DO NOW

1. Take a diagram from the front of the room.2. Fill in the blanks.

Preview p.26

1. Explain the difference between top-down and bottom-up processing.

2. Provide two examples of top-down processing in the real world.

3. If you had to give up a sense, which one would it be? (sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell)

Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you

can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey

lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Sensation

pp.209 -222NB p.27

Objective 7: What are the different levels of processing that occur as visual information

travels to brain?• 6 million cones and 120 million rods relay

information via bipolar and ganglion cells• Impulses travel along optic nerve thalamus visual cortex of brain

• Feature detectors respond to specific features of visual stimulus

• Supercells provide instant analysis (movement, angles, postures, etc)

Objective 8: What is parallel processing?

• Parallel processing: how the brain processes multiple sources of information simultaneously– Color, depth, movement, and form

• Victims of brain damage give us incredible insight into the workings of the brain’s visual cortex. Dr. Ramachandran <3

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RuNDkcbq8PY

Objective 9: How do Young-Hemholtz and opponent-process theories help us understand

color vision?• Young-Hemholtz trichromatic theory: there

are three types of cones, each sensitive to a specific wavelength: red (long), green (medium), and blue (short)

Objective 9: How do Young-Hemholtz and opponent-process theories help us understand

color vision?• Opponent-process theory: color sensitive

components of the eye are grouped in three pairs: red-green, blue-yellow, and black-white

Objective 10: What is the importance of color constancy?

• Color constancy: perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters wavelengths reflected by the object.

• Our experience of color comes not just from the object, but from everything around it as well.

Objective 11: How do we experience pressure waves as sound?

• Our ears transform the vibrating air into nerve impulses, which our brain decodes as sounds.– Loudness (decibels)= amplitude– Pitch (Hertz) = frequency or wavelength

– Prolonged exposure above 85 decibels produces hearing loss

Objective 12: What are the three regions of the ear? What series of events triggers electrical

impulses sent to the brain?

Objective 13: What is the difference between place and frequency theory? How do these

theories help us understand pitch perception?

• Place theory: pitch depends on where vibrations stimulate the basilar membrane– High frequency triggers hairs cells on far end– Low frequency triggers hair cells on close end

• Frequency-matching theory: vibrations of basilar membrane are determined by the frequency of vibrations– high frequency large vibrations– Low frequency small vibrations

Objective 14: How do we pinpoint sounds?

• The placement of our ears allows us to enjoy stereophonic (3-D) hearing

Objective 15: What are the two types of hearing loss?

Conduction hearing loss– Occurs when eardrum is

punctured or damage to ossicles

Sensorineural hearing loss– Occurs when hair cells

located in the inner ear are damaged

– Mostly permanent– Nerve deafness

Objective 16: How do cochlear implants function?

• Cochlear implant: helps convert sounds into electrical signals that could trigger auditory nerve to carry message to auditory cortex

• Deaf culture• Helen Keller “found deafness to be a much

greater handicap than blindness… Blindness cuts people off from things. Deafness cuts people off from people”

Process p. 26

• If you had been born deaf, do you think you would want a cochlear implant?

• Does it surprise you that most lifelong Deaf adults do not desire implants for themselves or their children?