This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
• Consciously aware of only a narrow range of sAmuli at one Ame
• Difference Threshold (AKA Weber’s Law of just noAceable differences or JND) = minimal difference in sAmulus strength that is detectable 50% of the Ame (Ernst Weber)
• Absolute Threshold = minimum sAmulaAon needed to consciously detect sAmulus 50% of the Ame (Gustav Fechner)
• Studies on subliminal percepAon use a tachistoscope to flash images too quickly for conscious percepAon (but slowly enough for the brain to register them)
• At the movies “eat popcorn”? satanic verses when music is played backward? hidden sexual messages in Disney films?
Subliminal Stimuli
• Subliminal sAmuli are WEAK and don’t lead to subliminal persuasion
Do athletes have a higher pain tolerance than non-‐athletes?
Q1
• Gate-‐control theory = experience of pain depends on whether the message gets past the “gatekeeper” in the spinal cord – Normally, the gate is shut and pain signals are blocked, but when body Assue is damaged, impulses open the gate to allow the message of pain through
– Messages from the brain also control the gate, allowing some to conAnue through the pain (athletes, military, first responders)
realworldpsychology • Massaging an injury eases discomfort because pressure on larger-‐diameter neurons interferes with pain signals
• Endorphins from the brain, distracAon by fear or compeAAon, acAvely listening to music – or looking at a picture – can close the gate and reduce pain and anxiety
• Visual acuity problems result from small abnormaliAes in the shape of the eye, causing the image not to be in focus at the reAna – Nearsightedness – image reaches focus in front of the reAna – Farsightedness – image reaches focus behind the reAna
• Presbyopia – lenses lose elasAcity with age • Blind spot – no receptor cells where the opAc nerve exits the
eye • Rods manage dark adaptaAon – changing from sunny to dark
environment leaves you temporarily blind • Cones manage light adaptaAon – changing from dark to bright
• Outer ear captures sound, three Any bones in middle ear transmit eardrum’s vibraAon to the inner ear where cochlea transforms waves into neural impulses
• Frequency of sound waves provides informaAon about pitch of sound – Place theory for hearing = hair cells at different locaAons along the basilar membrane are sAmulated by high-‐pitched sounds
– Frequency theory for hearing = hair cells vibrate at the same low frequency as the low-‐pitched sounds they detect
• Loud sounds have higher peaks and lower valleys than sol sounds, measured by decibels
• Smell and taste are “chemical senses” because they use chemoreceptors and are sensiAve to chemical molecules
• Olfactory receptors in the nose transduce info from odorants (molecules with odor) directly to olfactory bulb at base of frontal lobe, where info is processed and sent to other brain regions
• OlfacAon is the only sensory system NOT routed through the thalamus
Mennella, Jagnow & Beauchamp, 2001 • Group 1: carrot juice 4x week for 3 weeks during pregnancy • Group 2: carrot juice 4x week for 3 weeks aler baby was born
(breast-‐feeding mothers) • Group 3: no carrot juice • Mothers rated babies’ facial reacAons to different foods and
quanAty of carrot-‐flavored cereal baby would eat
• Babies exposed to carrots in utero or through breast milk liked the taste of carrots beSer
• Kinesthesis provides informaAon about body posture, orientaAon and movement of individual body parts
• KinestheAc receptors in muscles, joints, and tendons tell the brain what is moving, how weight is distributed, where body parts are in relaAon to the whole
• Cannot pay aSenAon to all sAmuli • SelecGve aWenGon = paying aSenAon to important informaAon and filtering the rest
• Feature detectors = specialized neurons to respond to specific sAmuli, like faces – Prosopagnosia – inability to idenAfy person by facial features
• HabituaGon = decrease in responding to repeated sAmulaAon of same sAmuli; more responsive to changes in environment – Compliments from strangers are more exciAng than from long-‐term partner!
– The song you HATED on first listen might grow on you!
• TrichromaGc theory of color = three “color systems”, each of which is sensiAve to red, green and blue; mixing lights of these three colors yields the full spectrum of colors
• Opponent-‐process theory = each of the color systems is sensiAve to two opposing colors (ex: either blue or yellow) – Black-‐and-‐white systems respond to differences in brightness