This blog is for students in Mr. Cantor's AP Psychology class at North-Grand High School. To contact Mr. Cantor please e-mail at ptdworkin-cantor@cps.edu
Hank explains the distinction between sensation and perception... Thanks Hank!
See how top-down processing affects perception... Can you count how many passes the white-shirted players make in this basketball video? (It's on YouTube, so it may not work in school. You can get to it at home on this link http://youtu.be/IGQmdoK_ZfY if the embedded video doesn't work)
Perceptual illusions aren't just optical. There are also tactile (touch) and auditory illusions! Andre found this very interesting video about some types of auditory illusions.
Subliminal messages? How effective are they? Democrats accused Republicans of putting a subliminal message into this Bush campaign commercial? Do you think it was intentional? Do you think it would have an effect? Click here if the embedded video isn't working http://youtu.be/2NPKxhfFQMs
Another video on YouTube is great 3D animation that takes you into the ear as if you are a sound wave... it demonstrates the movements in the middle and inner ear with classical music... fantastic piece. The link is at http://youtu.be/PeTriGTENoc - since it's YouTube it may not work at school...
Hearing Tests: You need over-the-ear headphones and a decent computer to use this (not medically accurate) hearing test, but it's interesting to check out even if you don't have the right set-up. Keep your volume at a moderate level, and if you stop hearing the tone DO NOT increase the volume to try to hear it. This website has lots of different tone generators including this hearing test.
Mr. Cantor who was born in 1964 can hear sounds below roughly 14,000 Hz. How about you? -- YouTube actually compresses audio, so this may not be accurate. Try the link above for more accuracy.
FlashCards Check (10 pts)
Due: Fri. Nov. 15 (Work on these as you
read…)
Take Cornell notes as you
read. As you take your notes remember to DRAW
DIAGRAMS of important images, write your own examples, write your own
mnemonic devices and write questions you think of.
Your notes (and your brain)
should contain the answers the following questions when you are done with this
assignment. These questions should guide your reading – you should be able to
answer as many of them as possible in your head before you take the quiz! Bold
ones are especially important.
General Sensation Pp.
104-109
1.What is a phantom limb?
2.Explain whether sensation is objective or
subjective?
3.What is a “sense” and what is “sensation?”
4.Describe the difference between sensation
and perception.
5.Define accessory structure, transduction,
sensory receptor and adaptation.
6.What types of energy do our senses gather?
7.What role does the thalamus play in
sensation? Which sense does not go through it?
8.Explain what “coding” is in sensory
systems. Describe temporal and spatial coding.
9.Define the “doctrine of specific nerve
energies.”
The above link is to an
excellent animation which may help you understand some of the more complex
aspects of visual processing in the retina.
7.What is visual transduction and were does
it take place?
8.What are photoreceptors and photopigments?
Where are they located?
9.What causes your eyes to take time to adjust
when you go from bright sunlight to a dark room? What is this adjustment
called?
10. Compare the structure,
function and distribution of rods and cones.
11. What is the fovea?
12. How does “lateral
inhibition” improve the sharpness and contrast of our vision?
13. What do ganglion cells
do? Why would vision be impossible without them?
14. How do ganglion cells
correspond to the visual field?
15. Describe how the
center-surround fields of ganglion cells improves vision.
16. Why does everyone have
a blind spot?
17. Describe how the optic
nerves separate and cross at the optic chiasm.
18. How is spatial coding
demonstrated in the retina, the LGN and the visual cortex?
19. Explain how parallel
processing can analyze different types of visual information from the same
visual data in the Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (LGN.)
20. What are “feature
detectors?”
21. Define the physical
properties of color: hue, saturation and brightness.
22. Explain the
“Trichromatic Theory of Color Vision.”
23. Explain the
“Opponent-Process Theory of Color Vision.”
24. Describe and explain
color blindness.
25. What is synesthesia
Smell and Taste – The
Chemical Senses Pp. 131-136
1.Define olfaction and gustation (and
olfactory and gustatory senses)
2.What triggers olfactory receptors?
3.How many different types of olfactory
receptors are there?
4.Describe the path signals from the olfactory
receptors follow as they enter the brain and are processed.
5. Which brain structure
usually associated with sensation is NOT involved with olfaction?
6.Explain the function ofpheromones and the vomeronasal organ?
7.What are taste receptors called and where
are they located?
8.How many taste buds are in a typical person?
To what flavors are they sensitive?
9.How are supertasters different from normal
people?
10. What are the components
of flavor?
11. What is anosmia?
12. What is capsasin? Explain
one theory of why people eat spicy foods.
13. Explain some adaptive
(evolutionarily advantageous) functions of smell and taste.
Somatic Senses and the
Vestibular System Pp. 137-145
14. What are the Somatic
Senses?
15. Describe how touch
receptors are different from most other neurons.
16. Explain sensory
adaptation of touch receptors. Why is it evolutionarily adaptive?
17. Explain how weight and
location are coded in the sense of touch.
18. Describe an example of
how touch and temperature can interact.
19. Compare A-delta fiber
pain and C fiber pain.
20. How does pain cause
arousal? What structure is activated which would wake you up if someone poked
you with a pin while you slept?
21. Explain how Gate
Control Theory and natural analgesics explain pain relief.
22. What evidence is there
that acupuncture relieves pain?
23. Define proprioception and
kinesthesia.
24. Describe the structure
and function of the vestibular system.
Pay close attention to the "center-surround" aspects of retinal processing in this Web Animation below. The narrator's voice is a bit boring, but it's a great video that explains the whole "center-surround" opponent process thing.
This animation shows how the photoreceptors, bipolar and ganglion cells of the retina are organized in "center-surround" arrangements that allow "bottom up" processing of visual information to begin in the retina.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, an animation is worth way more. This animation really shows the visual pathway very well. Pay attention to how visual information is split in the Optic Chiasm and how it routs through the LGN of the thalamus as well as other areas specifically related to eye movement and the "biological clock" which controls circadian rhythms.
This excellent animation really explains how the visual information from the left and right visual fields makes its way to the right and left occipital lobes via the LGN of the thalamus.
Check out this amazingly comprehensive video that covers the visual system in about 10 minutes. It's on YouTube, so it may be hard to watch at school. Link: http://youtu.be/AuLR0kzfwBU
What do you see in the circle?
This site sells glasses that are supposed to correct for some color blindness. I don't know how well they work, but they do have a really nice color blindness test. http://enchroma.com/test/instructions/
Do you have "SuperVision? Are you a tetrachromat - a person with 4
types of cones rather than 3? This website has a test for you.
Ever wonder what those little blobs floating around your visual field are? They'r caused by shadows of little chunks of debris floating around in the vitreous fluid inside your eye-ball. This video explains it all: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6e_m9iq-4Q
And Hank's Crash Course Psychology is always good...
