Psych chapter 6 – Flashcards

- usually part of one continuous process -Sensation: Bottom-up process by which the physical sensory system receives and represents stimuli at the very basic level of sensory receptors and works up -Perception: Top-down mental process of organizing and interpreting sensory input from experience and expectations

is sensory analysis that begins at the entry level, with information flowing from the sensory receptors to the brain.

is information processing guided by high-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions by filtering information through our experience and expectations

-Receive sensory stimulation, often using specialized receptor cells -Transform that stimulation into neural impulses -Deliver the neural information to our brain

At this moment, we are being struck by: -X-rays -Radio waves -Ultraviolet and infrared light -Sound waves of high and low frequencies

-Predicts how and when we will detect a faint stimulus amid background noise. -Absolute threshold: the minimum stim required to stimuli 50% of the time

Activating, often unconsciously, associations in our mind, thus setting us up to perceive, remember, or respond to objects or events in certain ways

Diff thresh-Minimum difference a person can detect between any two stimuli half the time; increases with stimulus size Webers Law- For an average person to perceive a difference, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (not a constant amount); exact proportion varies, depending on the stimulus.

Subliminal stim- those too weak to detect 50% of the time Subliminal sensation- sensations are too fleeting to enable exploitation with subliminal messages Subliminal persuasion- may produce a fleeting, subtle, but not powerful enduring effect on behavior

-Is diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation -Aids focus by reducing background chatter -Influences how the world is perceived in a personally useful way Influences emotions ~We perceive the world not exactly how it is but as it is useful for us to perceive it~

-Mental tendencies and assumptions that affect (top-down) what we hear, taste, feel, and see -Schemas organize and interpret unfamiliar information through experience -Preexisting schemas influence top-down processing of ambiguous sensation interpretation, including gender stereotypes

A given stimulus may trigger different perceptions because of the immediate context.

Distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next. Electromagnetic wavelengths vary from the short blips of cosmic rays to the long pulses of radio transmission.

Dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light; what we know as the color names blue, green, and so forth.

Amount of energy in a light wave or sound wave, which influences what we perceive as brightness or loudness. Intensity is determined by the wave's amplitude (height)

the number of complete wavelengths that can pass a point in a given time, depends on the length of the wave

the height from peak to trough (top to bottom).

Centered Low numbers High Sensitivity in general Low Sensitivity in dim light Color

Peripheral High in numbers High sensitivity in dim light No color

1-Retina's red, green, and blue cones respond in varying degrees to different color stimuli, as the Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory suggested. 2-Cones' responses are then processed by opponent-process cells, as Hering's theory proposed.

-Showed brain's computing system deconstructs and then reassembles visual images -Found specialized occipital lobe neuron cells receive information from ganglion cells and pass to supercell clusters

motion, form, depth, color

Form perception Depth perception Perceptual constancy

-Perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into meaningful groups -Human minds use these grouping strategies to see patterns and objects.

Depth cue, such as interposition or linear perspective, available to either eye alone -Light and shadow -Relative motion -Relative size -Linear perspective -Interposition -Relative height

Color- Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object Shape- Perception of form of familiar objects as constant even when retinas receive changing images Size- Perception of objects as having constant size even when distance from them varies

Sensorineural hearing loss (nerve deafness)- Damage to cell receptors or associated nerves Conduction hearing loss- Damage to mechanical system that conducts sound waves to cochlea

Place theory-Theory that links the pitch heard with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated; best explains high pitches Frequency theory (temporal theory) in hearing- Theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling its pitch to be sensed; explains low pitches

Pressure Warmth Cold Pain

Sensory receptors (nociceptors) respond to potentially damaging stimuli by sending an impulse to the spinal cord, which passes the message to the brain, which interprets the signal as pain.

Bio- activity in spinal cord, genetic differences in endorphin prod, brains interpretation of CNS activity psych- attention to pain, learning based on experiences, expectations Social- presence of others, empathy for others, cultural expectations

- inside each little bump on the top and sides of the tongue are 200 plus taste buds - each bud contains a pore with 50-100 taste receptors - each receptor facts to doff types of food molecules and sends messages to the brain

-Information from the taste buds travels to an area between the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain. -It registers in an area not far from where the brain receives information from our sense of smell, which interacts with taste.

Kinesthesia- System for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts, Interacts with vision Vestibular- Sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance

Influence of bodily sensations, gestures, and other states on cognitive preferences and judgments