Docsity
Docsity

Prepare for your exams
Prepare for your exams

Study with the several resources on Docsity


Earn points to download
Earn points to download

Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan


Guidelines and tips
Guidelines and tips

General Psychology: Sensation and Perceptions, Study notes of Psychology

General psychology in basic principle of sensation, vision, perception and explain the trichromatic theory of color perception.

Typology: Study notes

2021/2022

Uploaded on 03/31/2022

ekayavan
ekayavan 🇺🇸

4.6

(39)

258 documents

1 / 12

Toggle sidebar

This page cannot be seen from the preview

Don't miss anything!

bg1
LP 3B 1 Color Perception
06/29/05
General Psychology 201
Sensation and Perception
Basic principles of sensation
Sensory thresholds and sensory adaptation
Science versus pseudoscience 3.1: subliminal perception
Vision
What we see
How we see (cornea, pupil, iris, lens)
o The retina (rods and cones), the blind spot
Science versus Pseudoscience 3.2: Iridology
Processing visual information
Color vision (The experience of color, How we see color (the
trichromatic theory and opponent-process theory)
Hearing
What we hear / how we hear (place theory and frequency theory)
The chemical sense and body senses
How we smell
o Science versus pseudoscience: pheromones
Taste
The skin and body senses
Perception
Bottom-up and top-down processing
The perception of shape
Depth perception (monocular cues and binocular cues)
The perception of motion
Perceptual constancies
Critical Thinking 3.4: ESP
Perceptual illusions
The effects of experience on perceptual interpretations
Culture and the Müllen-Lyer illusion
Application: Strategies to control pain
pf3
pf4
pf5
pf8
pf9
pfa

Partial preview of the text

Download General Psychology: Sensation and Perceptions and more Study notes Psychology in PDF only on Docsity!

06/29/

General Psychology 201

Sensation and Perception

Basic principles of sensation

  • Sensory thresholds and sensory adaptation
  • Science versus pseudoscience 3.1: subliminal perception

Vision

  • What we see
  • How we see (cornea, pupil, iris, lens)

o The retina (rods and cones), the blind spot

  • Science versus Pseudoscience 3.2: Iridology
  • Processing visual information
  • Color vision (The experience of color, How we see color (the

trichromatic theory and opponent-process theory)

Hearing

  • What we hear / how we hear (place theory and frequency theory)

The chemical sense and body senses

  • How we smell

o Science versus pseudoscience: pheromones

  • Taste
  • The skin and body senses

Perception

  • Bottom-up and top-down processing
  • The perception of shape
  • Depth perception (monocular cues and binocular cues)
  • The perception of motion
  • Perceptual constancies
  • Critical Thinking 3.4: ESP

Perceptual illusions

The effects of experience on perceptual interpretations

  • Culture and the Müllen-Lyer illusion

Application: Strategies to control pain

06/29/

What are some phenomena this chapter can help explain?

Taste:

  • Why does orange juice taste bitter right after you brush your

teeth?

Vision:

  • Why are some people color deficient (commonly called color

blind)

  • Why do you see afterimages?
  • What is the blind spot, why does it occur, why don’t we

notice it?

  • How do we perceive depth (both with one eye and two

eyes)?

Vestibular sense:

  • How does this help explain airplane crashes like JFK Jr.

(what are pilots trained to do)?

Other:

  • There is very little evidence to support the claim that

people possess ESP abilities such as telepathy,

clairvoyance, psychokinesis and precognition, but about _

of American adults believe in ESP. What is one of the

many reasons why people believe in ESP?

  • How do labels affect perception?

06/29/

There are some basic concepts that psychologists use when

talking about the sensitivity of the senses (page 90).

  • Absolute threshold: The smallest detectable strength of a

stimuli that can be detected half the time, or 50% of the

time. This label seems counterintuitive, but it is not. Why?

  • Difference threshold: The smallest possible difference

between two stimuli that can be detected half the time.

This is also called just noticeable difference (jnd).

