WEEK 1 Proximal stimulus (Step 2)

- “in proximity” to receptors

CHAPTER 1 - Ex. air caused by rustling leaves enter the ear &
Introduction to Perception reach auditory receptors
Perceptron
- Frank Rosenblatt Principle of transformation
- Room-sized 5 ton computer - Stimuli and responses created by stimuli are
- Can recognize similarities/identities between transformed, or changed, between the distal
patterns of info that is analogous to perceptual stimulus and perception
processes of biological brain - Ex. light & pressure waves

Perception Principle of representation

- Experiences that result from stimulation of the - Everything a person perceives is based not on
senses direct contact with stimuli but on representations
- Seems to “just happen” of stimuli that are formed on the receptors and
- Depends on properties of sensory receptors the resulting activity in the person’s nervous
system
Sensation - Ex. image of tree focused on receptors
- Simple “elementary” processes occurring at the
beginning of a sensory system The distal stimulus (tree) is transformed into proximal
- Ex. light reaches the eye, sound waves enter the stimulus, and this image represents the three in person’s
ear, food touches tongue eyes.

Perception Receptor Processes (Step 3)

- Complex processes that involve higher-order Sensory receptors
mechanisms like interpretation & memory - Cells specialized to respond to environmental
- Ex. identifying food you’re eating, remembering energy
the last time you had it - Each respond to a specific type of energy

The Perceptual Process

Perception happens at the end of a long & winding road.

Perceptual process
- 7 steps

2 things sensory receptors do when receiving info from

environment
1. They transform environmental energy into
electrical energy
2. They shape perception by the way they respond
to diff properties of the stimuli

Transduction
- Transformation of environmental energy (light,
sound, thermal energy) to electrical energy
- Ex. running fingers over bark of tree
(environmental to electrical)

Neural Processing (Step 4)

Neurons
1. Transmit signals from receptors to the brain and
within the brain
2. Change (or process) these signals as they are
“neural processing” transmitted
- Understanding not only how neurons wok, but
how they interact with each other & operate in Neural processing
diff brain areas - Changes in signals that occur as they are
transmitted through maze of neurons
It does not always unfold in a one-follows-the-other
order. Primary receiving area
- Where electrical signals are sent
Distal and Proximal Stimuli (Steps 1 and 2) - 4 lobes
Distal stimulus (Step 1)
- “distant”—out there in the environment
- Ex. light reflected from tree enters the eye &
visual receptors
 - Ex. labeling it “moth” bc she has learned about it
before; M*RY H*D …

Studying the Perceptual Process

3 major components
1. Stimulus (distal & proximal)
2. Physiology (receptors & neural processing)
3. Behavior (perception, recognition, action)

Oblique effect
- People see vertical or horizontal lines better than
lines oriented obliquely

Cerebral cortex
- 2 mm thick layer containing machinery for
creating perceptions & other functions
- Ex. language, memory, emotions, thinking

Frontal lobe
- Receives signals from ALL of senses
- Important role in perceptions that involve
coordination of info received through 2 or more
senses

Behavioral Responses (Steps 5-7)

Electrical signals are transformed into the conscious The Stimulus-Behavior Relationship (A)
experience of perception (Step 5), which leads to Stimulus-behavior relationship
recognition (Step 6) - Relates stimuli (Steps 1&2) to behavioral
responses (Steps 5-7)
Recognition - Main relationship measured during first 100
- Placing an object in a category (ex. “tree”) that years of scientific study of perception
gives it meaning
- (perception is mere conscious awareness of Psychophysics
tree) - Measures relationships between physical
(stimulus) and psychological (behavioral
Visual form of agnosia response)
- Inability to recognize objects
Grating acuity
Action (Step 7) - Black and white striped stimuli
- Motor activities in response to stimulus - Smallest width of lines that participants can
- Ex. person walks towards the tree, touch the detect
tree, have picnic under it

