Psychology

Part 1: sensation and perception

Smell, taste, pain, hearing, and psychophysics

- Sensory systems did not evolve to provide full, objective accounts of the worlds
specific properties. Rather they evolved to provide the specific kinds of information
that the animal needs to survive and reproduce.
- Sensation: the basic processes by which sensory organs and the nervous system
respond to stimuli in the environment and to the elementary psychological
experiences that result from those processes.
- Perception refers to the more complex organizing of sensory information within the
brain and to the meaningful interpretations extracted from it.
- the study of perception is more closely tied to the study of thought and memory than
the study of sensation but, the distinction is fuzzy bc the organizing of stimulus info in
useful and meaningful ways starts at sensation.

Overview of sensory Processes

- the process of sensation:
physical stimulus  physiological response sensory experience
- Physical stimulus is the matter or energy of the physical world that impinges on
sense organs.
- Physiological response is the pattern of chemical and electrical activity that occurs in
sense organs, nerves, and the brain as a result of the stimulus.
- Sensory experience is the subjective, psychological sensation or perception
experienced by the individual whose sense organs have been stimulated.
- The sensory experience tells us something about the physical experience but is very
different from the physical stimulus. Example: red isn’t a property of an object the
color red only exists in our sensory experience.
- Sensory psychologist research lawful connections between the 3 steps.

Each sensory system has distinct receptor and neural pathways

Sense Stimulus Receptors Pathway to the brain

Smell Molecules dissolved Sensitive ends of Olfactory nerve (1st
in fluid on mucous olfactory neurons in cranial nerve)
membranes in the the olfactory
nose epithelium in the
nose
Taste Molecules dissolved Taste cells in taste Portions of facial
in fluids on the buds on the tongue glossopharyngeal,
tongue and vagus nerves
(7th, 9th, 10th cranial
 nerves)
Touch Pressure on the skin Sensitive ends of Trigeminal nerve (5th
touch neurons in the cranial nerve) for
skin touch above the
neck. Spinal nerves
or touch elsewhere
Pain Wide variety of Sensitive ends of Trigeminal nerve (5th
potentially harmful pain neurons in the cranial nerve) for
stimuli skin and other pain above the neck.
tissues Spinal nerves or pain
elsewhere
Hearing Sound waves Pressure-sensitive Auditory nerve (8th
hair cells in the cranial nerve)
cochlea of the inner
ear
Vision Light waves Light-sensitive rods Optic nerve (2nd
and cones in the cranial nerve)
retina of the eye
- Somatosensory
is where touch,
temperature
sensitivity and
pain are
processed.
- Taste lies in a
portion of the
cerebral cortex
called insula
- Smell lies in a
part of the
cerebral cortex
called the
piriform cortex.
- each sense has
distinct sensory receptors and neural pathways to and within the brain.
- Sensory receptors are specialized structures that respond to physical stimuli by
producing electrical changes that can initiate neural impulses in sensory neurons.
- Sensory neurons are specialized neurons that carry info from sensory receptors into
the central nervous system. For some senses the receptors are the sensitive end of
sensory neurons
- Every sense has a unique pathway in the central nervous system. These pathways
send info to many different parts of the brain (see image above).
- Unconscious behavioral reactions to sensory stimuli are organized below the cerebral
cortex. Conscious sensory experiences depend on activity within the cerebral cortex.
Sensory receptors generate action potentials trough a process of
transduction

- The process of a receptor cell producing electrical change in responds to physical

stimulation is called transduction.
- The details of transduction differ between the sense, though basic similarities exist.
- In every sense the membrane of the receptor cell becomes more permeable to
certain electrically charged particles (sodium or potassium ions) when the
appropriate type of stimulus energy acts on the reporter cell.
- Receptor potential is the electrical change across the membrane when charged
particles flow in or out of the membrane.
- Receptor potential is comparable with postsynaptic potential produced on neurons
by the action of synaptic transmitters.
- Receptor potential triggers events that lead to the production of action potential in
the axons of sensory neurons.
- A change in the receptor potential can initiate neural impulses (or action potentials)
in sensory neurons

Sensory systems preserve information about stimulus quantity and

quality

- Sensory coding is the preservation of information about the physical stimuli to which
the sense is responding.
- Every form of energy can vary along at least 2 dimensions: quantitative or qualitative.
- Quantitative variation has to do with the amount or intensity of energy. Examples:
light can be bright or dull, a sound can be quiet or loud and the molecules stimulating
taste can be diluted or highly concentrated.
- Coding of stimulus quantity is bc stronger stimuli produce larger receptor potentials
which leads to faster rates of action potentials in sensory neurons.
- Qualitative variation has to do with the precise kind of energy. Examples: light of
different wave lengths (different colors), sounds of different frequencies (pitches),
different chemicals (different smell or taste). This dimension occurs when
qualitatively different stimuli activate different sets of neurons.
- the brain sees a fast (slow) rate of action potentials as a strong (weak) stimulus.
- For each sense transduction occurs in such a way that info about quantity and quality
of the stimulus is preserved in the pattern of action potentials sent to the brain.

