The Perception of Mind and Brain Flashcards

Experiences resulting from stimulation of the senses
-set of processes by which we recognize, organize and make sense of sensations we receive from environmental stimuli-What we sense is NOT THE SAME as what we percieve (with our minds)

How to determine the distal stimulus from the proximal stimulus

proximal stimulus is what projected onto our retina
distal stimulus is what is actual out there in the world
-the percept is our concept of that.

--> single image on retina has mutliple interpretation, so how do we figure it out, many senses of information

Necessary in order to know how to act to achieve goals

-Genes (info learned on timescale of evolution)-Past experience (info learned from timescale of human life)
0Internal state (info learned on timescale of current episode)
-Environmental context (info learned now)
-Proximal stimulus (the stimulus itself

An object or process out in the world

Specialized cells to transduce (convert) external phenomena (light, sound, pressure etc) into neural signals

-Neural signal generated by external stimuli in sensory receptors

From sensory receptors via thalamus nuclei to cerebral cortex

-attempt to construct useful representation of distal stimulus

Mental representation of the distal stimulus

1.Fovea - central of visual field, has densist concentration of photoreceptors (get the most information from light that falls on fovea
2. There is a gap in retina where optic nerve runs out (forms blind spot
3. photoreceptors are at back of retina and are facing away from light. Light has to travel through several cell layers to reach receptors

One type

Three types-each type has different sensitivity to different wavelengths of light (red green blue)

-cones opperate well when there are lots of light, rods operate well in low light conditions

-photoreceptive cells activated by light rather than another cell, but both can send an action potential.