Chapter 3 - Sensation and Perception Flashcards
(49 cards)
The study of the relationship between physical stimuli and the perceived characteristics of those stimuli; the study of how perceptual experience differs from the physical stimulation that is being perceived
psychophysics
in psychophysics, the mount by which two stimuli must differ so that the difference can be perceived
just noticeable difference (JND)
the result, in symbolic comparison tasks, in which two relatively different stimuli are judged more rapidly than two relatively similar stimuli because of greater symbolic distance between 1 and 8
symbolic distance effect
in the mental comparison task, reaction time is speeded or judgments are made easier when the basis for a judgement is congruent or similar to the stimuli being compared; for instance, a congruent condition would be “choose the smaller of second or minute,” and an incongruent condition would be “choose the smaller of decade or century”
semantic congruity effect
the reception of physical stimulation and encoding of it into the nervous system
sensation
the layer of the eye covered with the rods and cones that initiate the process of visual sensation and perception
retina
the highly sensitive region of the retina responsible for precise, focused vision, composed largely of cones
fovea
the process of interpreting and understanding sensory information; the act of sensing then interpreting that information
perception
our failure to notice changes in visual stimuli
change blindness
we sometimes fail to see an object we are looking at directly, even a highly visible one, because our attention is directed elsewhere
inattention blindness
the short-duration memory system specialized for holding visual information, lasting no more than about 250 ms to 500 ms
visual sensory memory
the perceptual phenomenon in which a stimulus still seems to be present even after its termination, usually a few hundred milliseconds to a few seconds
visual persistence; iconic memory
the number of items recallable after any short display
span of apprehension; span of attention
condition in which people are to report any letters they can because the whole display is to be reported
whole report condition
only one of the rows was to be reported; created by Sperling
partial report condition
simple loss of information across time, presumably caused by a fading process, especially in sensory memory; also, an older theory of forgetting from long-term memory
decay
an explanation for “forgetting” of some target information in which related or recent information competes with or causes the loss of the target information
interference
Neisser’s term for mental attention directed toward, for example, the contents of visual sensory memory and therefore responsible for transferring that information into short-term memory
focal attention
the memory system that is used across a series of eye movements to build up a more complete and stable understanding of the visual world
trans-saccadic memory
Visual information endures in visual sensory memory for about 250 milliseconds after which it fades away (decays). How long does auditory sensory memory for spoken language or other complex sounds last for?
2-4 seconds
Trans-saccadic memory is memory for
visual information across eye movements.
This is a failure or deficit in recognizing objects.
agnosia
A rapid movement of the eyes is called a _______; a brief pause of the eyes is a ________.
saccade, fixation
Which is NOT one of the three layers of tissue in the retina?
hair cells
