PSYC 1020 Trent Final Exam 2024 Guide with complete solution Psychophysics - The study of how physical stimuli are translated into psychological experience.sensory adaptation - tendency of sensory receptor cells to become less responsive to a stimulus that is unchanging bottom-up processing - analysis that begins with the sense receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information
- register raw stimuli
- convert to neural impulses
- relay to the brain
- organizes, identifies and interprets sensation
- form mental representation
top-down processing - information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations
Retina - the light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons proximal stimulus - In perception, it is the information our sensory receptors receive about the object.distal stimulus - In perception, it is the actual object or event out there in the world, as opposed to its perceived image.proximal stimulus vs distal stimulus - Proximal stimulus is the stimulation that actually occurs when your sensory receptors are activated... the neural activity. 1 / 3
Distal stimulus is the actual stimulus or object in the real world that you end up sensing and then perceiving, which results in the proximal stimulus.cone cells - work best in bright light and enable you to see colors; concentrated in fovea rod cells - work best in dim light and enable you to see black, white, and shades of gray; concentrated in periphery just noticeable difference (JND) - the minimal change in a stimulus that can just barely be detected Weber's Law - the principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount); larger stimulus, larger JND Area VI - the part of the occipital lobe that contains the primary visual cortex; activate feature detectors with specialized neutrons that respond to specific aspects of stimuli (e.g. edges, angles, size) to determine what stimuli is Neural data --> Thalamus --> PVC (Occipital) binocular cues - depth cues that depend on the use of two eyes absolute threshold - the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time signal detection theory - a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise).perceptual hypothesis - assumptions brain uses to make quick, automatic extrapolations Gestalt Principles - ways for the brain to infer missing parts of a picture when a picture is incomplete; form of top-down processing 2 / 3
monocular cues - depth cues available to either eye alone; help determine size, distance from motion parallax and pictoral cues familiar size (monocular cue) - two objects placed higher than one another look different sizes but are actually the same linear perspective (monocular cue) - Parallel lines appear to meet in the distance.textural gradient - Close objects have greater detail than far objects.interposition (monocular cue) - closer object blocks distant object relative image height (monocular cue) - closer objects = lower; far objects = higher transduction - The process of converting outside stimuli, such as light, into neural activity selective attention - the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus cocktail party effect - Ability to concentrate on one voice amongst a crowd grouping rules: proximity - objects close to each other are perceived as belonging together
grouping rules: similarity - similar features perceived as belonging together
grouping rules: closure - completing a familiar form when it appears to have gaps Colour-opponent system - theory stating that pairs of visual neurons work in opposition; other colour shows up when cells get fatigued red =/= green blue =/= yellow
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