Ch 1 review

Question 1

Distal stimuli

Answer 1

physical object in the external world that reflects light

Question 2

proximal stimuli

Answer 2

the image that is formed on our retina of the distal stimulus

Question 3

mechanoreceptors

Answer 3

stretch receptors and proprioceptors

Question 4

propreioceptors

Answer 4

position and motion of body

Question 5

thermoreceptors

Answer 5

temperature signaling

Question 6

chemoreceptors

Answer 6

used in gustation and olfaction

Question 7

photoreceptors

Answer 7

excitable photopigments that are used to produce a sense of vision

Question 8

nociceptors

Answer 8

sensing pain

Question 9

Transduction

Answer 9

conversion of environmental physical energy to neural impulses where signal information is extracted once it reasches the nervous system

Question 10

Bottom-up processing

Answer 10

-when sensory evidence obtained from the environment is brought to the system for processing
-data driven

Question 11

Top-down processing

Answer 11

-when expectations and stored memories affect perception
-conceptually driven

Question 12

Ambiguity

Answer 12

stimuli that have more than one potential interpretation

Question 13

Psychophysics

Answer 13

relationship between physical stimuli and the sensations and perceptions that they produce

Question 14

Absolute threshold

Answer 14

smallest level of stimuli that can be detected

Question 15

difference threshold

Answer 15

smallest variance between two stimuli that can be detected

Question 16

method of limits

Answer 16

gradually increasing of decreasing a stimulus until the subject cannot perceive it, threshold is the crossover point

Question 17

method of constant stimuli

Answer 17

minimum amount of physical energy that must be present in a stimulus to produce sensory experience at least 50% of the time

Question 18

signal detection theory

Answer 18

-procedure for separately evaluating sensory processes and decision-making behavior
-tells if participants have bias

Question 19

categories in signal detection theory

Answer 19

hit, miss, false alarm, correct rejection

Question 20

when false alarm rate is too high then there is

Answer 20

bias

Question 21

Sensory addaptation

Answer 21

when the environment does not change for a long time we become accustomed to that sensory input and less sensitive to it

Question 22

what does sensory adaptation allow for

Answer 22

more rapid reaction to new sources of sensory information