Sensory systems respond to changes more than to steady states

- Sensory adaptation the change in sensitivity that happens when a set of sensory
receptors are strongly or relatively unstimulated for a length of time. This process is
usually mediated by the receptor cells, sometimes this is done by the central nervous
system (nose example)

Smell
 - Smell and taste are chemical senses: stimuli are chemical molecules. These senses
play on our emotion more then on intellect (warning or attraction)
Transduction and coding for the sense of smell

- Molecules dissolve in the mucous fluid covering the olfactory epithelium (sensory
tissue) which lines the top of the nasal cavity.
- The olfactory epithelium contains sensitive terminals of olfactory sensory neurons,
each of these contain receptor sites, large protein molecules in the cell membrane
that bind molecules of specific odors.
- The binding changes the structure of the cell membrane which causes an electrical
change which can trigger action potential in the neuron’s axon.
- There are 350 different terminals. Some molecules bind better with different
terminals, some terminals are more sensitive to certain odors.
- The axons pas thru a thin bone into the olfactory bulb where they form synapse with
other neurons in a structure called glomeruli. For each of the 350 different olfactory
sensory neurons there is a different receiving glomerulus.
- The ratio of activity across glomeruli dictates the type of odor (quality of the smell).
- The total amount of activity indicates the amount of odor (quantity of the smell).

Olfactory brain areas beyond the olfactory bulb

- the olfactory bulb is strongly connected to the limbic system. The glomeruli send
most of its output to the limbic system and the hypothalamus. Both of which are
involved in basic drives and emotions.
- the output of the olfactory bulb also goes to various portions of the cerebral cortex.
 - Piriform cortex is the primary olfactory cortex. This area send output to the
orbitofrontal cortex, a secondary olfactory area. These areas are important in the
conscious experience and identification of odors.

Smell as a component of flavor: the mouth nose connection

- Odor can reach the olfactory epithelium thru a passageway in the mouth. The
needed molecules are pushed up with air while chewing and swallowing.
- Flavor consist of taste and smell that has been triggered through this passageway.
- Smell and taste inputs converge in a certain portion of the orbitofrontal cortex, and
this area appears to be critical for the psychological experience of flavor.

Differences among people in olfactory sensitivity

- Women are more sensitive to odors than men. Sensitivity to odors declines with age.
- Genetic differences can determine what smells you can identify and or precieve.
- Androsterone in sweat is smelled by a certain protein which has 3 different variants.
The 1st makes you experience it as strong and putrid, the 2nd makes you experience it
as weak and pleasant, and the 3rd makes it so you can’t smell it at all.

Discriminating among individuals by smell

- Humans can identify others by their smell.

Role of smell in mother-infant bonding

- 90% of mothers can identify their newborns by smell after spending 10-60 min with
them
- Babies can recognize their mothers sent.
- Odor figures into the complex of stimuli that are involved in the attachment between
human infants and their mothers but, odor is not essential for this attachment.

Possible role of smell in choosing a genetically compatible mate

- Mice choose a mate that is the most different odor than that of their own. These
preferences result from a set of around 50 highly variable genes, collectively called
major histocompatibility complex (MHC). These genes also determine the precise
nature of the immune system to reject foreign substances and kill bacteria and
viruses.
- The MHC gene also exist in humans and new research suggest that human, just like
mice, choose mates based on their odor. In a study it was found that women express
a greater sexual desire for their partner if their MHC was mor different.
Smell as a mode of communication: do humans produce
Pheromones?
- A pheromone is a chemical substance that is released by an animal and acts on other
members of its species to promote some specific behavioral or physiological
response.
- Most species of mammal have in their nasal cavities a structure called the
vomeronasal organ, which contains specialized receptor cells for responding to
pheromones. In contrast to the main olfactory, the vomeronasal organ can very
precisely recognize a small number of substances (pheromones of its species).
- Humans have the structures to make communication thru pheromones possible.
- Humans still have glands to secrete pheromones primarily in the places where we still
have body hair: arm pits, genital area, the area around the nipple, around the navel,
forehead, and cheeks.
- The function of hair in these places is believed to give the pheromones a larger area
to evaporate of off.
- It is still unknown if humans communicate thru pheromones.

Taste
- Taste helps us decide whether a particular substance is good or bad

Anatomy and physiology of taste

- The receptors for taste are found on specialized taste
receptor cells, not directly on the sensory nerve. These
cells are structured in a spherical fashion and are called
tastebuds. A person has 2000-10000 tastebuds, 2/3 of
which is on the tongue, the rest are in the throat and
roof of the mouth. People with more tastebuds are
more sensitive to tastes.
- A tastebud is found on the surface tissue (epithelium)
primarily of the tongue. Each bud contains between 50 – 100 receptor cells. From the
tip of each cell are hairlike extensions that touch the fluid lining the epithelial tissue.
These extensions contain binding sites and channels where substances can be tasted. Receptor cells

The receptor cells produce action potentials in responds to the input of the
substances. This is passed to the sensory neurons thru synaptic transmission (to
brain).
- A chemical substance must first dissolve in saliva and reach the sensitive ends of an
appropriate taste receptor cell. This triggers action potential.

Five primary tastes, five types of receptor cells

- The 5 types: sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami.

 - Umami is high in fish, meat, and cheese. It is also produced by monosodium
glutamate.

Taste areas in the brain

- Taste sensory neurons are closely connected to the limbic system and cerebral cortex
- The connections to the primary taste area in the brain (located in the insula) are
arranged in such a way that different sets of neurons are selectively responsive to
each of the 5 basic categories of taste stimuli.
- The primary area of taste sends connections to several other areas of the cortex,
including the orbitofrontal cortex, where neural connections for taste and smell
intermingle and enable us to experience the mixed taste-smell sensation (flavor).

An evolutionary account of taste quality

- Taste evolved to make sure we eat what is good for us and not what’s bad. By making
the food that is nutritional taste good you ensure that you increase your intake.
- Salty, sweet, and umami are associated with good foods (needed to maintain
function). Bitter and sour are associated with bad foods (to protect against rotting
food, toxic foods, or poisonous food).