Knowledge
Knowledge
- Any info that perceiver brings to a situation
- Ex. prior experience or expectations
- Stimulus: oriented gratings, behavioral
- Can be from years ago or recently acquired
response: detecting the grating’s orientation
Rat-man demonstration
The Stimulus-Physiology Relationship (B)
- Recently acquired knowledge can influence
Stimulus-physiology relationship
perception
- Studied by measuring brain activity
- Ex. optical brain imaging on ferrets
Categorize
- To place objects into categories
The Physiology-Behavior Relationship (C)
- Influenced by knowledge acquired years ago
Physiology-behavior relationship
- Ex. tree, bird, branch
- Relates physiological responses (Steps 3&4) &
behavioral responses (Steps 5-7)
Bottom-up processing
- Data-based processing
Christopher Furmanski & Stephen Engel
- Based on stimuli reaching the receptors
- Determined physiology-behavior relationship for
- Ex. “incoming data” from seeing a moth in the
diff grating orientations
tree
- ^ by measuring both brain response &
behavioral sensitivity
Top-down processing
- Ex. fMRI
- Knowledge-based processing
- Based on knowledge
 - Not only visual; can include hearing, touch,
taste, smell

Question 3: How Quickly Can I React to It? Technique:

Reaction Time
Reaction time
- Time between presentation of stimulus &
person’s reaction to it

Question 4: How Can I Describe What Is Out There?

Technique: Phenomenological Report
Phenomenological report
- Describing what is out there
- Ex. vase or 2 faces?

Measuring Perception
Absolute threshold
- Smallest stimulus level that can be detected
- Ex. smallest amount of salt needed to just be
able to taste it, intensity of whisper you can
barely hear
Question 5: How Can I Interact With It? Technique:
Thresholds Physical Tasks and Judgements
- Measure the limits of sensory systems
- Measures of minimums Electromagnetic spectrum
- Band of energy ranging from gamma rays to AM
Measuring Thresholds radio and AC circuits
Gustav Fechner
- The mind and body should not be thought of as
separate from one another but as 2 sides of
single reality
- The mind can be studied by measuring the
relationship between changes in physical
stimulation (body part) and person’s experience
(mind part)

Classical psychophysical methods

- (Elements of Psychophysics) 3 methods for
measuring threshold
o The method of limits – ascending or
descending
o The method of constant stimuli –
random order
o The method of adjustment – participant
adjusts stimulus

“Fechner Day”
- October 22

Difference threshold
- Smallest difference between 2 stimuli that
enables us to tell difference between them

Measuring Perception Above Threshold

Question 1: What Is the Perceptual Magnitude of
Stimulus? Technique: Magnitude Estimation
Magnitude estimation
- Mathematical formula relating physical stimuli &
perception
- Modified Fechner’s equation
- Ex. sense of hearing (judging loudness of
sound)

Question 2: What Is the Identity of the Stimulus?

Technique: Recognition Testing
Recognition
- Tests ability of those with brain damage, assess
perceptual abilities of those without
 CHAPTER 2
Basic Principles of Sensory Physiology
Neural processing
- Interaction of signals of many neurons

Electrical Signals in Neurons

Neurons
- Structures where electrical signals occur

Cell body
- Contains mechanisms to keep the cell alive

Dendrites
- Branch out from cell body to receive electrical
signals from other neurons

Axon Basic Properties of Action Potentials

- Nerve fiber Properties of AP
- Filled with fluid that conducts electrical signals 1. A propagated response (enables neurons to
transmit signals over long distances)
Sensory receptors 2. Remains the same size no matter how intense
- Especially important for perception the stimulus is
- Neurons specialized to respond to
environmental stimuli Propagated response
- Once response is triggered, it travels all the way
Recording Electrical Signals in Neurons down the axon without decreasing in size
Electrical signals
- Recorded from the axons/nerve fibers, using Changing the stimulus intensity does NOT affect the size
small electrodes to pick up signals of the AP but DOES affect the rate of firing.

2 electrodes Refractory period

1. Recording electrode (tip inside neuron) - Interval between the time 1 nerve impulse
2. Reference electrode (some distance away) occurs and the next one can be generated in the
axon
—70 mV - 1 millisecond (thus the upper limit of neuron’s
- Difference in electrical potential between tips of firing rate is 500-800 impulses per second)
2 electrodes when axon is AT REST
- (inside of the axon is more negative than the Spontaneous activity
outside) - AP that occur in the absence of stimuli from the
environment
Resting potential - Establishes baseline level of firing
- Stays the same (-70 mV) as long as there are no
signals in the neuron Chemical Basis of Action Potentials
Wet environment of body
As the signal passes, the charge inside the axon rises to - Where AP create electricity
+40 mV compared to outside. Then, the charge reverses
course and becomes negative again (back to resting
level).

