AP Psych Sensation and Perception Vocab

Question 1

bottom-up processing

Answer 1

analysis that begins with the sense receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information

Question 2

top-down processing

Answer 2

information processing guided by higher-level mental processes as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations

Question 3

selective attention

Answer 3

our tendency to focus on just a particular stimulus among the many that are being received (cocktail party effect)

Question 4

absolute threshold

Answer 4

minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time

Question 5

signal detection theory

Answer 5

theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus and background stimulation

Question 6

difference threshold

Answer 6

minimum difference between two stimuli that is required for detection 50% of the time

Question 7

Weber’s Law

Answer 7

To be able to tell the difference between degrees of stimulation, the two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage. Light by 8%, weight by 2%, sounds by 0.3%

Question 8

Sensory Adaptation

Answer 8

diminished sensitivity to stimuli as a consequence of constant stimulation

Question 9

Transduction

Answer 9

conversion of one form of energy, such as light waves, into another form, like neural impulses that our brain can interpret

Question 10

Wavelength

Answer 10

distance between two peaks of a wave. (determines hue)

Question 11

Hue

Answer 11

dimension of color determined by wavelength

Question 12

Intensity

Answer 12

determined by amplitude (how high the wave is). determines the brightness or loudness

Question 13

Accommodation

Answer 13

When the iris contracts or expands to allow more light through the pupil

Question 14

Rods

Answer 14

retinal photo receptors that detect black, white and gray and are sensitive to movement. Necessary for peripheral and twilight vision

Question 15

Iris

Answer 15

controls the size of the pupil opening by expanding and contracting over the pupil

Question 16

Lens

Answer 16

changes shape to help focus images in the retina

Question 17

Retina

Answer 17

begins the processing of visual information. sends this information through the optic nerve to the brain

Question 18

Sensation

Answer 18

our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energy

Question 19

Perception

Answer 19

organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

Question 20

Cones

Answer 20

near the center of retina and function in daylight or well-lit conditions

Question 21

Feature detectors

Answer 21

nerve cells located in the visual cortex of the occipital lobe that respond to a scene’s edges, lines angles and movement. receive information from individual ganglian cells in the retina and pass it to other cortical areas

Question 22

parallel processing

Answer 22

thinking about many aspects of a problem simultaneously. brain processes many things at once

Question 23

Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory

Answer 23

theory of seeing color that says our cones are either red, green, or blue. these can be combined to make any color

Question 24

Opponent-Process Theory

Answer 24

red-green complex, blue-yellow complex, and black-white complex

Question 25

middle ear

Answer 25

made up of the hammer, anvil and stirrup

Question 26

ossicles

Answer 26

small bones in the middle ear (Incus, malleus and stapes)

Question 27

Inner ear

Answer 27

made up of the oval window and cochlea

Question 28

oval window

Answer 28

vibrates when it receives sound waves and causes the fluid inside the cochlea to move

Question 29

cochlea

Answer 29

sound waves traveling through the cochlear fluid that trigger nerve impulses. sound waves cause ripples in the basilar membrane, bending the hair cells

Question 30

place theory

Answer 30

theory that says the brain links the pitch we hear with the cochlea’s membrane is stimulated. explains how we sense high pitches

Question 31

frequency theory

Answer 31

the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch. explains how we sense low pitches

Question 32

Conduction Hearing Loss

Answer 32

hearing loss due to a mechanical issue with the ear

Question 33

Sensorineural hearing loss

Answer 33

hearing loss due to damage with the hair cells within the cochlea

Question 34

Kinesthesis

Answer 34

the system that enables us to sense our position and how and when our body parts move.

Question 35

Vestibular sense

Answer 35

your sense of movement, including balance

Question 36

Gate Control Theory

Answer 36

the spinal cord contains a “gate” that controls whether pain signals get sent to the brain or not. This “gate” is opened based on the strength of the pain signals from the body.

Question 37

Sensory interaction

Answer 37

where our senses interact with one another and influence each other

Question 38

Gestalt

Answer 38

our brain takes many pieces of sensory information to make a whole

Question 39

Binocular Cues

Answer 39

Things that our brain uses to determine depth that require two eyes

Question 40

Retinal Disparity

Answer 40

by comparing retinal images from the two eyes, the brain computes distance - the greater the difference between two images, the closer the object

Question 41

Visual Cliff

Answer 41

an experiment in which infants were prompted by their mothers to crawl towards them over a “cliff,” which was really Plexiglas. The infants did not crawl towards their mothers, which shows that infants have depth perception.

Question 42

Monocular Cues

Answer 42

depth cues available to each eye separately (relative height, relative size, interposition, relative motion, linear perspective, relative clarity, texture gradient, and relative brightness

Question 43

relative height

Answer 43

we perceive objects higher in our field of vision as farther away. Because we assume the lower part of a figure-ground illustration is closer, we perceive it as the figure

Question 44

relative size

Answer 44

if we assume two objects are similar in size, most people perceive the one that casts the smaller retinal image as farther away

Question 45

interposition

Answer 45

if one object partially blocks our view of another, we perceive it as closer

Question 46

relative motion

Answer 46

as we move, objects that are actually stable may appear to move. If while riding on a bus you fix your gaze on some point, the objects beyond the fixation point will appear to move with you

Question 47

linear perspective

Answer 47

parallel lines appear to meet in the distance. The sharper the angle of convergence, the greater the perceived distance

Question 48

relative clarity

Answer 48

because light from distant objects passes through more atmosphere, we perceive hazy objects as farther away than sharp, clear objects

Question 49

texture gradient

Answer 49

a gradual change from a coarse, distinct texture to a fine, indistinct texture signals increasing distance

Question 50

relative brightness

Answer 50

closer objects appear brighter

Question 51

phi phenomenon

Answer 51

an illusion of movement that arises when stationary objects—light bulbs, for example—are placed side by side and illuminated rapidly one after another

Question 52

perceptual constancy

Answer 52

top-down process that recognizes objects without being deceived by changes in their color, brightness, shape or size

Question 53

color constancy

Answer 53

perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object

Question 54

perceptual adaptation

Answer 54

the ability to adjust to changed sensory input, including an artificially displaced or inverted visual field (drunk goggles)

Question 55

perceptual set

Answer 55

a predisposition to perceive or notice some aspects of the available sensory data and ignore others.

Question 56

brightness constancy

Answer 56

we perceive an object as having a constant brightness even as its illumination varies

Question 57

shape constancy

Answer 57

we perceive an object as having an unchanging shape, even while our distance from it varies

Question 57

size constancy

Answer 57

perceive it as having the same size even while distance changes

Question 58

David Hubel

Answer 58

with the help of Wiesel, helped form how the eye turns images into neural impulses in our visual cortex

Question 59

Torsten Wiesel

Answer 59

with the help of Hubel helped form how the eye turns images into neural impulses in our visual cortex

Question 60

Ernst Weber

Answer 60

came up with Weber’s Law, which states that the just noticeable difference must vary by a constant percentage (8% for vision, etc.)

Question 61

Gustav Fechner

Answer 61

the founder of psychophysics

Question 62

Eleanor Gibson

Answer 62

created the Gibsonian ecological theory of development, which emphasized how important perception was because it allows humans to adapt to their environments.