Evolution of the ability to taste toxic substances as bitter

- Chemical substances taste bitter to us, this is because they can bind with one of the
25 receptor sites located on the bitter receptor cells.
- When they bind it creates/triggers a chemical change resulting in action potential in
the sensory neurons and eventually activity in areas of the brain that produce a bitter
taste. Most of the chemicals bound by these receptors are poison or resemble them.

Possible explanation of sex and age differences in bitter sensitivity

- Avoiding bitter food is adaptive but, avoiding them completely is not. Same plants
created substances that are similar enough to poison so that it binds with the
receptors but are very nutritional.
- Women are more sensitive to bitter taste than men are. This sensitivity increases
during the first 3 month of pregnancy. A possible reason is because a fetus is highly
subject to damage from poison.
- Children are also more sensitive to bitter tastes, this might be because children are
more susceptible to damage from poison.

Pain
- Pain is one of the somatosenses (temperature sensitivity and proprioception, which
is the sense of body position).
 - Pain is a sense that can originate in multiple places throughout the body rather than
just from specialized sensory organs in the head.
- Pain receptors exist over the whole body, in the skin and many other types of tissues.
The sensation of pain is, in contrast to other senses, experienced from within the
body.
- Pain is an emotion and a drive not just a sense.
- As an emotion, strong pain overwhelms a person’s conscious mind.
- As a drive pain motivates a person both to reduce the pain and avoid future
behaviors like the one that
produced it (promoting
survival).
- Pain can affect and be
affected by other
psychological experiences.

Neural pathways for

pain
- Pain is closely related to touch, and temperature sensitivity. For all these senses the
receptor cells are the neurons themselves.
- Those neurons have receptive endings in the skin and long axons that enter the
central nervous system.
- The sensitive terminals are called free nerve endings. These free nerve endings can
be found in the skin, pulp of the teeth, muscles, membranes around bones and joints
and various visceral organs.

Sensory neurons for two waves of pain

- Pain sensory neurons are of two general types: c fibers, which are thin,
unmyelinated, and slow conducting, and A-delta fibers, which are thicker,
myelinated and faster conducting.
- A-delta fibers can be specialized to respond to strong pressure or extreme
temperatures.
- C fibers respond to all types of stimuli that causes pain.
- A-delta fibers are fast, so they are responsible for that first (usually sharp) pain which
later gives way to a longer lasting dull pressure kind of pain, C fibers are responsible
for those.
- C fibers also respond in a more prolonged way to a variety of chemicals released by
damaged or infected cells.
- Pain neurons enter the spinal cord (via a spinal nerve) or the brainstem (via a cranial
nerve) and terminate there on interneurons. Some of these interneurons are
responsible for reflexive responses. Others send their axons to the thalamus, in the
center of the brain, which is responsible for the conscious perception of pain.

Brain areas for three components of pain experience

 - Pain can be dividend in three different components: sensory, primary emotional and
motivational, and secondary emotional and motivational.
- The sensory component: depends on the somatosensory cortex. This area is crucial to
experience pain as a sensation and to locate it in the body.
- Primary emotional and motivational component: the immediate experience. Depends
on a portion of the limbic system, cingulate cortex, and the insular cortex. People
with damage in this area have a condition called, asymbolia for pain. These people
feel pain but don’t care, they feel no desire to escape the pain.
- Secondary emotional and motivational component: cognitively based. The suffering
because of worrying about the future or the meaning of the pain. The part
responsible lies in the prefrontal cortex, which handles planning. People with damage
respond to the immediate threat of pain but don’t think about future implications.
- Pain does not always come from physical stimuli or the stimulation of pain receptors.
It can be felt with no nerves present (phantom limb). The lack of sensory input from
the amputated limb might be the trigger for the pain.

The modulation of pain

- The experience of pain depends not only on
the physical stimuli but also on other
conditions that exist at the same time. A
wound does not feel the same every time the
exact same wound is inflected
- The Gate-control theory of pain explains this
phenomenon, the experience of depends on
which and how many input from pain sensory
neurons can pass through a neural ‘gate’ and
reach higher pain centers in the brain.
Conditions can open or narrow this ‘gate’.
- The major gate where pain input is strongly
enhanced or inhibited is at the central nervous system. Here pian sensory neurons
can enter the spinal cord or the brain stem.
- In the spinal cord or brainstem, the neurons send their massage to second-order pain
neurons which go high in the brain. The responsiveness of these second-order pain
neurons to pain input is partly controlled by pain enhancing and pain inhibiting
neurons that extend their axons from higher in the brain, they are the ‘gate’.

Mechanisms of pain enhancement

- When sick the ‘gate’ opens so you experience more pain than usual. This believed to
come from an action of the immune system on pain enhancing neurons.
- Pain sensitivity can also be increased in specific locations in the body as a result from
an injury, the nerve endings of A-delta and C fibers are changed by chemical released
from damaged cells. Second-order pain neurons can become more sensitive as well
by intense activation.
Neural and chemical mechanisms of pain reductio

- A major neural center for pain inhibition exists in a portion of the midbrain called the
periaqueductal gray (PAG), neurons from here send their axons down to control pain.
- Electrical stimulation to the PAG has a powerful analgesic (pain reducing) effect.
Stimulation of this area in humans has resulted in ending or reducing chronic pain.
- Morphine and other opiate drugs work by targeting the PAG
- Endorphins are produced by the body to reduce pain. They work on the PAG. some
are created in the brain or spinal cord and serve as neurotransmitters or
neuromodulators to control or alter the activity or excitability of neurons. Others are
secreted from the pituitary and adrenal glands as hormones which are released into
the blood and have a variety of effects relating to or in the nervous system.

Stress-induced analgesia

- The decreased pain sensitivity that accompanies highly stressful situation is referred
to as stress-induced analgesia. This depends partly if not entirely on the release of
endorphins.
- Endorphins are also secreted during periods of prolonged, strenuous physical
exertion (runners high).

