Chapter 4 Section 1+2

Question 1

sensation

Answer 1

awareness resulting from the stimulation of a sense organ

Question 2

perception

Answer 2

organization and interpretation of sensations

Question 3

six senses

Answer 3

seeing, hearing, smell, touch, tasting, proprioception

Question 4

transduction

Answer 4

the conversion of stimuli into receptor cells to electrical impulses that are sent to the brain

Question 5

psychophysics

Answer 5

the branch of psychology that studies the effects of physical stimuli on sensory perceptions and mental states

Question 6

absolute threshold

Answer 6

the intensity of a stimulus that allows an organism to just barely detect it. conscious stimulus we can detect >50% of the time.

Question 7

signal detection analysis

Answer 7

a technique used to determine the ability of the perceiver to separate true signals from background noise

Question 8

signal detection analysis responses

Answer 8

hit: correct yes. false alarm: incorrect yes. miss: incorrect no. correct rejection: correct no.

Question 9

sensitivity

Answer 9

true ability of individual to detect presence or absence of signals

Question 10

response bias

Answer 10

behavior tendency to respond yes to trials

Question 11

just noticeable difference

Answer 11

the change in stimulus that can just barely be detected by an organism

Question 12

weber’s law

Answer 12

just noticeable difference of a stimulus is a constant proportion to the original intensity of the stimulus

Question 13

subliminal stimuli

Answer 13

events that occur below the absolute threshold and of which we are not conscious

Question 14

blindsight

Answer 14

a condition in which people are unable to consciously report on visual stimuli but nevertheless are able to accurately answer questions about what they’re seeing

Question 15

electromagnetic energy

Answer 15

pulses of energy waves that can carry information from place to place

Question 16

wavelength

Answer 16

the distance between one wave peak and the next wave peak

Question 17

visible spectrum

Answer 17

400-700nm, parts of em spectrum human eye can see.

Question 18

cornea

Answer 18

a clear covering that protects the eye and begins to focus the incoming light

Question 19

pupil

Answer 19

small opening in the center of the eye

Question 20

iris

Answer 20

colored part of center of eye that controls the pupil by restricting or dilating in response to light intensity

Question 21

lens

Answer 21

behind the pupil. a structure that focuses incoming light on the retina

Question 22

retina

Answer 22

layer of tissue at the back of the eye that contains photoreceptor cells

Question 23

visual accomodation

Answer 23

the process of changing the curvature of the lens to keep the light entering the eye focused on the retina

Question 24

nearsighted

Answer 24

person’s focus is in front of the retina

Question 25

farsighted

Answer 25

person's focus is behind the retina

Question 26

once light hits retina

Answer 26

received by rods and cones receptor cells, then spreads to bipolar and then ganglion cells (optic nerve)

Question 27

optic nerve

Answer 27

collection of millions of ganglion neurons that sends vast amount of visual information via the thalamus to the brain

Question 28

rods

Answer 28

visual receptors focused on black, white, and gray. helpful in dim light, at night

Question 29

cones

Answer 29

visual neurons that are specialized in detecting fine details and color

Question 30

fovea

Answer 30

central point of retina

Question 31

blind spot

Answer 31

no photoreceptor cells at the place where the optic nerve leaves the retina

Question 32

feature detector neurons

Answer 32

specialized neurons, located in the visual cortex, that respond to the strength, angles, shapes, edges, and movements of a visual stimulous

Question 33

shade of color

Answer 33

hue. conveyed by wavelength of the light that enters enters the eye. combination of red, green, and blue.

Question 34

intensity

Answer 34

height (amplitude of the wave). brightness in light

Question 35

Young-Helmholtz trichromatic color theory

Answer 35

what color we see depends on the mix of signals from the three types of cones

Question 36

color blindness

Answer 36

inability to detect either green or red colors

Question 37

opponent-process color theory

Answer 37

opposed to Young-helmholtz theory, that we analyze sensory information not in terms of three colors but rather in sets of "opponent colors": red-green, yellow-blue, and white-black. supported by excitation and inhibitions of different neurons linked to different colors.

Question 38

gestalt

Answer 38

a meaningfully organized whole

Question 39

figure and ground

Answer 39

tendency to see figures against grounds (backgrounds), i.e. two faces=vase

Question 40

similarity

Answer 40

tendency to group stimuli that are similar to each other. i.e. XYXYXYXYX seen as groups of XYX

Question 41

proximity

Answer 41

tendency to group nearby figures together | || ||| || || | |||| ||

Question 42

continuity

Answer 42

tendency to percieve stimuli in smooth, continuous ways rather than in more discontinuous ways

Question 43

closure

Answer 43

we tend to fill gaps in i.e. the cones in the circle

Question 44

depth perception

Answer 44

the ability to perceive three-dimensional space and to accurately judge distance

Question 45

visual cliff

Answer 45

a mechanism that gives the perception of a dangerous drop-off, in which infants can be safely tested for their perception of depth

Question 46

depth cues

Answer 46

messages from our bodies and the external environment that supply us with information about space and distance

Question 47

binocular depth cues

Answer 47

depth cues created by retinal image disparity, that is, the space between our eyes, and thus which require the coordination of both eyes

Question 48

convergence

Answer 48

the inward turning of our eyes that is required to focus on objects that are less than 50 feet away from us

Question 49

accommodation

Answer 49

muscle changes around lens during accommodation tell us about how far away something is.

Question 50

monocular depth cues

Answer 50

depth cues that help us perceive depth using only one eye.

Question 51

the beta effect

Answer 51

the perception of motion that occurs when different images are presented next to each other in succession . used to make movies possible.

Question 52

the phi phenomenon

Answer 52

we percieve a sensation of motion caused by the appearance and disappearance of objects that are near each other