Show:
Vocabulary
Thresholds
The Eye/Vision
People
Grab Bag
100
What is sensation?
Sensation involves bringing in sensory information from our environment.
100
On a clear night, I can see lights for miles and miles. What threshold is at work here?
Absolute threshold
100
Describe transduction.
converting one form of energy into another - stimulus energies to neural impulses
100
Who is responsible for Weber's Law?
Ernst Weber
100
What is the optic nerve made of?
axons of the ganglion cells
200
What is the difference between top-down and bottom-up processing?
Top-down processing involves relying on our experiences and expectations, while bottom-up processing involves looking at the smaller parts of a stimulus to help create a larger meaning.
200
Psychophysics is the study of physical characteristics of stimuli and our experience of them. What are three of these physical characteristics?
intensity, volume, pressure, sweetness/sourness
200
Daily Double! The part of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to humans is right in the middle of two other forms of electromagnetic waves. What are they?
UV Rays and Infrared Rays
200
Who coaches the Carolina Panthers?
Ron Rivera
200
How does the lens accommodate light?
It can change its shape to focus light on the retina.
300
Daily Double! Tell me the difference between nearsightedness and farsightedness - what's actually happening within the eye?
Both are caused by slight distortions in the shape of the eye. NS - objects focused in front of the retina, can see close up. FS - objects focused behind the retina, can see far away.
300
LeBron James just played four games in five nights. The next day, he has a team meeting to look at film. He gazes off into the distance and can't hear his coach trying to get his attention even though his coach is right next to him. What theory takes LeBron's frame of mind into account when talking about picking up stimuli and what does that theory say?
Signal Detection Theory - predicting how and when we will pick up stimuli amid background stimulation - takes into account experience, expectations, motivation, level of fatigue. Assumes no single absolute threshold.
300
When talking about light energy and colors, wavelength determines ______ and amplitude determines _______ .
hue, brightness/intensity
300
What is the trichromatic color theory?
Cones in our retina are responsible for three colors (red, green, blue) and these allow us to see all colors within the spectrum.
300
How does our vision system use parallel processing?
Multiple steps happening at one time in a fraction of a second.
400
What does Weber's Law say?
Weber's Law states that two stimuli must differ by a constant percentage (not a constant amount) for those stimuli to be perceived as different.
400
What does it mean when a TV commercial is supposed to be "subliminal"? Do they work?
This means that the commercial is trying to pass along a message that is below someone's absolute threshold for conscious awareness. Effects are "subtle and fleeting".
400
Describe the process that takes light energy from the outside world into our brains.
Light energy enters the eye through the pupil, lens, retina, rods and cones, bipolar cells, ganglion cells, optic nerve, thalamus, occipital lobe in the back of the brain.
400
Who is responsible for the opponent-process theory?
Ewald Hering
400
What is happening in the eyes of a color blind person?
Their vision is dichromatic - one set of their cones for a particular color does not work.
500
Review #1 - What is the Broca's Area?
Broca's Area controls language expression - this area directs the muscle movements that are needed for speech.
500
What is the just noticeable difference?
The minimum difference required for detection between two stimuli 50% of the time.
500
Why is the fovea a "rod free area"?
It only has cones because cones allow us to see detail. It is the center of our retina and our central point of focus. These cones each communicate with their own bipolar cell, preserving that precise information.
500
Review #2 - Who is responsible for the Psychosocial Theory of Development?
Erik Erikson
500
What month is Mr. Cline's birthday in?
April