Belief-induced analgesia

- Dramatic reduction in pain can be produced by the power of belief or faith.

- In religions where there are painful rituals participant usually feel little to no pain.
- In science and medicine there is a phenomenon called placebo effect.
- This is depending on the secretion of endorphins.

Hearing
- Hearing allows us to identify things in the dark, behind our backs and anywhere out
of view. We use it to identify animals and natural events.
- Most importantly it is needed for verbal
communication, we learn through our ears.

Sound as a physical stimulus

- The height of a sound wave indicates the

total pressure exerted by the molecules in
the air as they move back and forth. This is
referred to as the sound’s amplitude. This
relates to how we perceive the loudness of
a sound.
- Soundwaves vary in frequency, which we
hear as the sounds pitch. This is the rate at
which molecules of air move back and forth.
 - Amplitude is measured in decibels and frequency is measured in hertz. Hertz is the
number of complete waves (cycles)
per second.
How the ear works

- The outer ear consists of the pinna

which is the flap of skin and cartilage
forming the visible portion of the ear,
and the auditory canal, which is the
opening into the head that leads to
the eardrum.
- The vibration of air, physical sound,
causes air in the auditory canal to
vibrate and makes the eardrum vibrat
- The middle ear is an air-filled cavity
separated from the outer ear by the eardrum (tympanic membrane).
- the middle ear has three bones: the hammer, anvil, and stirrup (ossicles). These
bones are connected to the eardrum and to the oval window. When sounds make
the eardrum vibrate it cause the ossicles to move and the stirrup to push against the
oval window.
- The main function of the middle ear is to increase the amount of pressure that
soundwaves exert upon the inner ear so that transduction can occur.
- The inner ear contains the cochlea (slakkenhuis), here transduction happens.
- The cochlea contains a fluid filled outer duct, which starts at the oval window, runs to
the tip of the cochlea, and then runs back to end at the round window. Between the
outgoing and incoming of the outer duct is another fluid filled tube, the inner duct.
Forming the floor of the inner duct is the basilar membrane, here are the receptor
cells for hearing located called hair cells.
- There are four rows of hair cells. Tiny hairs (called cilia) protrude from each hair cell.
These hairs protrude into the inner duct and touch the tectorial membrane. Each
hair cells synapses with several auditory neurons.
- Transduction happens as follows: the sound induced vibration of the ossicles against
the oval window initiates vibration in the fluid in the outer duct, this leads to a up
and down waving motion of the basilar membrane, which is flexible, the tectorial
membrane is less flexible and does not move when the basilar membrane moves.
The cilia which are stuck between the two bend each time the basilar membrane
moves to the tectorial membrane. This bending opens tiny channels in the hair cells,
this leads to a change in the electrical charge across the membrane. This makes the
cells release neurotransmitter molecules at its synapses with the auditory nerve, so
increasing the rate of action potential in those neurons.

Deafness and hearing aids

- Conduction deafness occurs when the ossicles became rigid and cannot carry sound
inward from the tympanic membrane to the cochlea. Hearing aids magnifies the
pressure so that vibrations can be conducted to the cochlea by other facial bones.
 - Sensorineural deafness which results from damage to the hair cells of the cochlea or
damage to the auditory neurons. This can happen due to loud music (damaged cilia).
- People with complete sensorineural deafness aren’t helped by conventional hearing
aids but, can be helped by a newer form of hearing aid called cochlear implant, which
take over the tasks of the hair cells, it turns sounds into electrical impulses and sends
these through thin wires implanted in the cochlea, where they stimulate the
terminals of the auditory neurons directly (only helps with damaged cilia).
- Congenital deafness (deafness present at birth) may involve damage to either the
hair cells or the auditory neurons.

Pitch perception
- Reporter cells on the basilar membrane respond differently to different frequencies.

The traveling waves as a basis for frequency coding

- Sound waves entering the cochlea only travel a certain distance. The amount of
distance is dictated by the pitch/frequency. High frequencies don’t travel far while
low frequencies do.
- Rapid firing of neurons that come from the proximal end (near the oval window, so at
the beginning) accompanied by little firing from neurons at the distal end (near the
round window, so at the end) is interpreted by our brains as a high pitch.
- Rapid firing of neurons that come from the distal end (near the round window, so at
the end) accompanied by little firing from neurons at the proximal end (near the oval
window, so at the beginning) is interpreted by our brains as a low pitch.

Two sensory consequences

of the traveling-wave
mechanism

- Asymmetry in auditory
masking, auditory masking is
the ability of one sound to
‘mask’ (prevent the hearing of)
another sound. Auditory
masking is asymmetrical because low frequency sounds mask high frequency better
than reversed. This is due to low frequencies traveling further in the cochlea.
- With hearing loss due to age high frequencies are lost first. This is because every
frequency of sound travels over the cilia that relay information about high pitches.

Another code for frequency

- For frequencies below 4000 Hz pitch (human speech) is not just determent by the
most active part of the basilar membrane but also on the timing of that activity.
- The electrical activity triggered in sets of auditory neurons tends to be locked in
phase with sound waves, such that a separate burst of action potentials occurs each
 time a sound wave peaks. The frequency at which such bursts occur contributes to
the perception of pitch.

