Perception

Perception: The process of organizing and interpreting informatio, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

Gestalt Philosophy: The whole is greater than some of its parts

Figure-Ground Relationship: The organiztion of the visual fields into objects (figures) that stand out from their surroundings (ground)

Grouping: The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into groups that we understand

Depth Perception: The ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are ywo dimensional
-Allows us to judge distance

Binocular Cues: Retinal Disparity: a binocular cue for seeing depth
-The closer an object comes to you the greater the disparity is between the two images

Sensation

Sensation: your window to the world

Perception: interpreting what comes in your window

Sensation

The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive stimulus from the environment

Bottom-up v. Top-Down Processing

Bottom Up: begins with the sensory receptors and nervous system receive stimulus from the environment

Top-Down: information processing guided by higher level mental processes

Absolute Threshold: the minimum stimulation needed to detect a stimulus 50% of the time

Difference Threshold: the minimum difference that a person can detect between two stimuli

- Also known as Just Noticeable Difference

Weber's Law: the idea that, to perceive a difference between two stimuli, they must differ by a constant percentage not a constant amount

Signal Detection Theory: predict how we detect a stimulus amid other stimuli

Sensory Adaptation: decreased responsiveness to stimuli due to constant stimulation

Selective Attention: the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

Cocktail-party phenomenon: The cocktail party effect describes the ability to focus one's listening attention on a single talker among a mixture of conversations and background noises, ignoring other conversations
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Vision

Vision: our most dominating sense

Gathering Light

• Short Wavelength = High frequency (bluish colors, high-pitched sounds)
• Long Wavelength = Low frequency (reddish colors, low-pitched sounds)

 Transduction: Transforming signals into neural impulses
-Information goes from the senses to the thalamus then to the various areas in the brain

Conversion of one form of energy to another
Stimulus energies to neural impulse

• Light energy rto vision
• Chemical energy to smell and taste
• Sound waves to sound



Color Vision:

Two Major Theories

Young-Helenholtz Trichromatic (three color) Theory

Three types of cones: - Red -Blue - Green

-These three types of cones can make million of combinations of colors

Opponent-Process Theory: the sensory receptors comes in pairs

• Red/Green
• Yellow/Blue
• Black/White

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Hearing

Hearing: The height of the wave gives us the amplitude of the sound

-The frequency of the wave gives us the pitch of the sound



Transduction of the ear

Sound waves hit the eardrum then anvil then hammer then stirrup then anvil window

-Everything is just vibrating

-Then the cochlea vibrates

-The cochlea is lined with mucus called basilar membrane

-In basilar membrane there are hair cells

-When the hair cells vibrate they turn vibrations into neural impulses which are called organ of corti

-Sent then to thalamus to auditory nerve

Pitch Theories:

Place Theory: different hairs vibrate in the cochlea when thre are different pitches

-So some hairs vibrate when they hear high pitches and other vibraet when they hear low pitches

Frequency Theory: all the hairs vibrate but at different speeds

Deafness

Conduction Deafness: Something goes wrong with the sound and the vibration on the way to the cochlea

-You can replace the bones or get a hearing aid to help

Nerve Deafness: The hair cells in the cochlea get damaged

-Loud noises can cause this deafness

-NO WAY to replace the hairs

-Cochlea implant is possible

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Taste

Taste: We have bumps on our tongue called papillae

-Taste buds are located on the papillae

-Sweet, salty, sour, and bitter

 Umami: flavorable meaty favory taste

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Touch

Touch: Receptors located in our skin

-Gate Control Theory of Pain

Gate Contril Theory of Pain: Where the spinal cord controls a neurological gate that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on the brain

Vestibular Sense: Tells us where our body is oriented in space

-Our sense of balance

Kinesthetic Sense: Tells us where our body parts are

-Receptors located in our muscles and joints

Brain Structures

Scientists divide the brain up into 3 parts

1. Hindbrain

-Medulla Oblongata : Heart rate, breathing, blood pressure
-Pons : Connects hindbrain, midbrain and forebrain
  ~ Together, involved in facial expressions
-Cerebellum : located in the back of our head and also known as little brain
  ~Coordinates muscle movements, like tracking a target

2. Midbrain

-Reticular Formation : arousal and ability to focus attention
-Cerebellum : located in the back of our head and known as little brain
 ~ Coordinates muscle movements

3. Forebrain

-Thalamus : receives sensory information and sends them to appropriate areas of forebrain
 ~It's like a switchboard, everything but smell

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Limbic System - emotional control center of the brain
-It is made up of:

