10/21/2013

Objectives for Today

Sensation & Perception

Objectives for Today

Signal Detection Theory How is perception a decision-making process?

What is the difference between these two? What process links them?

What kinds of things can affect the decisions?

Perception Research

What are the 4 possible types of responses in a SDT experiment?

What is the absolute threshold? What is the Difference Threshold (JND)?

Subliminal Perception

What is the basic idea of Webers Law? Calculate the expected difference needed, given fraction and magnitude of the first stimulus Does perceptual intensity match physical intensity?
Examples of ever-increasing/ever-decreasing stimuli

What is it? Examples?

Psychophysical Scaling

Sensory Adaptation What is it? How does it help us?

Objectives for Today

Vision

Objectives for Today

Theories of Color Vision

What are the basic ideas of the 2 historical theories? What is the current best theory of color vision?

What are the basic functions of eye structures? What causes myopia? Hyperopia? Retinal cells
What is the difference between rods/cones?
Color vision? Acuity? Seeing in Light/Dark?

Color Blindness
What causes color blindness What is the term for missing one cone?

What is the Fovea Centralis?

why is it important in our vision?

What is Dark Adaptation?

Is it a smooth progression? Why/why not?

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Sensation & Perception

Sensation: Stimulation of the sensory receptors

e.g. light eye

sound waves ear

There is no truth. There is only perception

- Gustav Flaubert

Perception: Organizing sensory input and giving it meaning

Recognizing a friends face or a melody Qualitative experience of the sensation Light of certain wavelength stimulates receptors in the eye (sensation) red (perception)

Is my red is the same as yours?

Other differences between sensation & perception:

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=evQsOFQju08

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Sensation: Stimulation of the sensory receptors

e.g. light eye

Transduction

sound waves ear

Transduction: process of translating the physical, environmental stimulus into electrical signals (nerve impulses)

Physical stimulus Nerve impulses

Visual receptors: light in, electricity out Auditory receptors: sound waves in, electricity out Olfactory receptors: scent molecules in, electricity out

Perception: Organizing sensory input and giving it meaning

Qualitative experience of the sensation

GENERAL PRINCIPLES IN PERCEPTION RESEARCH

Absolute Threshold Difference Thresholds (Just Noticeable Differences) Magnitude Estimation (Psychophysical Scaling) Signal Detection Theory Perception without Awareness Sensory Adaptation

Psychophysics: Studies how physical stimuli are translated into psychological experiences

Absolute threshold Difference threshold Magnitude estimation

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Absolute Threshold
Absolute threshold:

Absolute Threshold
Absolute threshold:

Idea: we cant detect everything, so whats the weakest/lowest level we can detect?

Idea: we cant detect everything, so whats the weakest/lowest level we can detect?

Problem: the graph didnt look like it was supposed to

Gradual increase in ability to detect, not a big jump

Problem: the graph didnt look like it was supposed to

Gradual increase in ability to detect, not a big jump

Solution: New Definition: Absolute Threshold: lowest intensity necessary for a stimulus to be detected 50% of the time
Lower threshold means we are more sensitive

Difference Threshold & JND

Difference Threshold: a.k.a. the Just-Noticeable Difference (JND) the smallest difference between two stimuli that people can detect 50% of the time

Difference Threshold & JND

Difference Threshold: a.k.a. the Just-Noticeable Difference (JND)

Webers Law:

Can you tell the difference between 300g weight and a 500g weight? What about 300 vs. 301? What is the minimum difference between 2 tones before you can tell they are different?
Really good musicians tend to have a more sensitive JND for pitch

The size of the JND is proportional to the magnitude of the first stimulus Every stimulus type has a different fraction/proportion
e.g. Webers fraction for lifting weights is 1/30 Can you tell the difference between 300g and 310g? What about 900g and 910g?