Further pitch processing in the brain

- Auditory sensory neurons send their output to nuclei in the brainstem, which in turn
sends axons upward, ultimately to the primary auditory area of the cerebral cortex.
- Neurons in the primary auditory cortex are tonotopically organized, neurons
responsive to high frequencies are located at one end and neurons responsive to low
frequencies are located at the other end.
- Genetics decide the general form of the tonotopic map, but experience determines
how much area is dedicated to which pitch or sets of pitches.
- The brains response to sound frequencies and other sound aspects is very much
affected by previous auditory experience.
- The capacity to distinguish sounds doesn’t only come from the primary auditory
cortex but also from activity in an area of the parietal lobe of the cortex called the
intraparietal sulcus. This part is involved in music and visual space perception.

Locating sounds

- The ability of locating sound does not need to be learned (newborns can do this).
- This ability also makes it possible to focus on 1 voice more easily if other voices come
from different directions than when they come from the same direction.
- Sound localization depends on the time at which each sound wave reaches one ear
compared to the other.
- Many auditory neurons in the brainstem receive input from both ears, some of these
neurons respond most to waves that reach both ears at once, while others respond
more to waves that reach one ear microseconds faster or slower.

Analyzing patterns of auditory input

- Sounds never come in pure tones (outside of the laboratory).

- Language is not identified by the amplitude or the frequency but from certain
patterns of changes in these that occur over time (when a word is spoken).
- Beyond the primary auditory area are cortical areas for analyzing such patterns.
Some neurons in areas near the primary auditory area only respond to certain
combinations of frequencies. Others only respond to rising and falling pitches, others
only to brief clicks or burst of sounds.

Phonemic restoration: an auditory illusion

- Sometimes our auditory system provides us with the perception of sounds without
the presents of physical stimuli. An example is the sensory illusion of phonemic
restoration. Phonemes are the individual vowels and constant sounds that make up
words. Phonemic restoration is an illusion in which people hear phonemes that are
not said but are left out of a word or sentence.
 - Which sound is heard in phonemic restoration depends on the surrounding
phonemes and the meaningful words and phrases they produce.
- Much of our perceptual experience of hearing derives from a brief auditory sensory
memory, which can be modified and only last a matter of seconds. Phonemic illusion
changes this memory and places the phoneme in the ‘right’ place.
- The gap left by the missing phoneme must be a noise or sound if it is just silent
phonemic restoration does not occur.

Psychophysics
- Psychophysics is the study of relationships between physical characteristics of stimuli
and the sensory experiences produced by those stimuli.

The absolute threshold is a measure of sensitivity

- The faintest detectable stimulus of any given type is referred to as the absolute
threshold for that type of stimulus.
- Absolute thresholds vary from person to person and are used clinically as measures
of someone sensitivity to specific types of stimuli.
- Absolute thresholds for older adults are higher than for younger adults. Sex could
also influence the absolute threshold (men and women with smell).

The difference threshold depends on the magnitude of the original

stimulus

- Difference threshold is defined as the minimal difference in magnitude (or intensity)

between two stimuli that is required for the person to detect them as different.
Another name for this is just-noticeable difference (jnd)
- Ernst Weber’s law: the just-noticeable difference for stimulus magnitude is a
constant proportion of the Magnitude of the original stimulus. Jnd=kM. in which M is
the magnitude or intensity of the stimulus used as the original stimulus and k is a
proportionality constant referred to as the weber fraction (depends on sensory task).
- The law holds up well expect for stimuli close to the absolute threshold or at very
high ends of the range.
- Jnd is measured in physical units

Sensory magnitude is lawfully related to stimulus magnitude

- When a physical stimulus increases our sensory experience of it increases as well.

- Fechner’s logarithmic law: the magnitude of the sensory experience of a stimulus is
directly proportional to the logarithm of the physical magnitude of the stimulus.
- Fechner reasoned the jnd could serve as a unit for relating physical and sensory
magnitudes. His assumptions were: 1) every jnd along a sensory dimension is
equivalent to every other jnd along that dimension in the amount it adds to the
sensory magnitude. 2) jnd’s can be added together, meaning he assumed that a
sound that is 100 jnd’s above the threshold would be twice as loud as one of 50 jnd.
 - He assumed jnd’s are subjectively equal but not physically equal.
- The amount of physical change needed to create a constant sensory change is
directly proportional to the magnitude of the stimulus.
- Fechner’s law: S = c*log(M). S= the magnitude of the sensory experience, c=
proportionality constant and, M= the magnitude of the physical stimulus.
- Stevens’s power law: the magnitude of a sensation is directly proportional to the
magnitude of the physical stimulus raised by a constant power. S= cM^p. S= the
reported magnitude of the sensory experience, M= the physical magnitude of the
stimulus, p= the power to which M must be raised, and c= a constant whose value
depends on the size of the measurement units used.
- Method of magnitude estimation involves asking subjects to assign numbers to the
magnitudes of their sensations.
- Stevens found that Fechner’s law was roughly accurate for most senses and quite
inaccurate for some senses. He found that the results could be better described by a
different mathematical relationship (a power relationship).
- In cases where p < 1, equal physical changes
produce smaller sensory changes at the high
end of the scale than at the low end. In cases
where p >1, equal physical changes produce
bigger sensory changes at the high end of the
scale than at the low end. In cases where p=1,
equal physical changes produce equal sensory
changes (look at the image for a example).

Why a power law?

- Only with a power law are you able to preserve the constancy of stimulus ratios.

The psychology of vision

- Our visual perceptions are subjective, psychological experiences, which our brains
create almost instantly, and continuously as long as our eyes are open.
- 25 to 40 precent of the human brain is devoted or partially devoted to the analysis of
input from the eyes.

