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Health Psychology 122 - Sensory processes and Perception (Lecture 5-6))

Terms

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Sensation
The stimulation of sense organs (e.g. touch and smell)
Perception
The selection, organisation & interpretation of sensory input
At what month can phonemes be distinguishable?
2-3 months
Visual Acuity improves rapidly over the first ___ months of a baby's life.
6 months
At what month can children perceive depth?
4 months
The perception of what supports infants earliest social relationships?
Human faces
Do babies that are still non-crawling fear the deep end in the visual cliff experiment?
No, thus this wariness of heights is not 'prewired' but develops quickly as children begin to explore the world under their own power.
What happens to our VISION as we age?
-Cornea is more translucent (scatters light)
-Harder to focus on close objects
-Cataracts risk increase
-Yellow lens
-Visual acuity worsens
-Macular degeneration




Effects of degenerating vision
-Lack of confidence
-Affect leisure pursuits
-Isolating

What happens to our HEARING as we age?
-Prebycusis
-Cannot detect soft sound
-Responsiveness to startling noises decreases



Effects of Hearing loss
-Affects safety and enjoyment of life (life satisfaction)
-Less impacting than visual impairment
What is the average age where there are major declines in sensations and perception?
Vision = 70
Hearing =70
Taste and smell = 60
Touch =70

Average 60-70




What happens to our TASTE AND SMELL when we age?
-Reduced sensitivity for the 4 tastes (salty, sweet, sour & bitter)

-decline in sensitivity to odors (e.g. fruity, musky, floral or sweet)

What happens to our TOUCH when we age?
Decline in the sensitivity of our hands
(crucial for the visually impaired)
The four aspects of perceptual organisation
Form perception
Depth perception
Motion perception
Perceptual perception


Perceptual organisation
Organizes a continuous array of sensations into meaningful units
Sensation (Biological definition)
The process by which the body gathers information about the environment and transmits the information to the brain for initial processing
Perception (Biological definition)
An active process by which the brain selects, organises and interprets sensory information
Form perception
Organises SENSORY information into meaningful shapes and patterns
Ambiguity is important to consider for what?
Vision
Gestalt view
The whole is more then the sum of the parts
What are the 5 gestalt principles?
1)Proximity
eg.Line of dots

2)Closure
eg.Dashed circle

3)Similarity
eg. Grouping similar dots

4)Simplicity
eg.Triangle and rectangle

5)Continuity
e.g continuous line












Depth perception
Organizing perception into three dimensions
Binocular cues
Visual input integrated from the 2 eyes
Monocular cues
Visual input from one eye
What do Binocular cues and Monocular cues provide information to?
Depth Perception
Retinal disparity and convergence contribute to which type of depth perception cue?
BINOCULAR depth perception cues
Retinal disparity
The greater the difference between the pictures, the closer the object (as each eye has a different picture of the world)
Convergence
Eyes point inwards when looking at CLOSE objects
Eyes point outwards when looking at FAR objects
Distal stimulus
The physical object from the world (distant from the observer)
Proximal stimulus
The optical image on the retina (Near the obesrver)
Ambiguity
Concept that a a single image at the sensory level can have multiple interpretations at the perceptual and identification levels
Perceptual constancy
Size, light and shape constancy (based on position)
The role of attention in perception
Due to the finite amount of info we can process, we tend to focus our attention on what we need to focus on, thus ignoring everything else
The role of motives in perception
Motivation would also drive our perception. For example if you are hungry and pass a bakery, your perception and attention would be focused on the food.
The role of expectations in perception
We expect to see something have what we perceive that they should have. For example bakeries should have baked good in their windows, not car parts.

Schemas
Enduring knowledge structures
e.g. knowing the content of a bakery (aids in perception)
Attention in symptom perception may be due to what?
Internal and external stimuli which compete for attention

When the environment it boring, we pay attention to the body, notice more symptoms

Distraction can reduce this



Attention
A state of focused awareness on available information
The law of proximity
Grouping the most proximal (nearest) elements
The law of similarity
Grouping the most similar elements
The law of good continuation
The experiencing of lines as continuous even when they are interrupted
The law of closure
The tendency to fill in gaps to experience objects as wholes
What is the Gate control theory?
A hypothetical mechanism called the gate exists at the spinal cord level. This receives input which either opens or closes the gate.
Describe the difference of the inputs of the gate control theory (Sensation and Perception)
Sensation - Ascending messages from PNS carry pain messages to spinal cord to open or close the gates

Perception - Descending influences such as past experience of feeling that pain, attention and behavioral states open or close the gate

Schemas in symptom perception
Can drive searches for symptoms and influence interpretation
Size constancy
The ability to perceive the true size of an object despite variations in the size of its retinal image
Shape constancy
The ability to perceive the true shape of an object despite variations in the size of the retinal image
Lightness constancy
The tendency to perceive the whiteness, grayness or blackness of objects as constant across changing levels of illuminations.
What are the 3 theories of chronic pain
-Gate control theory
-Operant conditioning theory
-Cognitive behavioral theory

Operant Conditioning model
Modifies the probability of different types of behavior as a function of the environmental consequences they produce

For example in chronic pain, overt manifestation of pain behavior prompts desirable attention, thus the behavior is likely to be repeated in the future.

Cognitive behavioral model
The role of patients appraisals and coping strategies are of primary importance. People with chronic pain are perceived as active processors of information.

The persons perception impacts on their behavior

What is the difference between the operant model and the cognitive model?
The operant conditioning model is based on reinforcement or punishment

The cognitive behavioral model is based on their own perception of the pain (actively perceiving)

Treatment for chronic pain
Operant conditioning + Cognitive Behavioral model + verbal praise + distraction

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