Chapter Four: Sensation and Perception – Notes Summary



Chapter Four: Sensation and Perception – Notes Summary

Lesson One:

What is the difference between:

• Sensation –

• Perception –

In class Question: How do Absolute Threshold Theory and Signal Detection Theory differ?

Threshold Terminologies

|Key Term: |What it Means: |Example: |

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|Absolute Threshold | | |

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|Signal Detection Theory | | |

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|Subliminal Stimulus | | |

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|Difference Threshold (JND) | | |

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|Weber’s Law | | |

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|Sensory Adaptation | | |

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In Class Question: After viewing the video on subliminal messages, how could companies use this phenomenon to their advantage with advertising?

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Lesson Two

Physical Characteristics of Sound Waves

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|Timbre | |

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In class Question: In what ways is “timbre” important in our daily lives?

Briefly explain how the process of transduction works:

When your outer ear begins to channel sounds waves to your inner ear, what physical and electrochemical process is taking place?

How does parallel processing help you to distinguish the location of sound?

Determining Pitch: Two Theories

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A Pill For Perfect Pitch? New Research Suggests There May Be One – Huffington Post - 2014

Before your next karaoke contest, you might want to visit a pharmacist: Researchers have found that a drug known as valproate, or valproic acid, might help people learn how to produce perfect pitch.

Besides the assistance valproate could give to "American Idol" contestants, the study is intriguing because it suggests the adult brain can learn better and faster through drugs that enhance its "neuroplasticity."

Perfect pitch, which scientists refer to as absolute pitch, is the rare ability to identify or produce the pitch of a musical note without any reference point. Experts believe that the ability to produce absolute pitch may be a genetic trait that must be nurtured through musical training in early childhood — by the age of 5, ideally — or it's unlikely to develop. [11 Facts Every Parent Should Know About Their Baby's Brain]

Young children are known to have an unusual degree of neuroplasticity, which enables them to pick up languages and other skills much more easily than adults, who often struggle to learn a new language, play a new musical instrument or learn other new skills.

But the latest study into the development of absolute pitch, published in the journal Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience, suggests that neuroplasticity isn't necessarily a "closed window" after childhood, and valproate might help nudge the window back open.

Your brain on drugs

Valproate belongs to a class of drugs known as histone deacetylase inhibitors. Marketed under the names Depakote, Depacon and Stavzor, valproate has been used for years to treat migraines, epileptic seizures and mood disorders, including bipolar disorder. (The drug is not recommended for women who might be pregnant, because it can cause decreased IQ and other developmental problems in newborns.)

Earlier research in rats had suggested that histone deacetylase inhibitors might help the animals recover from neural deficits induced by limiting vision in one eye. The drugs seem to work through epigenetics, the external modifications to DNA that switch certain genes "on" or "off."

To build on this earlier research, and to test the hypothesis that psychoactive drugs might enhance neuroplasticity, researchers gathered 23 male volunteers, ages 18 to 27, and gave them either a placebo or valproate for two weeks. The volunteers had little or no previous musical training, but were coached on the basics of pitch and other music concepts.

After two weeks of taking either valproate or a placebo, the volunteers were asked to identify pitch tones: Those who had taken valproate learned how to identify absolute pitch and scored significantly higher than those who had taken the placebo.

"It's quite remarkable since there are no known reports of adults acquiring absolute pitch," Takao K. Hensch, professor of molecular and cellular biology at Harvard and co-author of the study, told NPR.

Better learning through chemistry

"It's a mood-stabilizing drug, but we found that it also restores the plasticity of the brain to a juvenile state," Hensch told NPR. This finding suggests that valproate could have some use in teaching adults skills that they would otherwise have difficulty mastering.

"There are a number of examples of critical-period type development, language being one of the most obvious ones," Hensch said. "So the idea here was, could we come up with a way that would reopen plasticity, [and] paired with the appropriate training, allow adult brains to become young again?"

The use of any drug to enhance learning by inducing greater neuroplasticity also poses some thorny ethical issues: "I should caution that critical periods have evolved for a reason, and it is a process that one probably would not want to tamper with carelessly," Hensch said.

"If we've shaped our identities through development, through a critical period, and have matched our brain to the environment in which we were raised … then if we were to erase that by reopening the critical period, we run quite a risk as well," Hensch said.

Homework Question: Summarize the findings of the above article on “perfect pitch.”

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Hearing Loss

|Type of Hearing Loss |Description |Treatment |

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|Conduction Deafness | | |

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|Nerve (sensorineural) Deafness | | |

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In Class Question: After viewing the graphic in class highlighting the differences between hearing aids and cochlear implants, describe the differences between the two pieces of technology.

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In Class Question: After viewing the video on vision (Discover Education – Pushing the Limits), what are two things that you learned that you didn’t know already?

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Key Parts of the Eye:

|Key Part: |Description: |

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|Cornea | |

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|Lens | |

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|Iris | |

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|Pupil | |

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|Retina | |

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|Rods | |

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|Cones | |

What is the difference between:

• Near Sightedness –

• Far Sightedness –

In Class Question: Using the below reading, why do you have a blind spot?

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Blind spot, small portion of the visual field of each eye that corresponds to the position of the optic disk (also known as the optic nerve head) within the retina. There are no photoreceptors (i.e., rods or cones) in the optic disk, and, therefore, there is no image detection in this area. The blind spot of the right eye is located to the right of the centre of vision and vice versa in the left eye. With both eyes open, the blind spots are not perceived because the visual fields of the two eyes overlap. Indeed, even with one eye closed, the blind spot can be difficult to detect subjectively because of the ability of the brain to “fill in” or ignore the missing portion of the image.