How the eye works

- Photoreceptors are specialized light detecting cells.
- Evolution of the eye: photoreceptors formed a group, making a light detecting organ,
responding to light-dark. After some time, these organs started to recognize
shadows. Further down the line the skin covering the light detecting organ became
transparent, the spots moved inward, into fluid filled pits underneath the transparent
skin. Later a membrane covering the outer layer started to harden and form a lens.
The lens got better and was eventually able to project images and later turned into
what we now know as eyes.
Functional organization of the eye
- The photoreceptors lie in the retina, a membrane lining the back of the eyeball.

Structures at the front of the eye focus images on the retina

- The cornea is a transparent tissue

that, because of its outward
curvature, helps focus light that
passes through it.
- Light can’t pass thru the iris only
thru the pupil. Muscles in the iris
allow it to grow or shrink based on
the provided amount of light.
- The lens adds to the focusing
process. The lens is adjustable, when focus on something close to the eye it turns
more spherical and when focused on something away it gets flatter.
- The focusing abilities of the lens and cornea bring light back together at a particular
point on the retina, the image is upside down. The brain interrupts input from lower
in the retina as up and from higher as down.

Transduction occurs in the retina

- The transduction is done by the photoreceptors,

which are arranged on a thin layer of the
multilayered retina. These cells have two types:
cones and rods.
- Cones permit sharply focused color vision in bright
light. They are mostly Concentrated in the fovea,
the area of the retina in the most direct line of sight.
- The fovea is specialized in high visual activity
- Rods permit vision in dim light. Rods are
everywhere on the retina expect for the fovea and
are most concentrated in the area 20 degrees away
from the fovea.
- The outer segment of each photoreceptor contains
a photochemical, a chemical that reacts to light. The
one for rods is called rhodopsin, when hit by light
the molecules undergo a structural change that
triggers a series of chemical changes across the cell membrane, which causes a
change in the electrical charge of across the membrane.
- Transduction is the same in rods and cones, just different chemicals. There are three
typed of cones each of which has its own photochemical.
- The electrical changes in rods and cones cause electrical response in other cells in the
retina, which lead to the production of action potentials in neurons that form the
optic nerve which runs from the back of the eye to the brain.
- We have a blind spot in our eye where the axon of the nerve goes thru the retina.
Differences between cone vision and rods vision
- Cone vision also called photopic vision is specialized for high acuity, the ability to see
fine details, and for color perception.
- Rods vision also called scotopic vision is specialized for sensitivity, the ability to see in
very dim light. This lacks acuity and capacity to distinguish colors.
- In very dim light (to dim for cones) you use rods vision to make out shapes.

Roles of rods and cones in dark adaptation and light adaptation

- One of the problems our visual system must solve is that of adjusting to the
enormous range of light intensities that occur throughout the day.
- Dark adaptation is the gradual increase in sensitivity that occurs after entering a dark
room or turning off the lights.
- Light adaptation is the more rapid decrease in sensitivity that occurs when you turn
on a bright light or step into sunlight.
- The iris contributes to this adaption by dilating and constricting it based on the
amount of light needed to see. Temporary changes in the sensitivity of visual neurons
that receive input from the receptor cells contribute as well. The biggest contributor
comes from the different sensitivities in rods and cones.
- Rhodopsin is much more sensitive to light than cone photochemical, bright light
causes it to break down into two inactive substances, turning the robs nonfunctional.
- In the light you see entirely or mostly with your cones.

Neural convergence as a basis for differences between rod and cone

vision.

- The difference in sensitivity of rods and cones is not

entirely due to the photochemical but, also due to the
neural wiring.
- Both rods and cones form synapses on short neurons
called bipolar cells, which in turn form synapses on
longer neurons called ganglion cells, whose axons leave
the eye at the blind spot to form the optic nerve.
- Several rods are connected to one bipolar cell, and
several of those bipolar cells (who are connected to
rods) are connected to a ganglion cell. While this
increase sensitivity it decreases acuity.
- Every cone has their own synapse to a bipolar cell, which has its own connection to a
ganglion cell, which improves acuity but reduce sensitivity to dim light.

Seeing colors
- Color depends on the wavelengths of the light that is reflected from an object.
How color varies with the physical stimulus
- Light is both a particle, photons, and a wave.
- Light travels at a constant speed, the distance that photons travel between the
beginning of one pulse and the beginning of the next determines the wavelength.
- Humans see a range from about 400 to 700 nm (nanometer).
- White light contains all visible wavelengths combined (some invisible to).
- Different wave lengths give different colors. Objects vary in the wavelength they
reflect because, they have on their surface different pigments, chemicals that absorb
some wavelengths and thereby prevent them from reflecting.

Subtractive color mixing

- Pigments create the perception of color by subtracting (absorbing) some of the light
waves that would otherwise have been reflected into the eye, the mixing of pigments
is called subtractive color mixing.

Two psychological laws of additive color mixing

- Additive color mixing occurs when colored lights instead of pigments is mixed.
- The three-primaries law: the different wavelengths of light, called the primaries, can
be used to match any color that the eye can see if they are mixed in the appropriate
proportions. Primaries can be any wavelength as long as 1
is from the short wavelengths, 1 is from the middle
wavelengths and 1 is from the long wave lengths.
- The law of complementarity: pairs of wavelengths can be
found that, when added together, produce the visual
sensation of white. The wavelengths of light in such a pair
are referred to as complements of each other.
- Both laws are taken into account in the standard
chromaticity diagram.
- Saturated colors are produced by a single wavelength.
- Unsaturated colors are closer to the center and are a mix of wavelengths.
- These theories are psychology and not physics, the wavelengths don’t turn into a
new wavelength when reflected simultaneously but, we do perceive it that way.

