Chapter 4

Question 1

what is sensation

Answer 1

is the basic registration of light, sound, pressure, odor, or taste as parts of your body interact with the physical world

Question 2

perception

Answer 2

the organization, identification, and interpretation of a sensation in order to form a mental representation

Question 3

transduction

Answer 3

the process that occurs when many sensors in the body convert physical signals from the environment into encoded neural signals sent to the central nervous system

Question 4

psychophysics

Answer 4

methods that measure the strength of a stimulus and the observer’s sensitivity to that stimulus

Question 5

absolute threshold

Answer 5

the minimal intensity needed to just barely detect a stimulus in 50% of trials

Question 6

just noticeable difference (JND)

Answer 6

the minimal change in a stimulus that can just barely be detected

Question 7

weber’s law

Answer 7

states that the just noticeable differences of a stimulus is a constant proportion despite variations in intensity

Question 8

signal detection theory

Answer 8

holds that the response to a stimulus depends on both a persons sensitivity to the stimulus in the presence of noise and the persons response criterion

Question 9

sensory adaption

Answer 9

the process whereby sensitivity to prolonged stimulation tends to decline over time as an organism adapts to current conditions

Question 10

visual acuity

Answer 10

the ability to see fine detail

Question 11

retina

Answer 11

a layer of light-sensitive-tissue lining the back of the eyeball

Question 12

accomadation

Answer 12

the process whereby the eye maintains a clear image on the retina

Question 13

cones

Answer 13

photoreceptors that detect colour, operate under normal daylight conditions, and allows us to focus on fine detail

Question 14

rods

Answer 14

photoreceptors that become active under low-light conditions for night vision

Question 15

fovea

Answer 15

the area of the retina where vision is the clearest and there are no rods at all

Question 16

blind spot

Answer 16

a location in the visual field that produces no sensation on the retina

Question 17

area V1

Answer 17

the part of the occipital lobe that contains the primary visual cortex

Question 18

colour-opponent system

Answer 18

theory stating that pairs of visual neuron’s work in opposition

Question 19

parallel processing

Answer 19

the brains capacity to perform multiple activities at the same time

Question 20

binding problem

Answer 20

how the brain links features together so that we see unified objects in our visual world rather than free-floating or mis-combined features

Question 21

illusory conjuction

Answer 21

a perceptual mistake whereby the brain incorrectly combines features from multiple objects

Question 22

feature-integration theory

Answer 22

the idea that focused attention is not required to detect the individual features that make up a stimulus but is required to bind those individual features together

Question 23

perceptual constancy

Answer 23

a perceptual principle stating that even as aspects of sensory signals change, perception remains consistent

Question 24

template

Answer 24

a mental representation that can be directly compared with a viewed shape in the retinal image

Question 25

monocular depth curves

Answer 25

aspects of scene that yield information about depth when viewed with only one eye

Question 26

binocular disparity

Answer 26

the difference in the retinal images of the tow eyes that provides information about depth

Question 27

apparent motion

Answer 27

the perception of movement as a result of alternating signals appearing in rapid succession in different location

Question 28

change blindness

Answer 28

failure to detect changes to the visual details of a scene

Question 29

in-attentional blindness

Answer 29

a failure to perceive objects that are not the focus of attention

Question 30

pitch

Answer 30

how high or low a sound is

Question 31

loudness

Answer 31

a sound’s intensity

Question 32

timbre

Answer 32

a listener’s experience of sound quality or resonance

Question 33

cochlea

Answer 33

a fluid-filled tube that is the organ of auditory transduction

Question 34

basilar membrane

Answer 34

a structure in the inner ear that undulates when vibrations from the ossicles reach the cochlear fluid

Question 35

hair cells

Answer 35

specialized auditory receptor neurons embedded in the basilar membrane

Question 36

area A1

Answer 36

a portion of the temporal lobe that contains the primary auditory cortex

Question 37

place code

Answer 37

the process by which different frequencies stimulate neural signals at specific places along the basilar membrane, from which the brain determines pitch

Question 38

temporal code

Answer 38

the process whereby the cochlea registers low frequencies via the firing rate of action potentials entering the auditory nerve

Question 39

haptic perception

Answer 39

the active explanation of the environment by touching and grasping objects with our hands

Question 40

referred pain

Answer 40

feeling of pain when sensory information from internal and external areas converges on the same nerve cells in the spinal cord

Question 41

gate-control theory of pain

Answer 41

a theory of pain perception based on the idea that signals arriving from pain receptors in the body can be stopped, or gated, by interneurons in the spinal cord via feedback from two directions

Question 42

vestibular system

Answer 42

the three fluid-filled semicircular canals and adjacent organs located next to the cochlea in the inner ear

Question 43

olfactory receptor neurons (ORN)

Answer 43

receptors cells that initiate the sense of smell

Question 44

olfactory bulb

Answer 44

a brain structure located above the nasal cavity beneath the frontal lobes

Question 45

pheromones

Answer 45

biochemical odorants emitted by other members of its species that can affect an animals behaviour or physiology

Question 46

taste bud

Answer 46

the organ of taste transduction