AP Chapter 6 Flashcards
Sensation
The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.
Perception
The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.
Bottom-up Processing
Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information.
Top-down Processing
Information processing guided by higher level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experiences and expectations.
Transduction
Conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies, such as sights, sounds , and smells into neural impulses our brain can interpret.
Psychophysics
The study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them.
Absolute Threshold
The minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time.
Signal Detection Theory
A theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise). Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person’s experience, expectations, motivation and alertness.
Sumliminal
Below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness.
Priming
The activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one’s perception memory, or response.
Difference Threshold
The minimum difference between two stimuli require for detection 50 percent of the time. We experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference (or jnd).
Weber’s Law
The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount).
Sensory Adaption
Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.
Perceptual Set
A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.
Wavelength
The distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next. Electromagnetic wavelengths vary from the short blips of cosmic rays to the long pulse of radio transmission.
Hue
The dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light; what we know as the color names blue, green, etc.
Intensity
The amount of energy in a light or sound wave. which we perceive as brightness or loudness; as determined by that wave’s amplitude.
Pupil
The adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters.
Iris
A ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening.
Lens
The transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina.
Retina
The light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptors rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information.
Accommodation (Eye)
The process by which the eye’s lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina.
Rods
Retinal receptors that detect black, white, and grey; necessary for when peripheral and twilight vision, when the cones don’s respond.
Cones
Retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions. The cones detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations. (Sees color)