs)
what hormone is secreted through pain?
endorphins
smell
everything you smell touches the nose
cilia
hair cells in the ear that line the surface of the basilar membrane - receptor cells for hearing - located in the cochlea - change sound vibrations into neural impulses
perception
how we organize and interpret sensory data - taking in raw information and organizing into what we are trying to accomplish
what happens when touch takes place
information from the sensory receptors is carried to the spinal cord, which is transferred to the medulla, thalamus, and lastly the somatosensory cortex
top down processing
information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations - often with sight
inner ear
innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs
sensation
input about physical world (senses) - Sensory receptors and nervous system receive stimulus energies from environment
what is intensity?
loudness
cochlea
major organ of hearing; coiled, bony, fluid filed tube in the inner earth transforms sound vibrations to auditory signals
Three bones of the ossicles
malleus (hammer), incus (anvil), stapes (stirrup)
absolute sensory threshold
minimum amount of sensory information required to feel something at least 50% of the time - example: smell - 1 drop of perfume in a 3 foot room apartment
touch
mix of four distinct skin senses: pressure, warmth, cold, and pain
vestibular sense
monitors the head and maintains balance
auditory nerve
nerve that carries sound information from ears to temporal lobes in the brain
what is vibrating air changed to?
neural impulses
lightness constancy
object has constant lightness/brightness even while illumination varies
semicircular canals
organs in the inner ear used in sensing body orientation and balance
linear perspective
parallel lines look like they come together in the distance
relative size
perception that occurs between two objects of the same size. the one closer looks larger than the one that is far away even though they are the same thing
what is frequency?
pitch
four distinct skin senses
pressure, warmth, cold, pain
how do we study sensation
psychophysics
what is the oldest form of psych
psychophysics
motion sickness
signals from vestibular sense and eyes clash
olfaction
smell
which is the only sense that does not go through the thalamus?
smell
psychophysics
study of the relationship between a physical stimulus and your perception of it - concerned with physical attributes of the stimulus
5 taste receptors
sweet, sour, bitter, salty, umami
depth perception
the ability to perceive the world in three dimensions
proprioception
the awareness of where the parts of your body are in relation to the space around you
middle ear
the chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing three tiny bones (hammer, anvil, and stirrup) that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea's oval window
retinal disparity
the differences between the images stimulating each eye. images from the two eyes differ
frequency
the dimension of frequency determined by the wavelength of sound - high frequency: short wavelength - low frequency: long wavelength
auditory canal
the opening through which sound waves travel as they move to the ear for processing
oval window
the point on the surface of the cochlea which receives the sound as vibration from the ossicles
smell and memories
the region of the brain connected to smell is close to the limbic system (memory), so often strong memories are made through the sense of smell
what does retinal disparity tell us
the relative distance of objects
somatosensation
the sense of touch that your experience is a mix of pressure, warmth, cold, and pain
kinesthesis
the system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts
size constancy
the tendency to interpret an object as always being the same actual size, regardless of its distance - example: someone moving towards you is not actually growing
shape constancy
the tendency to interpret the shape of an object as being constant, even when its shape changes on the retina - shape stays the same even if it changes with distance
gate control theory
the theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain. The "gate" is opened by the activity of pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers and is closed by activity in larger fibers or by information coming from the brain.
relative height
we perceive objects that are higher as farther away from us
how do we taste food?
when it fixes with saliva, taste buds grab chemicals of food
sensory interaction
when one sense affects another (example: taste and smell) - strwaberry interacts with its smell and its texture on the tongue to produce flavor
light and shadow
where there are shadows involved, there is a perception of depth
