COGS 101A Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Qualia, Falsifiability, Operational Definition
1b
● Perceptual process
○ How stimuli transform into sensation and perception
○ Distal stimulus = stimulus in environment; thing that is out there
■ Many transformations which create a representation of the stimuli, never
directly the stimuli
○ Proximal stimulus = stimulus representation on sensory receptors
● Receptor processes
○ Sensory receptors: cells specialized to respond to specific type of envi energy
○ Transduction: transform one form of energy into another
■ Exp. light into electrical energy
○ Sensory receiving areas
● Behavioral Responses Process
○ Stimulus is environment
○ Light is reflected and focused
○ Receptor processes
○ Neural processes
○ Perception (i see something) and recognition (that’s a dog)
■ Use knowledge for perception and recognition
○ Action
● Sensation
○ Low level processes
○ Physical stimuli into electrical signals
● Perception
○ Interpreting signals
○ Some sort of conscious awareness
● Recognition
○ Man who mistook a hat for his wife
○ Visual form agnosia
■ Perception and recognition are distinguishable
■ Relies a lot on memory
■ Might only be a problem with top-down processing
● Nothing wrong with his sensory receptors
■ Damage to occipital or parietal lobe
● Knowledge
○ Context & Knowledge
■ Exp. chihuahua v. blueberry muffin
○ Bottom-up
■ Data-based, processing that is based on stimuli
■ Being told there is a dog there, know what to look for
○ Top-down
■ Knowledge-based, processing that is influence by knowledge
■ Seeing a dog jump out a
Document Summary
How stimuli transform into sensation and perception. Distal stimulus = stimulus in environment; thing that is out there. Many transformations which create a representation of the stimuli, never directly the stimuli. Proximal stimulus = stimulus representation on sensory receptors. Sensory receptors: cells specialized to respond to specific type of envi energy. Transduction: transform one form of energy into another. Perception (i see something) and recognition (that"s a dog) Man who mistook a hat for his wife. Might only be a problem with top-down processing. Data-based , processing that is based on stimuli. Being told there is a dog there, know what to look for. Knowledge-based , processing that is influence by knowledge. Criterion of falsifiability: science must be falsifiable (refutable) on the bases of some physical observation; should be able to be knocked down. Making a clear prediction that can be tested. Is not: i was a racoon in my past life; karma.
