Chapter 06 & 07 Sensation and Perception/ intelligence
Terms
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- Sensation
- the detection of physical energy emitted or reflected by physical objects
- perception
- the process by which the brain organizes and interprets sensory information
- sense receptors
- specialized cells that convert physical energy in the enviroment or the body to electrical energy that can be transmitted as nerve impulses to the brain
- doctrine of specific nerve energies
- the principle that different sensory modalities exist because signals received by the sense organs stimulate different nerve pathways leading to different areas of the brain
- synesthesia
- a rare condition in which stimulation of one sense also envokes a sensation in another
- absolute threshold
- the smallest quantity of physical energy that can be reliably detected by an observer
- difference treshhold
- the smallest difference in stimulation that can be reliably detected by an observer when two stimuli are compared; also called just noticeable difference
- signal-detection theory
- a psychophysical theory that divides the detection of a sensory signal into a sensory process and a decision process
- sensory adaptation
- the reduction of disapearance of sensory responsiveness that occurs when stimulation is unchanging or repetitious
- sensory deprivation
- the absence of normal levels of sensory stimulation
- selective attention
- the focusing of attention on selected aspects of the enviroment and the blocking out of others
- even on the clearest night, some stars cannot be seen by the naked eye because they are below the viewer's _______ threshold
- absolute
- if you jump into a cold lake but moments later the water no longer seems so cold, sensory ________ has occurred
- adaptation
- if you are immobilized in a hospital bed, with no one to talk and no TV or radio, and you feel edgy and disoriented, you may be suffering the effects of _________
- sensory depravation
- During a break from your job as server ina restaurant, you decide to read. For 30 minutes, you are so engroseed that you fail to notice the clattering of dishes..this is an example of _______
- selective attention
- In real life detection tasks, is it better to be a naysayer or yeasayer
- neither - it depends on the consequences of a "miss" or a "false alarm" and the prob of an event occurring.
- hue
- the dimension of visual experience specified by color names and related to the wavelenght of light
- brightness
- lightness or luminance; the dimension of bisual exp realted to the amount of light emmitte from or reflected by an object
- saturation
- vividness or purity of color; the dimension of visual exp realted to the complexity of light waves
- retina
- neural tissue lining the back of the eyeballs interior, which contains the receptors for vision
- rods
- visual receptors that respond to dim light
- cones
- visual receptors involved in color vision
- dark adaptation
- a process by which visual receptors become maximally sensitive to dim light
- ganglion cells
- neurons in the retina of the eye, which gather information from receptor cells their axons make up the optic nerve
- feature detector cells
- cells in the visual cortex that are sensitive to specific features of the enviroment
- trichromatic theory
- a theory of color perception that proposes three mechanisms in the visual system, each sensitive to a certain range of wavelenghts; their interaction is assumed to produce all the different experiences of hue
- opponent process theory
- a theory of color perception that assumes that the visual system treats pairs of colors as opposing or antagonistic
- Gestalt principles
-
principles that describe the brain's organization of sensory information into meaningful units and patterns
1. proximity
2. closure
3. similarity
4. continuity - binocular cues
- visual cues to depth or distance requiring two eyes
- convergence
- the turning inward of the eyes, which occurs when the focus on a nearby object
- retinal disparity
- the slight difference in lateral separation between two objects as seen by the left eye and right eye
- mononular cues
- visual cues to depth or distance taht can be used by one eye alone
- perceptual constancy
-
the accurate perception of objects as stable or unchanged despite changes in the sensory patters they produce
1. shae constancy
2. location constancy
3. size constancy
4. brightness constancy
5. color constancy - how can two gestalt principles help explain why you can make out the big dipper on a starry night?
