CH 6

Question 1

The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent physical energy from the environment

Answer 1

Sensation

Question 2

The process by which we organize and interpret sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

Answer 2

Perception

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

Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes

Answer 4

Top-Down Processing

Question 5

Refers to the conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, it is the process by which receptor cells in the eyes, ears, skin, and nose convert stimulus energies into neural impulses our brain can interpret.

Answer 5

Transduction

Question 6

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

Answer 6

Absolute Threshold

Question 7

Explains precisely how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise). Detection depends partly on experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness

Answer 7

Signal Detection Theory

Question 8

A stimulus that is below the absolute threshold for conscious awareness

Answer 8

Subliminal

Question 9

The activation, often unconsciously, of an association by an imperceptible stimulus, the effect of which is to predispose a perception, memory, or response

Answer 9

Priming

Question 10

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

Answer 10

Difference Threshold

Question 11

States that, to be perceived as different, the just noticeable difference between tow stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage

Answer 11

Weber’s Law

Question 12

Refers to the diminished sensitivity that occurs with continued exposure to an unchanging stimulus

Answer 12

Sensory Adaptation

Question 13

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

Answer 13

Perceptual Set

Question 14

Refers to the distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the next, gives rise to the perceptual experiences of hue, or color, in vision and pitch in hearing

Answer 14

Wavelength

Question 15

The amount of energy in a light or sound wave, of light and sound is determined by the amplitude of the waves and is experienced as brightness and loudness, respectively

Answer 15

Intensity

Question 16

The light-sensitive, multilayered inner surface of the eye that contains the rods and cones as well as neurons that form the beginning of the optic nerve

Answer 16

Retina

Question 17

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

Answer 17

Accommodation

Question 18

Visual receptor that converts light energy into neural impulses. They are concentrated in the periphery of the retina. They have poor sensitivity; detect black, white, and gray; function well in dim light; and are needed for peripheral vision

Answer 18

Rods

Question 19

Visual receptor that converts light energy into neural impulses. They are located in the fovea. They have excellent sensitivity, enable color vision, and function best in daylight or bright light

Answer 19

Cones

Question 20

It is composed of the axons of retinal ganglion cells, and it carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain

Answer 20

Optic Nerve

Question 21

The region of the retina where the optic nerve leaves the eye. Because there are no rods or cones in this area, there is no vision here.

Answer 21

Blind Spot

Question 22

The retina’s point of central focus. It contains only cones; therefore, images focused here are clearest

Answer 22

Fovea

Question 23

Nerve cells, located in the occipital lobe’s visual cortex, that selectively respond to specific visual features, such as movement, shape, or angle. These are evidently the basis of visual information processing

Answer 23

Feature Detectors

Question 24

Information processing in which several aspects of a stimulus, such as light or sound, are processed simultaneously

Answer 24

Parallel Processing

Question 25

This theory maintains that the retina contains red-, green-, and blue-sensitive color receptors that in combination can produce the perception of any color. This theory explains the first stage of color processing.

Answer 25

Young-Helmholtz trichromatic (three-color) theory

Question 26

This theory maintains that color vision depends on pairs of opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, and white-black). This theory explains the second stage of color processing.

Answer 26

Opponent-Process Theory

Question 27

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

Answer 27

Gestalt

Question 28

Refers to the organization of the visual field into two parts: the figure, which stands out from its surroundings, and the surroundings, or background

Answer 28

Figure-Ground

Question 29

The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups.

Answer 29

Grouping

Question 30

The ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; it allows us to judge distance

Answer 30

Depth Perception

Question 31

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

Answer 31

Visual Cliff

Question 32

Depth cues that depend on information from both eyes

Answer 32

Binocular Cues

Question 33

Refers to the differences between the images received by the left eye and the right eye as a result of viewing the world from slightly different angles. It is a binocular depth cue, since the greater the difference between the two images, the nearer the object

Answer 33

Retinal Disparity

Question 34

Depth cues that spend on information from either eye alone

Answer 34

Monocular Cues

Question 35

The perception that objects have consistent lightness, color, shape, and size, even if the illumination and retinal images change

Answer 35

Perception Constancy

Question 36

The perception that familiar objects have consistent color despite changes in illumination that shift the wavelengths they reflect

Answer 36

Color Constancy

Question 37

Refers to our ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field. Given distorted senses, we perceive things accordingly but soon adjust by learning the relationship between our distorted perceptions and the reality

Answer 37

Perceptual Adaptation