In Class Question: After viewing “The Color Changing Card Trick” What do feature detectors do? How do optical illusions fool them?

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How We Perceive Colors: Two Theories

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Lesson Three:

What is the difference between:

• Assimilation –

• Accommodation –

In Class Question: When faced with multiple stimuli, why is it that your visual system most often dominates? (Use the Visual Capture Discovery Channel Video to help guide your answer.

Bottom Up and Top Down Processing:

|Type of Processing |Description: |Example: |

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|Bottom-Up Processing | | |

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|Top-down Processing | | |

Figure and Ground Terms:

|Figure and Ground Term |Description: |Example: |

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|Proximity | | |

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|Similarity | | |

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|Continuity | | |

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|Closure | | |

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Lesson Four:

In Class Question: After viewing the video on the Ames room, how does the Ames Room fool the eye?

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Monocular Cues:

|Monocular Cue |Description: |Example: |

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|Motion Parallax | | |

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|Relative Clarity | | |

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|Linear Perspective | | |

What is the difference between:

• Perceptual Constancy –

• Shape Constancy –

How does a Perceptual Set work?

Draw both the Muller-Lyer and Ponzo Illusions: How do these Illusions fool the eye?

|Muller-Eyer Illusion |Ponzo Illusion |

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Lesson Five:

How is the concept of transduction used for both hearing and your sense of touch?

What is the main premise of gate-control theory? What are your thoughts on this theory?

In Class Question: What are a few things that you learned from the “Ignoring Pain” video?

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In Class Question: Use the information from class and the below reading to describe how the Vestibular System works.

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Kinesthesis –

The Vestibular System:

Sensory information about motion, equilibrium, and spatial orientation is provided by the vestibular apparatus, which in each ear includes the utricle, saccule, and three semicircular canals. The utricle and saccule detect gravity (vertical orientation) and linear movement. The semicircular canals, which detect rotational movement, are located at right angles to each other and are filled with a fluid called endolymph. When the head rotates in the direction sensed by a particular canal, the endolymphatic fluid within it lags behind because of inertia and exerts pressure against the canal’s sensory receptor. The receptor then sends impulses to the brain about movement. When the vestibular organs on both sides of the head are functioning properly, they send symmetrical impulses to the brain. (Impulses originating from the right side are consistent with impulses originating from the left side.) - See more at:

In Class Question: After viewing the video on Motion Sickness, describe what the researcher was aiming to prove with his invention.

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What is the difference between:

• Gustation –

• Olfaction –

In Class Question – What are a few cultural differences in the food charts that were shown in class?

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Homework Question: Using the information on smell and taste below, fill out the chart with several BIG IDEAS relating to the article.

|How Do Smell and Taste Work? |What Causes Loss of Smell and Taste? |

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Problems with these senses have a big impact on our lives. Smell and taste contribute to our enjoyment of life by stimulating a desire to eat which not only nourishes our bodies, but also enhances our social activities. When smell and taste become impaired, we eat poorly, socialize less, and feel worse. Smell and taste warn us of dangers, such as fire, poisonous fumes, and spoiled food. Loss of the sense of smell may indicate sinus disease, growths in the nasal passages, or, at times, brain tumors.

HOW DO SMELL AND TASTE WORK?

Smell and taste belong to our chemical sensing system (chemosensation). The complicated process of smelling and tasting begins when molecules released by the substances around us stimulate special nerve cells in the nose, mouth, or throat. These cells transmit messages to the brain, where specific smells or tastes are identified.

• Olfactory (smell nerve) cells are stimulated by the odors around us the fragrance from a rose, the smell of bread baking. These nerve cells are found in a tiny patch of tissue high up in the nose, and they connect directly to the brain.

• Gustatory (taste nerve) cells are clustered in the taste buds of the mouth and throat. They react to food or drink mixed with saliva. Many of the small bumps that can be seen on the tongue contain taste buds. These surface cells send taste information to nearby nerve fibers, which send messages to the brain.

Our body’s ability to sense chemicals is another chemosensory mechanism that contributes to our senses of smell and taste. In this system, thousands of free nerve endings especially on the moist surfaces of the eyes, nose, mouth, and throat identify sensations like the sting of ammonia, the coolness of menthol, and the heat of chili peppers.

WHAT CAUSES LOSS OF SMELL AND TASTE?

Scientists have found that the sense of smell is most accurate between the ages of 30 and 60 years. It begins to decline after age 60, and a large proportion of elderly persons lose their smelling ability. Women of all ages are generally more accurate than men in identifying odors.

Some people are born with a poor sense of smell or taste. Upper respiratory infections are blamed for some losses, and injury to the head can also cause smell or taste problems.

Loss of smell and taste may result from polyps in the nasal or sinus cavities, hormonal disturbances, or dental problems. They can also be caused by prolonged exposure to certain chemicals such as insecticides, and by some medicines.

Tobacco smoking is the most concentrated form of pollution that most people are exposed to. It impairs the ability to identify odors and diminishes the sense of taste. Quitting smoking improves the smell function.

Radiation therapy patients with cancers of the head and neck often complain of lost smell and taste. These senses can also be lost in the course of some diseases of the nervous system.

Patients who have lost their larynx (voice box) commonly complain of poor ability to smell and taste. Laryngectomy patients can use a special “bypass” tube to breathe through the nose again. The enhanced air flow through the nose helps smell and taste sensations to be re-established.

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Place Theory

Frequency Theory

Opponent-Process Theory

Trichromatic

Theory

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