As stimuli get more intense, difference must increase to be perceived

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Difference Threshold & JND

Weber fraction Sample Questions Activity

Psychophysical Scaling
Psychophysical Scaling:

The Weber fraction for brightness is 1/60. If you see a light that is 300 lumens, the comparison light must be _____ lumens (or more) for you to judge it as brighter. The Weber fraction for weights is 1/30. If you lift a weight that is 300g, the comparison weight must be _____ g (or more) for you to judge it as heavier.

If we have a room with a 60 Watt light, and turn on another, do we perceive it as twice as bright?

Does perception match sensation?

If this level of light is a 10, what level is a 20? Or a 5?

The Weber fraction for weights is 1/30. If you lift a weight that is 600g, the comparison weight must be _____ g (or less) for you to judge it as lighter.

Constant increases in stimulus intensity produce smaller and smaller (or larger and larger) increases in the perception of intensity
Different types of stimuli act very differently Line length vs. brightness vs. electric shock

Psychophysical Scaling
Psychophysical Scaling:

Signal Detection Theory

Signal Detection Theory:

Line length vs. brightness vs. electric shock

Some people always say they have seen the light

This can mess with our absolute threshold or JND

SDT: detecting stimuli (or differences) involves not only perception, but a decision-making process

Each person decides how certain they need to be before they say yes, I see it called the decision criterion
Varies between people Also varies within people

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Signal Detection Theory

Signal Detection Theory:

Signal Detection Theory

Signal Detection Theory:

Solution: sometimes show people a stimulus, sometimes nothing people say they saw it or not

Influences on threshold other than stimulus:

4 possible outcomes:

Personality of the participant Fatigue/Attention Rewards/Cost Noise

Basic idea of SDT is that there is a decision-making process involved in perception

Perception (Thresholds and JNDs) depend on sensation AND on cognitive processes As such, there is no fixed level of sensitivity!

Perception Outside Awareness

Remember D.F.s blindsight

Proves that perception can happen without conscious awareness

Subliminal perception: Registering sensory input without conscious awareness

Limen = threshold Extensively studied in advertising

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Sensory Adaptation
Lipton Ice experiment Sensory Adaptation: a.k.a. habituation Gradual decline in sensitivity to a stimulus over prolonged stimulation

e.g. wearing a watch, entering a swimming pool

Occurs at the neuronal level

Happens in all senses (except maybe pain) Visual saccades prevent adaptation

Helps us concentrate on what is important

VISION
Human Eye Nearsightedness and Farsightedness) Cells of the Retina Visual Transduction Dark Adaptation Theories of Color Vision

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Basic Anatomy of the Eye

Cornea Bump at the front of the eye Light first enters here Pupil Basically a hole or opening that allows a certain amount of light into the eye

Basic Anatomy of the Eye

Lens

Crystalline structure that focuses light onto the retina (where the receptors are) Can change shape to alter visual focus

Thinner to focus distant objects Thicker to focus near objects

Accommodation

Our eyes try to keep that amount ~optimal Dilation or contraction controlled by muscles in the iris (colored portion of the eye)

Projects a 2D image onto the back of the eye

Image is actually upside-down and backwards brain must flip it back

Myopia & Hyperopia

Myopia: Eyeball is too long Lens focuses the light in front of the retina Nearsighted

Myopia & Hyperopia

Hyperopia: Eyeball is too short Lens focuses the light behind of the retina Farsighted

Occurs frequently as part of aging

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Cells of the Retina

Retina Multi-layered structure at the back of the eye

2 Types of Receptor Cells

1.

Rods

Sends visual signals to the brain Layers are different types of cells
Back of eye

120 million per eyeball Extremely sensitive to light vision in dark Many rods one ganglion cell
Even more light-sensitive, but poor acuity

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

Receptor cells (rods/cones) Horizontal cells Bipolar cells Amacrine Cells Ganglion cells

Dont really see color

2.