Two classic theories of color vision

- The two theories are the trichromatic theory and the opponent-process theory

The trichromatic theory

- Trichromatic theory: color vision emerges from the combined activity of three
different types of receptors, each sensitive to a different range of wave lengths.
 - This theory is based on the law of additive color mixing, if every color we see is a
result of mixing different wavelengths the primaries would be the result.
- In the human retina there are three different types of cones each with a different
photochemical that make it sensitive to a certain range of light waves.

Exceptions to trichromatic vision

- People referred to as dichromats have only two types of cone photochemicals. These
people only see with two primaries, so any color they see is a mix of those two.
- Dichromats is caused by a recessive gene in the X chromosome, so it appears more in
men.
- Red-green color-blindness is most common, people who have this have difficulty
distinguishing wavelengths ranging between red and green.

The opponent-process theory

- The opponent-process theory is based on and explains the law of complementarity.

- Color perception is mediated by physiological units (neurons) that can be either
excited or inhibited, depending on the wavelength of light, and that complementary
wavelengths have opposite effects (that is, they activate ‘opposing processes’) on
these opponent process units.
- In other words: the ability to see blues and yellow is mediated by blue-yellow
opponent neurons which are excited by wavelengths in the bleu range and inhibited
by wavelengths in the yellow range or vice versa. Red and green vision is mediated by
red-green opponent neurons and dark and bright are seen by dark-bright opponent
neurons.

Color afterimages explained by the opponent-process theory

- Green suppresses red and red suppresses green, yellow suppresses blue and blue
suppresses yellow and black suppresses white and white suppresses black.
- So, when staring at a color for a certain amount of time the color you see suppresses
it opponent but, the oppressor’s receptors get fatigued and when you look away to a
white wall for example the neurons of the oppressing color will not respond as fast
and, as a result you will see the complementary color, since its receptors are not
fatigued.

A physiological reconciliation of the two theories.

- The retina has three different types of cones but,

the cones feed into ganglion cells in a pattern
that translates the trichromatic code into the
opponent-process code
- Neurons in the cerebral cortex that are directly
involved in color perception maintain these
opponent-process characteristics.
Part 2: research methods and statistics (notes are very important to look over and
learn)

Observation and description I

- There are two types of research methods: observational and experimental.
- In experimental research the investigator intervenes and manipulates certain
variables, then they observe the effect of that manipulation.
- In observational research the observer does not intervene and observes the subjects
in a natural environment. Observers might intervene by asking a question for
example but, the intervention isn’t the subject of the research.

Case studies
- The study of a single case that may occur rarely. Important here is the fact that it can
occur.
- Expressive aphasia is the inability to produce speech. ‘Tan’, he had the condition and
could understand speech perfectly well but not produce it. Their brains can’t
remember how to produce speech because of a damaged area that is dedicated to it.
- Broca’s original findings lead other researchers to find localization of function in the
brain.

Strengths and limitations of case studies

- Case studies tell us what can happen and help to inspire new lines of study and
findings.
- Limitation: 1) they tell us what can happen not what typically does happen
(generalizability). 2) these studies are sensitive to observer bias. 3) these studies are
sensitive to the observer effect.
- Observer bias means that an observer can see what they expect to see, or they may
select those events that they expect or that fit their theory.
- Observer effect means that the observer may affect the results of the study. This can
happen because the observer steers the conversation or because the observed is
changing their behavior because they are being observed.

Surveys: interviews, and questionnaires

- Survey research is more focused on larger groups then on individuals, they are part of
a sample of cases. The conclusion is wished to apply to the population at large.
- Selecting a good sample group is very important, just like a comparison group.
- Correlation does not imply causality.
- We don’t prove theories we rule out alternatives.
- The Bennington studies: what would happen if a group with view B was introduced
into a closed society with view A? they found that the group with view B slowly
moved more to the societies view A.
 - If the first change in view was because of social pressure, it was social support that
maintained it years later.
- Someone who deviates from a group’s majority attitude is more likely to be
pressured to change their attitude and if pressure does not work, they are likely to be
rejected and isolated from the group.
- Explanations of action: Americans prefer to describe based on personality whereas
Indians prefer to do so by the situation.

Participant observation
- Participant observation is the study of behavior from inside the group.
- The seekers: as strong belief can remain in ‘normal’ people even after clear evidence
of the contrary is provided. To explain this the theory of cognitive dissonance comes
into play. Humans are uncomfortable when their actions and beliefs conflict with
each other so, when the action has already happened, and the belief doesn’t match
we change our belief.
- Researchers infiltrated the seekers and made notes and analyzed the chances and
why those may have occurred.

Direct observation of behavior

- Direct observation as a research method is when on observer observes behavior
directly in a natural environment.
- Ethology is the study of animal and human behavior in its natural setting.
- A classic in ethology is the study of the three-spined stickleback and its reproduction.
- Once we identify basic actions and behavior, we can use this as a bases for research.
This information can make place for questions and lay the basis for an experiment.
- The study of the three-spined stickleback showed us that some behavior can be
genetic and does not have to be learned. This revolutionized the way we look at
behavior. This is the concept of instinctive behavior.
- ‘Just watching’ can tell us a lot about human behavior. Observation leads the way to
further exploration with other methods.
- Certain facial expressions in humans begin as instinctive action patterns but, facial
expressions change based on ‘display rules’ which are enforced by social pressure.

