Chapter 10 Vocab

Question 1

Sensation

Answer 1

The neural activity triggered by a stimulus that activates a sensory receptor and results in sensory nerve impulses traveling the sensory nerve pathways to the brain

Question 2

Perception

Answer 2

A multistage process that takes place in the brain and includes selecting, processing, organizing, and integrating information received from the senses

Question 3

Acuity

Answer 3

Sharpness of sight

Question 4

Presbyopia

Answer 4

The gradual loss of accommodation power to focus on near objects. It accompanies advancing age

Question 5

Age-Related Maculopathy

Answer 5

Disease affecting the central area of the retina that provides detailed vision

Question 6

Depth perception

Answer 6

A person’s judgment of the distance from self to an object or place in space

Question 7

Retinal disparity

Answer 7

The difference in the images received by the two eyes as a result of their different locations

Question 8

Motion parallax

Answer 8

The change in optical location for objects at different distances during viewer motion

Question 9

Optic flow

Answer 9

Change in the pattern of optical texture, a transformation of the optic array, as a viewer moves forward or backward in a stable environment

Question 10

Figure-and-ground perception

Answer 10

The ability to see an object of interest as distinct from the background

Question 11

Whole-and-part perception

Answer 11

The ability to discriminate parts of a picture or an object from the whole, yet integrate the parts into the whole, perceiving them simultaneously

Question 12

Size constancy

Answer 12

The perception of actual object size despite the size of its image as projected on our retina

Question 13

Shape constancy

Answer 13

The perception of actual object shape despite its orientation to a viewer.

Question 14

Habituation

Answer 14

The state of having adapted to a stimulus

Question 15

Spatial orientation

Answer 15

The orientation or position of objects as they are located in space or in a two-dimensional drawing

Question 16

Detection threshold

Answer 16

The point on a continuum at which the energy level is just sufficient for one to register the presence of a stimulus

Question 17

Preferential looking

Answer 17

A research technique in which two stimuli are presented to a subject, who turns to look toward the preferred stimulus

Question 18

Proprioceptor

Answer 18

The collective name of the various kinesthetic receptors located in the periphery of the body; the two types of proprioceptors are the somatosensors and the vestibular apparatus

Question 19

Somatosensors

Answer 19

The receptors located under the skin, in the muscles, at muscle-tendon junctions, and in joint capsules and ligaments

Question 20

Vestibular apparatus

Answer 20

Houses the receptors located in the inner ear

Question 21

Tactile localization

Answer 21

The ability to identify without sight the exact spot on the body that has been touched

Question 22

Body awareness

Answer 22

The recognition, identification, and differentiation of the location, movement, and interrelationships of body parts and joints; it also refers to a person’s awareness of the spatial orientation and perceived location of the body in the environment

Question 23

Laterality

Answer 23

A component of body awareness–specifically, the awareness that one’s body has two distinct sides that can move independently

Question 24

Lateral dominance

Answer 24

The constant preference for use of one eye, ear, hand, or foot instead of the other, although the preference for different anatomical units is not always on the same side

Question 25

Directionality

Answer 25

The ability to protect the body’s spatial dimensions into surrounding space and to grasp spatial concepts about the movements or locations of objects in the environment

Question 26

Absolute threshold

Answer 26

The minimal detectable sound that a hearer can sense at least half of the time a signal is sounded

Question 27

Differential threshold

Answer 27

The closest that two sounds can be yet still allow the hearer to distinguish them at least 75% of the time

Question 28

Presbycusis

Answer 28

A loss of hearing sensitivity

Question 29

Amodal invariants

Answer 29

Patterns in space or time that do not differ across the sensory-perceptual modalities