AP Psychology Unit 4 Terms

Question 1

The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment

Answer 1

Sensation

Question 2

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

Answer 2

Preception

Question 3

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

Answer 3

Bottom-up Processing

Question 4

The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

Answer 4

Selective Attention

Question 5

Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

Answer 5

Inattentional Blindness

Question 6

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

Answer 6

Absolute Threshold

Question 7

Below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness

Answer 7

Subliminal

Question 8

The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant percentage

Answer 8

Weber’s Law

Question 9

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 brains can interpret

Answer 9

Transduction

Question 10

The dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light; what we know as the color names blue, green, and so forth

Answer 10

Hue

Question 11

The adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters

Answer 11

Pupil

Question 12

The light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information

Answer 12

Retina

Question 13

Retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don’t respond

Answer 13

Rods

Question 14

The nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain

Answer 14

Optic Nerve

Question 15

The central focal point in the retina, around which the eye’s cones cluster

Answer 15

Fovea

Question 16

The processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode of information processing for many functions, including vision. Contrasts with the step-by-step processing of most computers and of conscious problem solving

Answer 16

Parallel Processing

Question 17

The sense or act of hearing

Answer 17

Audition

Question 18

The number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time

Answer 18

Frequency

Question 19

A tone’s experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequency

Answer 19

Pitch

Question 20

A coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses

Answer 20

Cochlea

Question 21

In hearing, the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea’s membrane is stimulated

Answer 21

Place Theory

Question 22

A device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into the cochlea

Answer 22

Cochlear Implant

Question 23

The system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts

Answer 23

Kinesthesis

Question 24

The sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance

Answer 24

Vestibular Sense

Question 25

An organized whole. These types of psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes

Answer 25

Gestalt

Question 26

The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups

Answer 26

Grouping

Question 27

The ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional

Answer 27

Depth Perception

Question 28

A laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals

Answer 28

Visual Cliff

Question 29

Depth cues, such as retinal disparity, that depend on the use of two eyes

Answer 29

Binocular Cues

Question 30

Depth cues such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either eye alone

Answer 30

Monocular Cues

Question 31

Perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change

Answer 31

Perceptual Constancy

Question 32

In vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field

Answer 32

Perceptual Adaptation

Question 33

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

Answer 33

Perceptual Set

Question 34

The controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input; includes telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition

Answer 34

Extrasensory Perception

Question 35

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

Answer 35

Top-Down Processing

Question 36

Failing to notice changes in the environment

Answer 36

Change Blindness

Question 37

The study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them

Answer 37

Psychophysics

Question 38

A theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus amid background stimulation. Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person's experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness

Answer 38

Signal Detection Theory

Question 39

The activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response

Answer 39

Priming

Question 40

Diminished activity as a consequence of constant stimulation

Answer 40

Sensory Adaptation

Question 41

The distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next. Electromagnetic versions of this vary from the short blips of cosmic rays to the long pulses of radio transmission

Answer 41

Wavelength

Question 42

The amount of energy in a light or sound wave, which we perceive as brightness or loudness, as determined by the wave's amplitude

Answer 42

Intensity

Question 43

A ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening

Answer 43

Iris

Question 44

The transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina

Answer 44

Lens

Question 45

The process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina

Answer 45

Accommodation

Question 46

Retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions. These detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations

Answer 46

Cones

Question 47

Nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement

Answer 47

Feature Detectors

Question 48

The theory that the retina contains three different color receptors, which, when stimulated in combination, can produce the perception of any color

Answer 48

Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory

Question 49

The theory that opposing retinal processes enable color vision

Answer 49

Opponent-Process Theory

Question 50

The chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing three tiny bones that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea's oval window

Answer 50

Middle Ear

Question 51

The innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs

Answer 51

Inner Ear

Question 52

In hearing, the theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch

Answer 52

Frequency Theory

Question 53

Hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea

Answer 53

Conduction Hearing Loss

Question 54

Hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea's receptor cells or to the auditory nerves; also called nerve deafness

Answer 54

Sensorineural/Nerve Hearing Loss

Question 55

The theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological gate that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain. The gate is opened by activity of pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers and is closed by activity in larger fibers

Answer 55

Gate-Control Theory

Question 56

The principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences its taste

Answer 56

Sensory Interaction

Question 57

The organization of the visual field into objects that stand out from their surroundings

Answer 57

Figure-Ground

Question 58

A binocular cue for perceiving depth by comparing images from the retinas in the two eyes, the brain computes distance-the greater the disparity between the two images, the closer the object

Answer 58

Retinal Disparity

Question 59

An illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession

Answer 59

Phi Phenomenon

Question 60

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

Answer 60

Color Constancy

Question 61

The study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis

Answer 61

Parapsychology

Question 62

The point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye and no receptor cells are located there

Answer 62

Blind Spot