Ch. 6 Sensation and Perception
pp. 229-235
Explain top down and bottom up processing in your own words.
Provide two examples of psychophysics.
How are absolute thresholds and signal detection theory related?
Can we sense stimuli below our absolute thresholds? Explain
Do subliminal messages have an effect? (beyond the placebo)
Provide an example of Weber’s Law.
How does sensory adaptation work and what is the benefit of it?
pp. 236-240
How do the two physical characteristics of light determine our sensory experience of them?
Trace the path of light as it travels through the eye.
How do the rods, cones and ganglion cells enable us to “see”?
How does the brain process visual information?
What is the function of feature detection cells?
pp. 242-245
Explain the statement; “Recognizing a face uses parallel processing.”
Summarize the two theories of color vision.
Restate the rapid sequence of events that occur when you see and recognize someone you know.
pp.245-252
What are the characteristics of air pressure waves that we hear as sound?
Trace the step by step path that sound takes as it leaves my mouth and is recognized by your brain when I say, “HELLO”!
What accounts for a majority of hearing loss that people suffer from? Explain
How do we perceive loudness and pitch?
Why are two ears better than one?
Describe the two different types of hearing loss.
How does the cochlear implant work?
pp.252-258
Describe how our sense of touch works.
Compare kinesthesis and the vestibular sense. (differences)
What happens to your vestibular sense after you ride the tilt a whirl at the fair?
Identify the 4 general factors that affect our experience of pain.
Summarize the gate control theory of pain.
How do people edit memories of pain. Provide examples
Explain the statement; “ the pain in sprain is mainly in the brain”.
Identify different ways pain can be controlled.
pp. 258-263
What are the 5 basic taste sensations?
How do the taste buds function?
Provide an example of sensory interaction for smell and taste?
How do we experience smell?
Trace the path of the smell of a piece of pizza to the brain.
How does our system for sensing smell differ from our sensory systems for vision, touch, and taste.
pp. 263-272
Explain the Gestalt approach to perception.
List the grouping organizations our brain uses to make sense of our perceptions.
How do we transform two differing two dimensional retinal images into a single three dimensional perception?
Compare stroboscopic movement and the phi phenomenon.
Explain size and shape, color, and light constancies.
Describe the sensory and neurological experience of an adult who has been blind and had their sight restored.