Action potential
- Signal identified by the predictable rise & fall of
the charge inside the axon relative to the outside
- Lasts for 1 millisecond
- “firing” neurons = neurons with AP

Ions
- Molecules that carry an electrical charge
- Created when molecules gain or lose electrons
Selective permeability Neurotransmitters
- P ease with which a molecule can pass through - Chemicals stored in structures called synaptic
the membrane; S fiber is permeable to 1 specific vesicles at the end of sending neuron
type of molecule (Na+)
Receptor sites
Depolarization - Receiving neuron that are sensitive to specific
- Increase in positive charge inside neuron neurotransmitters

Rising phase of the action potential 2 types of responses at receptor sites

- Quick and steep depolarization from -70 mV to 1. Excitatory response – neuron becomes
+40 mV during AP DEPOLARIZED, thus the inside is more positive
2. Inhibitory response – neuron becomes
Hyperpolarization HYPERPOLARIZED, thus the inside is more
- Increase in negative charge inside the neuron negative

Falling phase of the action potential Inhibition

- Hyperpolarization from +40 mV to -70 mV - Exists because the function of neurons is not
only to transmit info but also to process it

Sensory Coding: How Neurons Represent

Information
Sensory coding
- Sensory code is how neurons represent various
characteristics of the environment

Specificity Coding
“salty neuron”
- 1 neuron can represent 1 perceptual experience
- Ex. taste of salt

Specificity coding
- Notion of specialized neuron responding only to
1 concept or stimulus

Grandmother cell
- Lettvin
- Highly specific type of neuron that responds to
your grandmother
- Even just thinking about the idea of your
grandmother (not visual) can make grandmother
cell fire

Sparse Coding
Sodium-potassium pump
Sparse coding
- Keeps buildup from happening by continuously
- Particular stimulus is represented by a pattern of
pumping Na+ out and K+ into the fiber
firing of only a small group of neurons, with
majority remaining silent
Transmitting Information Across a Gap
- Ex. Bill’s face represent firing of few neurons
Synapse
(neurons 2, 3, 4, 7)
- Small space between neurons
Population Coding
Population coding
- Represented by pattern of firing across a large
number of neurons

Zooming Out: Representation in the Brain

Mapping Function to Structure
Franz Joseph Gall & Johann Spurzheim
- Using prison inmates and mental hospital
patients to observe correlation between shape of
person’s skull and their abilities & traits (“mental
faculties”
- 35 diff mental faculties

Phrenology
- Mapping onto diff brain areas based on bumps
and contours on person’s skull
- Ex. loving person = ridge on back of head, good
at musical perception = bump on side
 Connections Between Brain Areas
2 approaches to exploring connections “
Modularity
1. Structural connectivity
- Specific brain areas are specialized to respond
2. Functional connectivity
to specific types of stimuli or functions
- Module
Structural connectivity
o Each specific area
- “road map” of fibers connecting diff areas of
brain
Broca’s area
- Structure measured by MRI
- Pierre Paul Broca
- Speech production area in left frontal lobe
Functional connectivity
- Neural activity associated with particular function
Wernicke’s area
flowing through structural network
- Carl Wernicke
- Functioning measured by fMRI
- Understanding speech in temporal lobe
Task-related fMRI
Neuropsychology
- Person is engaged in specific task
- Field of studies relating the location of brain
- Ex. listening to certain sounds
damage to specific effects on behavior
Resting-state fMRI
Brain imaging
- Measures functional connectivity
- Recording brain responses to create pictures of
location of brain’s activity
The Mind-Body Problem
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
Mind-body problem
o Create images of structures within brain
- How do physical processes like nerve impulses
- Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)
(body) become transformed into the richness of
o Determine how various types of
perceptual experience (mind)?
cognitions (or functions) activate diff
areas of brain

Superior temporal sulcus

- Area in temporal lobe
- Activated significantly more in response to vocal
sounds than non-vocal sounds
- “voice area” of brain

Distributed Representation
Distributed representation
- Brain represents info in patterns distributed
across the cortex (rather than 1 single brain
area)
- Ex. how brain responds to pain