• Hypothalamus - pea sized in prain, but plays a large role in body temperature, hunger, thirst and sexual arousal (libido)
• Hippocampus - involved in memory processing
• Amgdala - vital for our nasic emotions  

Cerebral Cortex - top layer of the brain

Hemispheres - divided into right and left hemisphere

Contralateral controlled - left controls the right side of the body and vise versa

Corpus Callosum - attaches the two hemispheres of cerebral cortex

Developmental Psychology

Developmental Psychology - The study of you from womb to tomb
- Study how we change physically, socially, cognitively, and mentally over our lifetimes

Nature v. Nuture

Nature - The way you were born

Nurture - The way you were raised

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Prenatal Development - Conception begins with the drop of an egg and the release of about 200 million sperm
-The sperm seeks out the egg and attempts to penetrate the eggs surface

...Once the sperm penetrates the egg, we have a fertilized egg called...the zygote

Zygotes - Less than half of all zygotes survive first two weeks
-About 10 days after conception, the zygote will attach itself to the uterine wall
-The outer part of the zygote becomes the placenta (which filters nutrients)

...After two weeks, the zygote ddevelops into...an embryo

Embryo - Lasts about six weeks
-Heart begins o beat and the organs begin to develop

...By nine weeks, we have...a fetus

Fetus - About the 6th month, the stomach and other organs have formed enough to survive outside the mother
-At this time the baby can hear (and recognize) sounds and respond to light

Teratogens - Chemical agents that can harm the prenatal environment

• Alcohol (FAS)
• STDS
• HIV
• Herpes

Healthy Newborns - Turn head towards voices
-See 8 - 12 inches from their faces
-Gaze longer at human like objects right from birth

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Reflexes - Inborn automatic responses
-Rooting
-Sucking
-Graping

Maturation - Physical growth, regardless of the environment

Puberty - The period of sexual maturation during which a person becomes capable of reproducing

Primary Sexual Characteristics - Body structures that make reproduction possible
- Testes - Ovaries etc.

Secondary Sexual Characteristics - Non-reproductive sexual characteristics
-Widening of the hips
-Deeper voices
-Breast Development
-Body Hair

Landmarks for Puberty

• Menarche for girls (Aunt Flow, Red Niagara Falls)
• Spermarche for boys (Popping a bottle of champagne)

Physical Milestones

• Menopause

Death - Elizabeth Kubler-Ross's Stages of Death/Grief

1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Bargaining
4. Depression
5. Acceptance

Biological Behavior

The Nervpous System - Starts with an individual nerve cell called a neuron

                               

Neuroanatomy

Cell Body - the cell's life support center

Dendrites - receives messages from other cells

Axon - passess messages away from the cell body to other neurons, muscles, and glands

Myelin Sheath - covers the axon of some neurons and helps speed neural impulses

Synapse - a structure that permits a neuron to pass a chemical/eletrical signal to another cell

Neurotransmitters - chemical held in terminal buttons that travel throughout synaptic gap

                                     Types of Neurotransmitters
Acetylcholine (ACh) - Deals with motor movement and memory
-Lack of ACh has been linked to Alzheimer's disease



Dopamine - Deals with motor movement and alertness

-Lack of dopamine has been linked to Parkinson's disease

-Too much has been linked to Schizophrenia

Serotonin - Involved in mood control

-Lack of serotonin has been linked to clinial depression

Endorphins - Involved in pain control

-Many of our most addictive drugs deal with endorphins

                                       

                                                 It could be...

• Agonists which makes neuron to fire
• Antagonists which stops neural firing

Types of Neurons

Sensory Neurons (Afferent Neurons) - Take information from the senses to the brain

Inter Neurons - Take messages from Sensory Neurons to other parts of the brain  or to Motor Neurons

Motor Neurons - Take information from brain to the rest of the body

Nervous System

Central Nervous System : The Brain and Spinal Cord

Peripheral Nervous System - All nerves are not encased in bone

-Everything but the brain and spinal cord

-It is dividd into two catergories, Somatic (SNS) and Autonomic (ANS)

Somatic Nervous System - Controls voluntary muscle movement

-uses motor neurons

Autonomic Nervous System -Controls the automatic functoins of the body

-Divided into two catergories, the sympathetic and the parasympathetic

Autonomic Nervous System

Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) - Fight or flight response

-Automatically accelerates heart rate, breathing, filates pupils, slows down digestion

Parasympathetic Nervous System (PNS) - Automatically slows the body down, pupils constrict and digestion speeds up

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Reflexes - Normally, sensory (afferent) neurons take info up through the spine to the brain

-Some reactions occur when sensory neurons reach just the spinal cord

Lesions - Cutting into the brain and looking for change ways to steady the brain