- proximity of certain stars encourages you to see them as clustered and form a pattern; closure allows you to "fill in the gaps" and see the contours of a "dipper"
-
T or F
Binocular cues help us locate objects that are very far away - false
-
Hold one hand 12 inches from your face and the other one about 6 inches away. Which hand will cast the smaller retinal image?
why don't you perceive that hand as smaller? -
the 12 inch one with be smaller retinal image
Your brain takes the differences in distance into account in estimating size, also, you know how large your hands are. the result is size constancy - loudness
- the dimension of auditory experience related to the intensity of pressure wave
- pitch
- the dimension of auditory experience related to the frequency of a pressure wave; it is realted ot the height or depth of a tone
- timbre
- the distinguishing quality of a sound;l th dimension of auditory experience related to the complexity of the pressure wave
- organ of corti
- a structure in the cochlea containing hair cells tha serve as the receptors for hearing
- cochlea
- a snail-shaped, fluid filled organ in the inner ear, containing the organ of corti, where the receptors for hearing are located
- Which psychological dimensions of hearing correspond with intensity, frequency,a nd complexity of the sound wave?
- timbre, pitch, loudness
- Fred has a nasal voice and Ted has a gravelly voice. Which pshycological dimension of hearing describes the difference?
- timbre
- An extremely loud or sustained noise can permanently damage the _____ of the ear
- hair cell (cilia)
- during a lecture, a classmate draws your attention to a buzzing fluorescent ligth that you have not previously noticed. What will happen to your perception of figure and ground?
- The buzzing light will become the figure momentarily and the proffesor's lecture will become the ground
- papillae
- knoblike elevations on your tongue; containing the taste buds
- taste buds
- nests of taste receptor cells
- gate-control theory
- the theory that the experience of pain depends in part on whether pain impulses get past a neurological "gate" in the spinal cord and thus reach the brain
- kinesthesis
- the sense of body position and movement of body parts; also called kinesthesia
- equilibrium
- the sense of balance
- semicircular canals
- sense organs in the inner ear, which contribute to equilibrium by responding to rotation of the head
- April always has trouble tasting foods, especially those with subtle flavors, what is the most likely explanation of her difficulty?
- an impaired sense of smell due to disease, smoking, illness
- mary has chronic shoulder pain. How might the gate-control theory and its revision explain her pain?
- nerve fibers in the gate must have been damaged to the pain and is opening the gate to receive pain signals to the brain or a matrix of cells in the brain may be producing abnormal activity
- June, a rock musician, does not hear as well as she used to.. What is a likely explanation?
- the cilia or hair cells in the ear canals may be damaged to long term loud sound
- Perceptual set
- a habitual way of perceiving, based on expectations
- Animal studies suggest that newborns and infants
- need visual experiences during a critical period for vision to develop normally
- On the visual cliff , six month old babies
- will not cross because they can detect depth
- "have a nice ____ day" says dewey, but then he gets distracted and doesn't finish the thought. yet clarence is sure he heard Dewey wish him a nice day..why?
- expectation due to perceptual set
- parapsychology
- the study of purported psychic phenomena such as ESP and mental telepathy
- Based on current evidence which of these subliminal efforts to get you to drink a soda is most likely to be succesful?
- subliminal exposed words associated with thirst. "dry" "thist" etc
- What human perceptual processe might explain why so many people interpret unexplained sensations as evidence of ESP, telepathy, or other psychic phenomena?
