Chapter 5 – Sensation
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Top–Down vs. Bottom Up Processing
The 7 Senses; Energy vs. Chemical vs. Body Position Senses
Absolute Thresholds
Subliminal messaging – modern definition of and whether there is any evidence of it? Conscious vs. Unconscious
processing
o What was backward masking (the music)? How did top-down processing affect your perception of what you
heard?
Blindsight vs. Change Blindness
Difference Thresholds
o What is a “jnd”?
o How does Weber’s Law fit in here? (How does it determine jnds?
How is signal detection theory affected by top-down processing & how is it related to thresholds?
Sensory Adaptation / how/why?
Cite Movement Aftereffects (MAEs) / how?
Transduction – what is it, where, what parts, how / all senses
What is color? / Electromagnetic Spectrum
The Eye – parts and their functions (cornea, pupil, iris, lens, retina, rods, cones, fovea, bipolar cells, ganglion cells, optic
nerve, thalamus, occipital lobe);
o Blindspot explanation
o Acuity – near vs. far sightedness
o Color Vision:
 Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory, RGB, problems
 Opponent Process Theory – how does this explain afterimages and colorblindness better than the RGB
theory?
 Cones = color, Rods = dim light …why / how (relationship to bipolar cells) / explanation of maximum
firing
 Explanation of respective size of visual fields & acuity
Prosopagnosia
Parallel Processing vs Serial Processing
The Ear – parts and their functions (outer, middle, inner; pinna, auditory canal, eardrum, ossicles: hammer, anvil, stirrup,
oval window of cochlea, basilar membrane, tectorial membrane, outer duct and inner duct, hair cells (cilia)
o How does transduction actually occur? What releases NTs?
o Amplitude vs. Frequency / Wavelength (sound & vision)
 Know the physical properties and the corresponding perceptual interpretations (amplitude, frequency,
pitch)
o Place vs. Frequency Theory
o Sound Localization
o Conduction vs. Sensorineural Deafness – what parts are broken?
o tinnitus
o High frequencies explained by which one?
o Low frequencies explained by which one, aided by the volley principle
What are the 5 types of touch receptors? How is pain different?
Gate Control Theory of Pain – small diameter vs large diameter, open vs. closed gate, Top Down vs. Bottom Up;
Nociceptors?
What are the 5 types of taste receptors? What is flavor?
Kinesthesis vs. Vestibular – where are the receptor cells for these senses?
Smell – structural evidence of why it’s old (below cerebral cortex); link to memory
Synesethesia
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Chapter 6 – Perception
Selective Attention – Conscious vs. Unconscious
Illusions to explain: Ponzo, Muller-Lyer, Ames Room, Moon, St. Louis Archway
Visual capture
Visual agnosia / prosopagnosia
Figure Ground Relationship
Gestalt Groupings:
o Proximity
o Continuity
o Similarity
o Closure
o Connectedness
Depth Perception:
o Monocular Cues:
 Relative Size
 Relative Clarity
 Interposition
 Texture Gradient
 Relative Height
 Relative Motion
 Linear Perspective
 Relative Brightness
o Binocular Cues:
 Retinal disparity, convergence
o Visual Cliff & Babies
Motion Perception: Phi Phenomenon, Stroboscopic Movement
Constancies: shape, size, lightness, color
Size-Distance Relationships
Sensory Deprivation
Perceptual Adaptation
Perceptual Set & Schemas, Context, Culture effects
Human Factors Psychology
Parapsychology / ESP: telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, telekinesis