Perception test I
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74 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 sensation | physiological, environmental stimuli that fall into our sensory system i.e.-light in our eyes |
| perception | psychological, refers to the multiple complex processes that result in the interpretation of those sensations (perceptual processes) and the end result of the process |
| the perceptual processes (in order) | environmental stimulus, attended stimulus, stimulus on the receptor, transduction, transmission, processing, perception, recognition, knowledge |
| environmental stimulus | anything that can be detected in the senses |
| attended stimulus | stimulus that is being focused on |
| transduction | energy transformed into electrical signal |
| transmission | neural message sent through nervous system to the brain |
| top-down processing | processing that involves prior knowledge |
| bottom-up processing | begins with the information received by the receptors from the external environment |
| psychophysical level | how a person's perception is related to the stimulus in the environment such as the brightness of a lightbulb and how we perceive it |
| physiological level | involves the bodies physiological reaction to stimulus such as light and how it effects receptors of our senses |
| absolute threshold | smallest amount of stimulus energy needed for perception to occur |
| method of limits | presentation of a stimuli that either increases or decreases one step at a time |
| method of adjustment | active participation by the subject, such as using a dial to adjust the intensity until it's visible to them |
| response compression | as stimulus intensity increases the response increases but not as rapidly |
| response expansion | as the stimulus intensity increases, the perceptual response increases more than the intensity |
| modular organization | different parts of the brain process different types of information |
| lobes of the brain | parietal, temporal, occipital |
| parietal lobe | middle of brain, skin senses, touch, temperature, pain |
| temporal lobe | bottom of brain, hearing |
| occipital lobe | back of the brain, controls vision |
| parts of the neuron | cell body, nucleus, dendrites, axon, myelin sheath, nodes of ranvier |
| resting potential | negative charge inside neuron of -70 mV |
| action potential | stimulation from environment causes neurons to fire, cell membrane becomes permeable to sodium and potassium at different times |
| refractory period | 1/1000th of a second it takes for the neuron to go back to its resting potential after it fires. it can fire between 500-800 times a second |
| excitation (depolorization) | makes the electrical potential of the dendrites of the next neuron more positive so the next neuron is more likely to fire |
| inhibition | makes the electrical potential of the dendrites more negative so the neuron is less likely to fire |
| neural circuits | groups of interconnected neurons, ranging from a few to 100's or 1000's of simple linear circuits |
| specificity coding | all the informations about a stimulus or event is carried in a single neuron |
| distributed coding | all information about a stimulus or event is carried in all the neurons of a given population |
| sparse coding | small portion of neurons carry information about a stimulus |
| receptive fields | area on receptors that influence firing rate of neurons |
| center-surround receptive field | base rate of firing with no light in area, decrease firing rate with light shining on area burst of firing when light is off |
| center surround antagonism | on center/off surrounds, light off center/ on surround |
| electromagnetic spectrum | arrangement of electromagnetic radiation--including radio waves, visible light from the Sun, gamma rays, X rays, ultraviolet waves, infrared waves, and microwaves--according to their wavelengths |
| visible light | That portion of the electromagnetic spectrum detected as various colors by the human eye, ranging in wavelength from about 380 nm to about 750 nm. |
| sclera | protective layer of eye (white part of eye) |
| pupil | the adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters |
| cornea | transparent, anterior part of the eyeball covering the iris, pupil, and anterior chamber that functions to refract (bend) light to focus a visual image |
| lens | a transparent optical device used to converge or diverge transmitted light and to form images |
| retina | lkayer of light receptors and nerve cells that line the back of the eye |
| photoreceptors | absorb light rays and transform them into information that can be transmitted by neurons, rods and cones |
| fovea | middle of the retina |
| optic nerve | collection of axons that leave the eye |
| blindspot | where the optic nerve leaves the eye, brain fills in area we don't see |
| visual pigment molecules | light sensitive molecules and transforms light into electrical energy |
| dark adaptation | has two stages, "fast stage"- increase in cone sensitivity (reason we can see after a few minutes in dark and cones are more sensitive) "slow stage"- due to increase in rod sensitivity, visual system is controlled my whichever receptor is more sensitive first its cones, then rods become more sensitive |
| pigment regeneration | process of rejoining opsin and retinal, results in retina becoming dark again, happens quickly in dark |
| types of cells in the retina | bipolar, ganglion, horizontal, amarcrine |
| bipolar | synapse with photoreceptors and ganglion cells, attach to both |
| ganglion | axons of these cells form the optic nerve, last cells in retina to transmit information |
| convergence | multiple neurons (receptors) synapsing to a single neuron, rods have more convergence on ganglion cells than cones |
| lateral inhibition | information transmitted laterally to adjacent neurons |
| lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) | located in the thalamus, regulates the flow of info, organized in layers, primary visual area, located in the straite cortex |
| striate cortex | primary visual receiving area |
| feature detectors | simple cortical cells, complex, end no |
| neural plasticity | response properties of neurons can be shaped by our experiences |
| selective rearing (methods with cats and what it shows) | raised cats in an environment with either only verticle lines or only horizontal lines, they were placed in a cylinder with only horizontal or only verticle lines everyday for five months and when the cats who were only exposed to horizontal lines saw a vertical line, they couldn't see it |
| what pathway | from the straite cortex to the temporal lobe, object identity, also called the ventral pathway |
| where pathway | straite cortex to parietal lobe, location of objects, dorsal pathway |
| dissociations | one function is absent while another one is present, completely seperate, not a one way street |
| prosopagnosia | unable to recognize face recognition |
| neuralpsychology | study in behavioral effects of brain damage in humans |
| cell body | mechanism to keep cells alive, includes the nucleus which is responsible for keeping the cell alive and reproduction |
| dendrites | receives information from other neurons |
| axon | sending information, also called a nerve fiber |
| myelin sheath | layer of protection and nutritive cells around axons, provides nutrients, speed electrical signal prevents electrical currents from getting lost, kinda like insulation |
| nodes of ranvier | regularly spaced gaps in myelin sheath |
| simple linear circuits | simple passing off of the imput |
| converging circuit | many receptors send information to one cell, as more receptors are stimulated, there is a greater response from that target cell |
| complex circuits | some receptors excite the target cells while others inhibit |
| grandmother cell | we have certain neurons for responding to different things such as people and places |
| rods | out number cones 120 mil-6 mil, located in peripheral retina NOT in the center, respond in faint light so are better used in dark |
| cones | densely packed in fovea, important for seeing fine detail, responsible for color vision |
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