- phychological and cultural factors such as perceptual sets, needs, emotions, whishes, and beliefs
- Concept
- a mental category that groups objects, relations, activities, abstractions, or qualities having common properties
- prototype
- an especially representative example of a concept
- proposition
- a unit of meaning that is made up of concepts and expresses a single idea
- cognitive shema
- an integrated mental network of knowledge, beliefs and expectations concerning a particular topic or aspect of the world
- mental image
- a mental representation that mirros or resembles the thing it represents; mental images can occur in many and perhaps all sensory modalities
- subsconcious processes
- `mental processes occurring outside of consicous awareness but accessible to consicusness when necessary
- nonconcious processes
- mental processes occuring outside of and not available to concious awareness
- implicit learning
- learning that occurring when you acquire knowledge about something without being aware of how did so and without being able to state exactly what it is you have learned
- Stuffing your mouth with cotton candy, licking a lolipop, and chewing on a piece of beef jerky are all instances of ______ eating
- concept
- In addition to concepts and images, _______ which express a unitary idea, have been suggested as a basic form of mental representation
- propositions
- Peter's mental representation of Thanksgiving includes associations, attitudes, and expectations, they are all a part of his ________ for th holiday
- cognitive schema
- Zelda discovers that she has minstankenly dialed her boyfriends's number instead of her mothers. her error can be attributed to ______
- mindlessness: mental inflexibility, inertia, and obliviousness to the present context
- reasoning
- the drawing of conclusions or inferences from the observations, facts or assumptions
- algorithm
- a problem-solving strategy guaranteed to produce a solution even if the user does not know how it works
- deductive reasoning
-
a form of reasoning in which a conclusion follows necessarily from certain premises; if the premises are true, the conclusion must be true
true + true = true - inductive reasoning
-
a form of reasoning in which the premises provide support for a conclusion, but it is still possible for the conclusion to be false
true+true+? = probably true - heuristic
- a rule of thumb that sugguest a ourse of action or guides problem solving gut does not guarantee an npotimal solution
- dialectical reasoning
-
a process in which opposing facts or ideas are weighted and compared, with a view to determining the best solution or to resolving differences
arguments
pro's vs. con's
= most reasonable conclusion baseed on evidence and logic - "I was bought up to believe" "I just know what I know"
- pre-reflective judmente
- "knowledge is purely subjective", "We all have a right to our opinion"
- quasi-reflective judgement
- "based on evidence, I believe" "Here are the reasons for my conclusions"
- reflective judgement
- Most of the holiday gifts Mervin bought this year cost more than they did last year, so he concludes that inflation is increasing. Is he using inductive, deductive, or dialectical reasoning?
- inductive - reasoning in which the premises provide support for a conclusion but it's a guess and it may be false
-
Seymor thinks the media have a liberal political bias, and Selena thinks they are too conservative. "Well, says Seymour, "I have my truth and you have yours. it's subjective.
Which kind of King and Kitchners levels of thinking descri - quasi reflective
- What kind of evidence might resolve the issue that Seymour and Selena are arguing about?
- look into both sides thoroghly and based on evidence and findings make a conclusion
- availability heuristic
- the tendency to judge the probability of a type of event by how easy it is to think of examples or instances
- mental set
- a tendency to solve problems using procedures that worked before on similar problems
- hindsight bias
- the tendency to overestimate one's ability to have predicted an event once the outcome is known; the "I knew it all along" phenomenon
- confirmation bias
- the tendency to look for or pay attention only to information that confirms ones's own belief
- cognitive dissonance
- a state of tension that occurs when a person simultaneously holds two cognitions that are psychologically inconsistent, or when a person's belief in incongruent with his or her behavior
- postdecision dissonance
- in the theory of cognitive dissonance, tension that occurs when you believe you may have made a bad decision
- justification of effort
- the tendency of individuals to increase their liking for something that they have worked hard or suffered to attain; a common form of dissonace reduction
- intelligence
- an inferred characteristic of an individual, usually defined as the ability to profit from experience, acquire knowledge, think abstractly, act purpsose fully, or adapt to changes in the enviroment
- factor analysis
- a statistical method of analysing the intercorrelations among various measures or test scores; clusters of measures or scores tha are highly correlated are assumed to measure the same underlying trait, ability, or aptitude
- g factor
- a general ability assumed by many theorists to underlie specific mental abilities and talents
- psychometrics
- the measurement of mental abilities, traits, and process
- mental age
- the measurement of mental development expressed in termsof the average mental ability at a given age
- IQ
- a measure of intellience now derived from norms provide for standarized intelligence tests
- stereotype threat
- a burden of doubt a person feels about his or her performance, due to negative stereotypes about his or hers group's abilities
- triarchic theory of intelligence
- a theory of intelligence that emphasizes information-processing strategies, the ability to transfer skills to new situations, and the practical application of intelligence
- metacognition
- the knowledge or awareness of one's own cognitive processes
- tacit knowledge
- strategies for success that are not explicitly taught but that insteadmust be inferred
- emotional intelligence
- the ability to identify your own and other people's emotions accurately, express your emotions clearly, and regulate emotions in yourself and others
- heritability
- a statistical estimate of the proportion of the total variance in some trait that is attributable to genetic differences amont individuals within a group
- cognitive ethology
- the study of congnitive processes in nonhuman animals