Cones

Front of eye

6 million per eyeball Less sensitive to light vision in bright environment Required for color vision
3 types, sensitive to different colors

Axons of ganglion cells make up the optic nerve

Only cones are in the fovea centralis

Fovea Centralis
Fovea: Small area (<1mm2) in the center of the retina used for the vast majority of vision

Blind Spot
Ganglion cells are

This is the portion of the eye involved in directed looking Has the greatest density of receptors
Only cones, each of which connects to 1 ganglion cell Great visual acuity in this area

closer to the inside of the eye than the receptors. How do they get out?

Hole in the retina no receptors here

Blind Spot in the eye

Brain fills in gap using nearby information

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Transduction
Transduction: process of translating the physical stimuli into electrical signals (nerve impulses)

Photo-pigments & Blinding Lights

Takes time for photo-pigments to return to ready

there are always some ready and some not

Can only fire (detect light) when ready Constant turn-over

Rods and cones have different photo-pigments

Protein molecules that change shape when they absorb light Changing shape sodium channels to open action potential releases neurotransmitter Over time, photo-pigments change back to their original shape
This takes some time

Blinding flash of light will cause all the ready photo-

pigments to get used up

But were not blinded for too long, because other pigments were getting close, but still were not ready

Photo-pigments & Dark Adaptation

Dark adaptation: Progressive increase in sensitivity to light
e.g. eyes adjusting to a dark movie theatre

Photo-pigments & Dark Adaptation

Dark adaptation:

Not a smooth increase in sensitivity over time

Due to differences between rods & cones: Rods:

In bright light, a fair number of photo-pigments are used up at any given time
The likelihood of a photon hitting a ready photopigment is not 100%

After a while in the dark, more and more photopigments have regenerated (without immediately firing again)
The likelihood of a proton hitting a ready photopigment is much higher (close to 100%)

Cones:

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Photo-pigments & Light Adaptation

Light adaptation:

Rods, Cones, and Color

Rods, 3 different types of cones Each is more sensitive to a certain range of light waves

Progressive decrease in sensitivity to light

e.g. eyes adjusting to as you exit the movie

After a while in the dark, more and more photopigments have regenerated (without immediately firing again)
The likelihood of a proton hitting a ready photopigment is much higher (close to 100%)

When you walk into the lighted hallway, a large number of receptors fire blinded by the light
Over time, the cells become staggered again

Rods, Cones, and Color

Rods, 3 different types of cones Each is more sensitive to a certain range of light waves

Theories of Color Vision

Colors of light add differently than colors of paint

Primary colors of light: blue, green, and red Some combination of these can produce any color in the visible spectrum Additive Color Mixture
This is exactly how color TV works

Rods most sensitive to bluish light, not at all sensitive to red light
This is why the world seems blue when we get up in the middle of the night WWII pilots and red sunglasses

1. Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory:

We have 3 types of cones, each maximally stimulated by either blue, green, or red light Each must send signals to the brain, depending on how much it is activated by a given wavelength The visual system must then add up the inputs and figure out the original color of the light

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Theories of Color Vision

Theories of Color Vision

2. Opponent Process Theory:

Thought each cone responded to 2 opposite colors

Red/green, blue/yellow, black/white Opposite colors were assumed to result in 2 different types of chemical reactions

Problems with Trichromatic Theory:

Says Yellow is based on red + green input

But, some people with red-green color blindness can still see yellow!!

Explanation of color after-images:

Sensory adaptation for one color Then, when looking at white (all colors), only the red half of that type of cone was able to respond

Color after-images

Unified Theory of Color Vision

Dual Process Theory:

Dual Process Theory

Currently the best understanding of color vision Turns out, both Trichromatic and Opponent Process theories are partially correct

Cones are sensitive to blue, green, red Opponent processes do occur, just not at the level of cones
Happens more in ganglion cells, and in visual cortex

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Color Blindness
Most people have 3 cones normal color vision

Called trichromats

Some people have 2 cones colorblind

Referred to as dichromats

Not truly blind to color, but can only see some

Missing red cone Red/green colorblind Missing green cone Red/green colorblind Missing blue cone (rare) Blue/Yellow colorblind

Monochromats truly colorblind

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