Testing hypotheses with observations

- Instead of asking ‘what happens when?’ we should ask ‘this theory predicts that
when this occurs that happens, does it?’ than data will confirm or disconfirm the
prediction.
- When testing a hypothesis, you must look out for other variables that could influence
your result. You also must be aware of your sampling size and group. You also must
look out for alternate explanations.
- Sampling bias happens when a selected group does not represent the population to
who the research is made for
 - ‘rewarding’ unwanted behavior reinforces it.
- When researching we make a hypothesis which should specify in general what the
date should look like when correct.
- Babies with parents who respond promptly to crying are less fussy.
- Data doesn’t prove a theory it disproves or weighs against another theory. There
could be a third variable that disproves the theory or proves another.
- Correlational data do not establish what causes what.
- Interobserver reliability is a solution to observer biased

The value of observational research

- Theory/data cycle is the back-and-forth interplay between our ideas and the facts. A
researcher can enter at either point in the cycle. They could start with a theory and
then test it, or they could collect data first by exploring something that they observed
happening. It isn’t ‘this theory predicts this should happen’, but ‘something
interesting is happening here, let’s find out more’ (open questions).
- Exploratory observation sets up questions to be addressed, perhaps by more
systematic methods, the transition to experiment.
- Correlation does not establish causality; correlational studies can sometimes
disconfirm the predictions of a causal theory.

Observation and description II: some technical problems

- Data that mislead us are worse than, no data at all.
- The problem of sampling bias is that we might observe organisms or events that are
different in some consistent way from those organisms or events that we want to
draw conclusions about.
- The problem of observer effects is that we might distort what we observe by the very
act of observing it. A. group of people may behave different just because they are
being observed.
- The problem of observer bias is that an observer may distort how they interrupt an
observation. The observer may see what they expect or want to see.
- Inferential bias happens when we draw a wrong conclusion from accurate data, the
problem here is with our logic and not the procedures. We make inferences from our
data in a biased way.
- These problems happen in observational and experimental research.

Sampling

- ‘To what population do we want to generalize the results from this sample of cases’.
- A representative sample of some population is not always necessary to draw a
generalizable conclusion. This is because a researcher uses a study to draw a
conclusion about a specific population based on just this survey. Psychological
research conclusions depend on an agreement among different investigations.
- There is no such thing as the population.
 - In survey results sampling bias happens a lot, people with strong opinions or feelings
on the subject matter and want to express it are more likely to respond to the survey.
- Sampling can also become biased because of where the sample is pulled from. If you
take your sample from a group that is typically higher income you will
underrepresent lower income people.
- To avoid sampling bias, we must first define our population and then seek to obtain a
representative sample from that population. This is best done by drawing a random
sample from that population.
- Random sample is one selected in such a way that every member of the population
has an equal chance of being selected. A sample representative of one population
might not be a representation for another.
- Multistage sampling: determine population (college students) stage 1: a between
sample (colleges) stage 2: take random sample from the between sample
(students from the samples colleges).
- Example: political polling, population: voters. Stage 1: list all counties and select a
sample. Stage 2: take a random sample of streets. Stage 3: on each street take a
random sample of voters who live there.
- Systematic sampling is a method useful when one cannot keep track of individuals,
or where the population cannot be listed in advance. Example: you could observe
every 4th person or event that happens since the observation starts and every 7th
after that.
- Random sampling doesn’t guarantee a representative sample but does make it
more likely.
- Purposive sampling means that we purposefully look for subjects with certain
characteristics. The cases we observe are selected because of the main research
question we have, not because they are representative.
- Convenience sampling means that the subjects are selected based on accessibility
and convenience.
- The defined population: subjects ‘like these’.
- The generality of a conclusion comes from the consistency among different findings,
not from the representativeness of the subjects in any one of them.
- Procedures like random sampling are needed when there is a real-world population
out there, a specific existing one not just one we defined, to which we want to
generalize our findings.

Observer effects

- When observed a child may be on their ‘best behavior’ and not their regular behavior
or a person may give socially correct answer to questions instead of accurate
answers.
- Example is the case of clever Hans (a horse)
- Clever Hans effect is used to remind us of the effects that an observers can give
unintended cues that can affect what their subjects do.
- Answers to questions can be determined by the way the observer has worded or
asked the question. The way a question is asked can alter the recollection of the
person being questioned.
 - A solution to observer effect is hiding. Observers can hide from their subjects to
avoid influencing them. This could be done by literally hiding or by blending in with
the subjects.
- Another solution is waiting out. Observers will wait out until the subjects are used to
them and lose interest or when they are forgotten about.
- Deception is another solution. Observers will deceive the subjects into believing they
are part of the group. Observers in the study of the ‘seekers’ did this. This tactic has
some ethical grey areas.
- Another solution is unobtrusive measures. Here observers are completely absent
during the observation and will later look at results of the behavior of the subjects.
- Blind observers is another solution. The experiment or observation is done by
observers who don’t know what the expected outcome is.

Observer bias

- An observer may distort how they perceive the actions or patterns in a study based
on what they think should or will happen. Our own believes can influence how we
interpret the world around us.
- A solution to observer bias is blind observing. Here we let someone observe that isn’t
aware of what the expected outcome is or what observations would support the
theory. This method is used to minimize observer bias and effect.
- Another solution is objective measures. Here you turn subjective terms to objective
ones. So, instead of asking ‘do lonely people take long showers?’ you, ask ‘how much
time does a lonely person spend in the shower?’.
- Multiple observers are another solution. If different observers agree on what
happened, then it is more likely that that really is what happened. This is especially
important when subjective judgements must be made. This is also called
interobserver reliability.

Correlation and causality

- An instance of inferential bias that happens repeatedly is the confusion of correlation
and causality
- Correlation means that two different things happen along a similar pattern.
- Causality means that two different things exert influence over the other (oorzaak
gevolg)
- In an experiment or observation where it is concluded that X causes Y we have to
question if it is true, it could also be that Y causes X or that X and Y are both caused
by variable Z. Correlational data does not distinguish between these three.

Summary

- Observational research: we need to know what happens before we ask why.

- Correlation does not imply causality but it may provide evidence for or against a
causal theory.