  • Weber’s law: A principle of sensation that holds the size of

the just noticeable difference (jnd) will vary depending on

its relation to the strength of the original stimulus.

  • Sensory adaptation: The decline in sensitivity to a constant

stimulus. Therefore, a stronger stimulus is required to

activate the sensors.

For example, why is understanding sensory adaptation important

(in what cases would sensory adaptation be “bad”)?

06/29/

Organizing information. You should read the section on rods

and cones and organize the information in two columns.

Rods Cones

  • Long and thin with blunt

ends

  • short and fatter with ends

that taper to a point

  • estimated at 125 million • estimated at 7 million
  • max sensitivity in about

30 minutes

  • adapt to light in about five

minutes

  • primarily for night vision • primarily for color vision
  • there are no rods in fovea,

but more prevalent in the

peripheral areas of the

retina

  • cones are concentrated in

the fovea, and less

common in the periphery

  • more sensitive to

light—about 1000 time

better

  • specialized for seeing fine

details and vision in bright

light.

In addition to this, you should see how this information

interrelates with material in the pictures/diagrams and

experience (such as the one on page 95).

06/29/

The Opponent Process Theory

The trichromatic theory of color perception cannot explain an

afterimage such as seeing a faint red, white and blue flag after

staring at a yellow/green flag.

According to the opponent process theory, there are three types

of color sensitive neurons that are sensitive to a certain pair of

colors:

  1. red / g

g g r

r r e

e e e

e e n

n n

  1. blue / y

y y e

e e l

l l l

l l o

o o w

w w

  1. black / white

One single receptor can only be activated to a single color, while

the other color is inhibited (blue can be activated, while the

yellow is inhibited). With multiple receptors, some receptors

can be sensitive to blue, while others can be sensitive to yellow.

For example,

  • Blue / y

y y e

e e l

l l l

l l o

o o w

w w

  • Blue / y

y y e

e e l

l l l

l l o

o o w

w w

  • Blue / yellow
  • Blue / y

y y e

e e l

l l l

l l o

o o w

w w

  • Blue / yellow
  • Blue / yellow
  • Blue / yellow
  • Blue / y

y y e

e e l

l l l

l l o

o o w

w w

06/29/

All color perceptions are a combination of these receptors. For

example,

  • Orange = red/green + blue/y

y y e

e e l

l l l

l l o

o o w

w w

  • Purple = red/green + blue/yellow

06/29/

Which theory of color vision is “right”,

they both can’t be right?

This is the wrong question to ask about color perception. Both

theories explain color perception, but at a different level of color

perception.

  • The trichromatic theory primarily explains perception

within the structure of the eye (the cones and retina) before

being transmitted to the brain via the optic nerve.

  • The opponent process theory explains perception within the

ganglion cells, thalamus and visual cortex.

Why is understanding the process of color perception important

for understanding psychology, science, and perhaps life in

general.

  • No one theory explains complex behavior—it involves

multiple processes.

  • Sometimes asking the wrong/right question is important for

understanding the world around you. The question that is

given to you, may be the “wrong” question.

  • I hypothesize that mechanical eyes will need to be able to

produce after images and other visual illusions.

  • Even though they “appear” to be inconsistent, the two

theories are consistent. Science needs to be internally

consistent

Where will you see this again?

  • Motivation and Emotion
  • Personality

06/29/

Theories of Sound Perception

How do we perceive

  • low frequency sounds
  • mid-frequency sounds
  • high frequency sounds

What are examples of low frequency sounds?

What are examples of high frequency sounds?

Perception of low frequency sounds (below 500 hertz):

  • The basilar membrane vibrates at the same frequency as the

sound wave

  • Therefore, if the sound wave vibrates 300 times per second

(or 300 hertz), the membrane vibrates at 300 times per

second.

Perception of high frequency sounds:

  • Different frequencies cause larger vibrations at different

locations along the basilar membrane.

  • High frequency sounds cause maximum vibrations near the

stirrup end of the basilar membrane.

  • Lower frequency sounds cause maximum vibrations at the

other end.