PSYC 406 Study Guide - Spring 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Retina, Sensory Neuron, Temporal Lobe
PSYC 406
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Chapter 1
● 7 steps of the perceptual process
○ Stimuli in environment
○ Light reflected and focused
○ Receptor processes
○ Neural processing
○ Perception
○ Recognition
○ Action
● Distal and proximal stimuli (steps 1&2)
○ Environmental stimulus are all objects available to observer
○ Observer selectively pays attention to objects
○ Stimulus impinges on receptors which results in internal representation on the
back of the eyeball
● Receptor processes (step 3)
○ Sensory receptors respond to environmental energy
○ Visual pigment reacts to light
○ Transduction occurs, changing environmental energy to electrical signals
● Neural processing (step 4)
○ Changes occur as signals are transmitted through the maze of neurons
○ Primary receiving areas of the brain
■ Occipital lobe (visual input)
■ Temporal lobe (hearing)
■ Parietal lobe (touch)
● Behavioral responses (step 5-7)
○ Electrical signals become a conscious experience
○ Person perceives and recognizes object
● Oliver Sacks
○ Visual ability to recognize objects lost
● Knowledge: information perceiver brings to a situation
● Bottom-up processing
○ Based on incoming stimuli, data-based
○ Starts with the image on the receptors
● Top-down processing
○ Based on previous knowledge, knowledge-based
Intro to Perception (cont)
● Bottom-up processing
○ Assembling and integrating sensory information
○ What am I seeing?
● Top-down processing
○ Using models, ideas, and expectations to interpret sensory info
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
○ Have I seen it before?
● Relationships within the perceptual process
○ A: Stimulus-perception relationship (psychosocial)
○ B: Stimulus-physiology relationship (physiological)
○ C: Physiology-perception relationship (physiological)
● Gustav Fechner
○ Psychophysics
● Psychophysical measurements
○ Qualitative
■ Recognition
● Categorization of stimuli by identification
● Tests patients with brain damage
■ Description
● Characteristics of a stimulus
● First step in perception studying
● Phenomenological method
○ Quantitative
■ Detection, perception of magnitude, searching
■ Detection
● Absolute threshold, smallest amount of energy needed to detect
stimulus
● Method of limits
○ Hearing test
● Method of adjustment
○ Quicker and less accurate
○ Signal detection theory
■ Takes into account an individual’s response criteria
into account; conservative and liberal responders
are different, and can make for false positives and
negatives
○ Difference threshold
■ Minimal detectable difference between two stimuli
■ Measured with Weber’s methods
■ Just noticeable difference
■ Magnitude
● Stimuli are above threshold
● Compares standard stimulus to test stimuli by assigning numbers
relative to standard
● Response compression
○ As intensity increases, perceived magnitude increases
more slowly than the intensity
● Response expansion
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Environmental stimulus are all objects available to observer. Stimulus impinges on receptors which results in internal representation on the back of the eyeball. Transduction occurs, changing environmental energy to electrical signals. Changes occur as signals are transmitted through the maze of neurons. Knowledge: information perceiver brings to a situation. Starts with the image on the receptors. Using models, ideas, and expectations to interpret sensory info. Absolute threshold, smallest amount of energy needed to detect stimulus. Takes into account an individual"s response criteria into account; conservative and liberal responders are different, and can make for false positives and negatives. Compares standard stimulus to test stimuli by assigning numbers relative to standard. As intensity increases, perceived magnitude increases more slowly than the intensity. As intensity increases, perceived magnitude increases more quickly than the intensity. Light is reflected and focused to create an image on the retina (proximal stimulus) Visible human spectrum is 400 to 700 nanometers.
