Back to AI Flashcard MakerPsychology /GRE® Psychology Biological: Sensation and Perception Part 3
GRE® Psychology Biological: Sensation and Perception Part 3
This deck covers key concepts in sensation and perception, focusing on taste, smell, sensory thresholds, and Gestalt principles.
What are papillae?
These are the bumps on your tongue that hold taste buds.
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Key Terms
Term
Definition
What are papillae?
These are the bumps on your tongue that hold taste buds.
What are the five different tastes we perceive?
1. salty 2. sweet 3. bitter 4. sour 5. umami (savory or meaty tastes)
What is another word for 'taste'?
gustation
What makes smell different from the other senses?
It is not processed through the thalamus.
Why do certain smells trigger memories?
The nerves of the olfactory bulb connect with the amygdala and hippocampus, which are attached to memory and emotional response.
What sense is responsible for motion sickness on a roller coaster?
The vestibular sense responds to your body's orientation in space. There are canals in your ear that are filled with fluid, and the position of that f...
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| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
What are papillae? | These are the bumps on your tongue that hold taste buds. |
What are the five different tastes we perceive? | 1. salty 2. sweet 3. bitter 4. sour 5. umami (savory or meaty tastes) |
What is another word for 'taste'? | gustation |
What makes smell different from the other senses? | It is not processed through the thalamus. |
Why do certain smells trigger memories? | The nerves of the olfactory bulb connect with the amygdala and hippocampus, which are attached to memory and emotional response. |
What sense is responsible for motion sickness on a roller coaster? | The vestibular sense responds to your body's orientation in space. There are canals in your ear that are filled with fluid, and the position of that fluid tells your brain where you are. If you are on a bumpy, looping roller coaster, your vestibular sense may be confused, causing nausea and dizziness. |
What is the kinesthetic sense in charge of? | It keeps track of specific body parts and where they are in space, using receptors in joints and muscles. |
What is the absolute threshold? | It is the smallest stimulus consciously perceptible at least 50% of the times encountered. Stimuli below the absolute threshold are considered subliminal. |
If your parents ask you to turn down the television, what determines how much you have to turn it down before they notice a change in volume? | The difference threshold (or just-noticeable difference) is the amount a stimulus needs to change before the change can be detected. For hearing, the change must be 5%. |
What is the Weber-Fechner law? | It asserts that the amount of stimulus change needed to perceive a difference is proportional to the intensity of the existing stimulus. If there is one candle in a room and another candle is added, you will notice a difference in brightness. However, if there are 17 candles on a birthday cake, an 18th will likely not be noticeable |
What theory takes into account the things that distract us from perceiving a stimulus? | Signal detection theory acknowledges the motivation to perceive a certain stimulus, like smelling delicious food when we're hungry, or not noticing a friend in a crowded room. |
What is top-down processing? | It uses information we already have in our brains to fill in gaps in the things we sense. It can frequently overrule the more primitive areas of our brains. |
Building a perception of an object by mentally compiling all of its features is called what? | bottom-up processing or feature analysis; This is slower than top-down processing, but is more thorough and less prone to mistakes. |
What are the four Gestalt rules of perception? | 1. proximity 2. continuity 3. similarity 4. closure |
Explain the Gestalt rule of perception: proximity | Items close together are easy to perceive as being part of the same group. |
Explain the Gestalt rule of perception: continuity | Items that form a continuous pattern are easier for the mind to see as part of the same group. |
Explain the Gestalt rule of perception: similarity | Items that look alike are more likely to be seen as being in the same group. |
Explain the Gestalt rule of perception: closure | Items that form a known image are easier to group together, even if there are some gaps within the image. |
While objects frequently remain the same, the way we view them does not. What allows us to still recognize an item despite the changes in how we see it? | Constancy allows this to happen. There are three types of constancy: 1. size constancy 2. shape constancy 3. brightness (or color) constancy |
What prevents us from thinking an object is actually changing in size as we walk toward it? | Size constancy helps take distance into account when calculating the size of an object. |