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Chapter 5 Outline
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Sensation is the detection of physical energy from the environment which weencode as neural signals.
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When we organize and interpret our sensations, it is known as perception
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The beginning level of sensory analysis is also known as bottom- up processing
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Top-down processing is the information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when someone constructs perceptions drawing on our experienceand expectations.
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Bottom up processing is sensory analysis that begins at the entry level, withinformation flowing from the sensory analysis that begins at the entry level withinformation flowing from the sensory receptors to the brain
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Patient E.H. suffered from propopagnosia, which is the inability to recognize andconnect the outside the world. Complete sensation was present but perception wasincomplete. It is the lack of top-down processing
Thresholds
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Psychophysics is the study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them.
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Absolute threshold is the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus50 percent of the time
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A hearing specialist would expose an individual to varying sounds in order to figureout their absolute threshold
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Signal detection theory is the theory which predicts how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus amidst background stimulation. Assuming that there is nosingle absolute threshold and the detection depends partly on a person’s experience,expectations, motivation and level of fatigue.
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A person’s heightened attention decreases after 30 minutes.
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More false alarms are detected in heightened responsiveness
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A stimulus is Subliminal if it is below your absolute threshold, you detect it lessthan 50% of the time. For instance, a microscopic cell is subliminal to you becauseyou cannot see it with your naked eye.
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Subliminal advertisements (Drink Coke, eat popcorn etc.), does have an affect on you but do not persuade you.
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The final statement of subliminal messages could be that much of our information processing occurs automatically, out of sight, off the radar screen of our consciousmind.
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The Difference Threshold (just noticeable difference or jnd) is the lowest differenceyou can detect between the two stimuli 50% of the time. For example, youare just able to notice the difference between 1kg and 1.02kg half the time .
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Priming is an acuteness to stimuli because of exposure to a certain event or experience. For example, an individual who has just purchased a new car may nowstart to notice with more frequency other people driving her same make and model.
 
This person has been primed to recognize more readily a car like hers because of theexperience she has driving and owning one.
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Weber’s Law states that two stimuli must differ in percentages or ratios, not amount,for a person to detect it (jnd). 
Sensory Ada p ta t ion
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Sensory Adaptation- lowered sensitivity due to constant exposure fromstimulus. For example, when you go into someone’s house you notice anodor…but this only lasts for a little while because sensory adaptationallows you to focus your attention on changing environment.
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If a constant image was maintained on the eye’s inner surface, the person will first see the complete image, then their sensory receptors will begin to fatigue and the image will start to vanish. The image willreappear and then disappear. This experiment reveals that perceptions areorganized by the meanings that the mind imposes.
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This adaptation allows the person to focus on informative changes,leaving out uninformative constant stimulations.
V isi on
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Transduction refers to Sensory energy being convert (transformed) into Neural energy/impulses.
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Light is composed of electromagnetic waves with Wavelengths (distance fromone peak to another peak on a wave)and Amplitudes (height of the wave)
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Wavelength determines hue and pitch determines the frequency in sound.
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Amplitude determines intensity and loudness in sound.
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External Light entering the eye first travels through the Cornea (protective layer)
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Pupil (an adjustable opening) is controlled by Iris (muscle around the pupil)
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Lens (an oval transparency) that changes shape to focus light by a processcalled accomadation.
Retina
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light is then focused onto the back of the eye called Retina (multi-neuron surface).
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Johannes Kepler revealed that the retinas did receive upside- down images.
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Researchers later revealed that the retina does not read the image as a whole,receptor cells convert light energy into neural impulses and these impulses thenare sent to the brain, it is then that the image is constructed and perceived.
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Acuity is how sharp and clear a vision is
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There are three basic types of Acuity : normal, nearsightedness (only see near things clearly), and farsightedness (only see far things clearly)
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The Retina has 2 types of receptor cells : Rods and Cones. Cells connectingthese detectors form the Optic Nerve that sends the impulses to brain.
 
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Receptor cells are the specialized cells that respond to a particular type of energy.
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Rods are receptor cells in the retina responsible for night vision and perception of darkness.
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Everyone has a Blind Spot, a small region in the visual field where nothing could be seen. This is because there are no receptor cells where the optic nerve leavesthe eye in the retina. Normally, we don’t witness this effect because we have twoeyes that compensate for each other’s blind spot, and the fact that our eyes areconstantly moving.
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Fovea is the region in the retina where light is centrally focused. The fovea hasno rods, only cones.
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When light energy strikes the rods and cones, neural signals are generated. Thesesignals activate the bipolar cells. The bipolar cells then activate the ganglion cells.They then form the optic nerve.
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Cones allow detail an color 
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Cones allow one to perceive color. In the dark, the cone is ineffective. The rodsare not affected by the dim light and many rods will focus their energy into one bipolar cell.
Visual Information Processing
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The retina is brain tissue that floats to the eye during early fetal development
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There are three levels in which visual information is received.
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First, the retina processes information before sending it via the thalamus to the brain’s cortex.
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The retina also analyzes the sensory information
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Information from the retina is received and transmitted ganglion cells.
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Pressure can trigger the retina
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 Nobel prize winners Hubel and Wiesel discovered Feature Detectors in the braincortex that are sensitive to specific features in what we see ,like shape,color, depth, movement, and form.
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Perret identified nerve cells that specialize in responding to a specific gaze, headangle, posture.
Pa r a lle l Pro c es s ing
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Our brain Processes lots of information simultaneously. For example,looking at an orange, the brain processes the orangecolor, the round shape, and the bumpy texture all at the same time.
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People who cannot consciously perceive can still remarkably locateobjects but are consciously unaware of how they knew. Such a phenomenon is called Blind Sight
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Mrs.M was a woman who suffered stroke damage to both sides of her  brain. She became unable to perceive movement.
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David Milner revealed that an individual knows more than they areaware of.
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ella3n

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reply04 / 15 / 2009
ganjer13

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reply08 / 24 / 2008
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