Chapter 3

Question 1

sensation

Answer 1

the process of receiving stimulus energies from the external environment and turning them into neural energy

Question 2

perception

Answer 2

the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information so that it makes sense

Question 3

bottom-up processing

Answer 3

sensory receptors register information about the external environment and send it up to the brain for interpretation (stubbing your toe)

Question 4

top-down processing

Answer 4

allows the organism to sense what is happening and to apply that framework to information from the world (avoiding the chair you stubbed your toe on)

Question 5

sensory receptors

Answer 5

detect stimulus information and transmit it to sensory (afferent) nerves and the brain

Question 6

absolute threshold

Answer 6

the minimum amount of stimulus energy a person can detect (how far away before you hear someone whispering)

Question 7

difference threshold

Answer 7

the degree of difference that must exist between two stimuli before the difference is detected

Question 8

signal detection theory

Answer 8

focuses on decision-making about stimuli in the presence of uncertainty (trying to listen to something in the distance)

Question 9

selective attention

Answer 9

the act of focusing on a specific aspect of experience while ignoring others

Question 10

perceptual set

Answer 10

readiness to perceive something in a particular way

Question 11

sensory adaptation

Answer 11

the change in responsiveness of the sensory system based on the average level of surrounding stimulation (the smell of garlic is terrible, but after a few minutes you barely smell it)

Question 12

retina

Answer 12

the multilayered light-sensitive surface in the eye that records electromagnetic energy and converts neural impulses

Question 13

rods

Answer 13

the receptor cells in the retina that are sensitive to light but are not very useful for color vision

Question 14

cones

Answer 14

the receptor cells in the retina that allow for color perception

Question 15

visual cortex

Answer 15

located in the occipital lobe, part of the cerebral cortex, involved in vision

Question 16

feature detectors

Answer 16

neurons in the brains visual system that respond to particular features of a stimulus

Question 17

trichromatic theory

Answer 17

color perception is produced by three types of cone receptors in the retina that are particularly sensitive to different, but overlapping, wavelengths

Question 18

opponent-process theory

Answer 18

cells in the visual system respond to complementary pairs of red-green and blue-yellow colors

Question 19

figure ground relationship

Answer 19

the principle by which we organize the perceptual field into stimuli that stand out (figure) and those that are left over (ground)

Question 20

gesalt psychology

Answer 20

interested in how people naturally organize their perceptions according to certain patterns

Question 21

depth perception

Answer 21

the ability to perceive objects three dimensionally

Question 22

binocular cues

Answer 22

depth cues that depend on the combination of the images in the two eyes and the way they work together

Question 23

monocular cues

Answer 23

powerful depth cues available from the image in one eye

Question 24

perceptual constancy

Answer 24

the recognition that objects are constant and unchanging even though sensory input is changing (how something looks in light vs. dark)

Question 25

cochlea

Answer 25

a tubular fluid filled structure that is coiled up like a snail

Question 26

kinesthetic sense

Answer 26

senses that provide information about movement, posture, and orientation

Question 27

vestibular sense

Answer 27

sense that provides information about balance and movement