Chapter 3: Sensation And Perception

Question 1

Sensation

Answer 1

The process of receiving stimulus energies from the external environment and transforming those energies into neural energies

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

The operation in sensation and perception in which sensory receptor register information about the external enviroment and send it up to the brain for interpretation

Question 4

Top-down processing

Answer 4

The operation in sensation and perception, launched by cognitive processing at the brain’s higher levels, that allows the organism to sense what is happening and to apply that framework to information from the world

Question 5

Sensory receptors

Answer 5

Specialized cells that 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 that a person can detect

Question 7

Difference threshold

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Weber’s law

Answer 8

The principle that two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount) in order to be perceived as different

Question 9

Signal detection theory

Answer 9

An approach to perception that focuses on decision making about a stimuli in the presence of uncertainty

Question 10

Selective attention

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Perceptual set

Answer 11

A predisposition or readiness to perceive something in a particular way

Question 12

Sensory adaptation

Answer 12

A change in the responsiveness of the sensory system based on average level of surrounding stimulation

Question 13

Retina

Answer 13

The multilayered light-sensitive surface in the eye that records electromagnetic energy and converts it to neural impulses for processing in the brain

Question 14

Rods

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Cones

Answer 15

The receptor cells in the retina that allow for color vision

Question 16

Optic nerve

Answer 16

The structure at the back of the eye, made up of axons of the ganglion cells, that carry visual information to the brain for further processing

Question 17

Visual cortex

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Feature detectors

Answer 18

Neurons in the brain’s visual system that respond to particular features of a stimulus

Question 19

Parallel processing

Answer 19

The simultaneous distribution of information across different neural pathways

Question 20

Trichromatic theory

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Opponent process theory

Answer 21

Theory stating that cells in the visual system respond to complimentary pairs of red-green and blue-yellow colors; a given cell might be excited by red and inhibited by green, whereas another cells may be excited by yellow and inhibited by blue

Question 22

Figure-ground relationship

Answer 22

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

Question 23

Gestalt psychology

Answer 23

A school of though interested in how people naturally organize their perceptions according to certain patterns

Question 24

Depth perception

Answer 24

The ability to perceive objects 3 dimensionally

Question 25

Binocular cues

Answer 25

Depth cues that depend on a combination of the images in the left and right eyes and on the way the two eyes work together

Question 26

Monocular cues

Answer 26

Powerful depth cues available from the image in one eye, either the right or the left

Question 27

Perceptual consistency

Answer 27

The recognition that objects are constant and unchanging even though sensory input about them is changing (size shape and color stay the sam even though your perspective may change. Ex. Being far way from car)

Question 28

Outter ear

Answer 28

The outermost part of the ear, consisting of the pinna and external auditory canal

Question 29

Middle ear

Answer 29

The part of the ear that channels and amplifies sound through the eardrum, hammer, anvil, and stirrup to the inner ear

Question 30

Inner ear

Answer 30

The part of the ear that includes the oval window, cochlea, and basilar membrane whose function is to convert sound waves into neural impulses and send them to the brain

Question 31

Cochlea

Answer 31

Tubular, fluid filled structure that is coiled up like a snail

Question 32

Kinesthetic senses

Answer 32

Senses that provide information about movement, posture, and orientation

Question 33

Vestibular sense

Answer 33

Sense that provides information about balance and movement