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| the smallest amount of stimulus energy necessary to detect a stimulus |
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| classical psychophysical methods |
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| the original methods used to measure the relationship between sensation and perception |
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| the smallest difference between two stimuli that a person can detect (DL); size of DL is dependent on the size of the standard weight |
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| a psychophysical method in which a subject assigns numbers to a stimulus that are proportional to the subjective magnitude of the stimulus |
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| method of constant stimuli |
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| the experimenter presents 5-9 stimuli with different intensities in random order; the threshold is the intensity that is detected 50 percent of the time |
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| the experimenter adjusts the intensity of the stimulus in a continuous manner until the subject can just barely detect a stimulus (this is the absolute threshold) |
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| experimenters present stimuli in either ascending or descending order and a change in response is the threshold |
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| any measurement of the relationship between sensation and perception |
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| when doubling the physical intensity of a stimulus less than doubles the subjective magnitude of the stimulus (this occurs with lights) |
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| when the doubling the physical intensity of a stimulus more than doubles the subjective magnitude of the stimulus (this occurs with pain becuase this is adaptive) |
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| the subjective magnitude of a stimulus above which the subject will indicate that the stimulus is present |
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| a theory stating that the detection of a stimulus depends on both the subject's sensitivity and the subject's response to the criterion. This gives us a method for creating the sensitivity curve; the purpose is to separate bias and sensitivity. concerns false alarms and correct rejections. isosensitivity curve. |
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| law concerning the relationship between physical intensity of a stimulus and a person's perception of it's magnitude |
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| just noticable difference divided by the standard K |
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| law that states that the difference threshold equals the constant K times the size of the stimulus (S). so, the difference threshold gets bigger as the size of an initial stimulus gets bigger |
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| a rapid increase in positive charge in a nerve fiber that is propogated down a fiber |
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| sends messages of a neuron |
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| contains nucleus and other cell structures |
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| center surround receptive field |
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Definition
| a receptive field that consists of a roughly circular excitatory area surrounded by an inhibitory area, or vice versa |
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Term
| center surround antagonism |
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Definition
| an effect that is caused by the fact that the center and surround of a receptive field respond in opposite ways. center surround antagonism comes into play when a spot of light becomes large enough that it also begins to cover the inhibitory area. stimulation of the inhibitory area counteracts the center's excitatory response, causing a decrease in firing rate. This process of sending inhibitory signals across the retina is called lateral inhibition. |
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| thin piece of wire or glass that is small enough to record electrical activity from single nerve fibers |
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| doctrine of specific nerve energies |
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| different nerve signals correspond to different senses; the type and quality of perception depends on the kind of nerve that is activated |
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| area of the cerebral cortex that first receives most of the signals from sense receptors |
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| the area of the retina that, when stimulated, influences the firing rate of a ganglion cell |
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| activity that occurs without sensory input |
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| modular organization of the brain |
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Definition
| specific functions are served by specific areas of the cortex (sight in occipital, hearing in temporal, etc) |
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| what is the mind/body problem? what is the difference between the hard and easy problem of consciousness? |
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Definition
the mind body problem is the question of how do physical processes such as nerve impulses (the body part) become transformed into the richness of perceptions (the mind part).
the hard problem is "how do physiological processes turn into experiences"
the easy problem is defining a neural correlate of consciousness (connections between stimuli and environment). |
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| a plot of the amount of light absorbed by a visual pigment versus the wavelength of light |
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| the eye's ability to bring objects located at different distances into focus by changing the shape of the lens |
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| neurons that transmit signals laterally in the retina; they synapse with bipolar and ganglion cells |
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| where the optic nerve leaves the eye; no visual receptors here |
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| cone shaped receptors in the eye that are responsible for vision in high levels of illumination, color vision, and detail vision |
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| shapes and focuses the light |
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| visual adaptation that occurs in the dark; during which the sensitivity to light increases |
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| the function that traces the time course of the increase in visual sensitivity that occurs during dark adaptation |
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| continuum of electromagnetic energy that extends from short (gamma) rays to long (radio) waves |
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| center area of the retina; covered in cones, located in the line of sight |
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| neurons in the retina that receive input from bipolar and amacrine cells; the axons of the ganglions compose the optic nerve that travels to the LGN |
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| a geometric display that results in the illusion of dark areas at the intersection of two white corridors; this is explained by lateral inhibition |
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| a neuron that transmits signals laterally across the retina |
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| inhibition that is spread laterally across a nerve circuit; spread by horizontal and amacrine cells |
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| light that contains a single wavelength |
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| bundle of nerve fibers that carry impulses from the retina to the LGN and other structures; each optic nerve contains 1 million ganglion fibers |
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| the inability of the eye to accommodate due to the hardening of the lensand a weakening of the cillary muscles as we age |
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| hole in the center of the eye |
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| a complex network of cells that cover the inside back of the eye. cells include receptors horizontal, bipolar, amacrine, and ganglion cells. |
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| rod shaped receptor in the retina responsible for vision at low levels of illumination; sensitive in dark but can't resolve fine details |
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| the change in perception of color that occurs when a colored field is surrounded by a differently colored background |
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| spectral sensitivity curve |
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Definition
| the function relating a subject's sensitivity to a wavelength of light |
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| the ability to see fine details |
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| the distance between of one peak of a light wave and the next |
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Describe the structure of the eye and how moving an object closer to the eye affects how light entering the eye is focusing on the retina. |
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Definition
-light enters the eye through the pupil
-the cornea and the lens focus the light on the retina
-the cornea accounts for 80% of the eye's focusing power, but it;s fixed in place, so it can't adjust its focus
-the lens accounts for the remaining 20% of the focusing power, since it can adjust and change its shapeto adjust the eye's focus for stimuli located at different distances
-if light is more than 20 feet away, the light rays that reach each eye are essentially parallel, and these parallel rays are brought to focus in the back of the retina at point A. if it moves closer, it puts focus point behind the retina. however, if light is stopped before it can get to this point, the image on the retina is out of focus. accomodation keeps this from happening. the cillary muscles in front of the eye tighten and increase curvature of the lens so it gets thicker; this increased curvature bends the light rays passing through the lens to pull the focus point back to point A and create a sharp image on the retina. |
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| what happens to visual pigment molecules when they a) absorb light and b) regenerate? whatis the connection between visual pigment generation and dark adaptation? |
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Definition
absorb light- the visual pigment molecules become ligher in color
regenerate- they become darker in color
visual pigment molecules regenerate in the dark |
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| area in the human IT cortex that contains neurons that are specialized to respond to faces |
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| in brain damage, when function A is present but function B is absent; this shows that two functions involve different mechanisms and operate independently of one another |
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