Sensory Perception and Memory: A Deep Dive
Pinilla: A Worldview Beyond Our Own
Our worldview is not the only one, nor is it necessarily the best. The view of birds is more accurate; they have a panoramic vision of the world. Animals’ globalization is different.
Tegelen: Light Perception in Ticks
Ticks can see light through your foot. If they don’t have eyes, what allows them to go up and then drop onto their food? They can capture it because of its smell. They can only sniff mammals, and they go around their prey because of their perception of temperature and touch.
Sensation
The process by which our senses capture sensory information.
Perception
The organization and interpretation of information. Thanks to perception, we give meaning to sensations.
Objective Factor
Stimulus (emitted by energy changes that cannot be captured by a sensory receptor).
Subjective Factors
Factors that influence the subject.
Attention
A kind of filter that allows some sensations to be perceived while the rest pass undetected.
Focus
The focus of the image, which we see with sharpness.
Depth
The unfocused part; it is diffused. Attention is blurred and measured in:
- External factors: Refer to the object (a bright color).
- Internal factors: Depend on the subject (needs, emotional charge).
Sensory Receiver
Cells specialized in capturing a particular type of stimulus (only those that are between a minimum quantity of energy (minimum threshold) and a maximum amount (maximum threshold).
Differential Threshold
The minimum amount of energy that must exist between two sensations for us to recognize the difference. Thresholds vary from species to species.
Synapse
The separation between neurons. To move forward, the impulse needs to jump from one neuron to the next across the synapse.
Neurotransmitters
This mechanism triggers chemical substances for impulse transmission.
- Polarized: The impulse is unevenly distributed.
- Depolarized: The load is resting, evenly distributed.
- Dromic sense: Common sense of the transmission of the impulse.
- Antidromic direction: Opposite direction.
The usual intensity of a stimulus is associated with the frequency of the impulse.
Perception: Differences
Differences between our feelings and our perceptions.
- Associations: Empirical theories. Perception is an association of simple sensations. First, we perceive them, and once they reach the brain, it processes them and produces the perception.
- Gestalt: First, we see. Once we have perceived the object, we can analyze the image and get the sensations. Both associationism and Gestalt are empiricists and deny the existence of innate knowledge or structures involved in perception. Gestalt defends innateness: we have a set of innate principles common to all human beings, without which we could not perceive.
Hallucinations
Perceptions without stimulation and without sensation.
Perceptual Illusions
Misperceptions due to a misunderstanding of the stimulus.
Memory
The ability to store and retrieve certain information. Stages:
- Fixation: Reception of information.
- Conservation: Storage of information somewhere in the brain.
- Memory: Conscious retrieval of information.
Factors:
- Attention: The absence of distracting elements facilitates memorization.
- Repetition: Information present a greater number of times is easier to memorize.
- Understanding: Information that has meaning for us is easier to memorize.
- Affective charge: Information that produces feelings is easier to memorize.
Permanent Oblivion
The information is unrecoverable.
Oblivion
The information is in long-term memory, but we cannot remember it currently.
- Disuse: Mechanical memory effect; information that does not reappear tends to be forgotten.
- Interference: Forgetfulness is caused by the interference of new information with the former.
- Repression: Distinguishes two types of content: conscious (what we remember) and unconscious (in our minds, but we do not know).
Imagination
The mental capacity to create new images.
Image
A mental representation that occurs in the absence of stimuli and meets the specifications of a concrete and sensory object.
Creative Imagination
The ability to produce images from other images, combining or modifying elements from different images.
Concrete Thinking
Common to all animals, it develops and retains the capacity for images. Thanks to it, we solve specific problems affecting us at a particular time.
Abstract Thinking
Unique to human beings, it is based on concepts and allows us to solve problems in a general way. With the same solution, we can solve many problems.