Chapter 4 - Sensing & Perceiving Flashcards
The process of interpreting and organizing the incoming information in order that we can understand it and react accordingly
Perception
The process of receiving information from the environment through our sensory organs
Sensation
The conversion of stimuli detected by receptor cells to electrical impulses that are transported to the brain
Transduction
Used to differentiate sensitivity from response biases
Signal Detection Analysis
The ability to detect the smallest change in a stimulus about 50% of the time
The Difference Threshold (Just Noticeable Difference)
The process of detecting the electromagnetic energy that surrounds us
Vision
Cells on the retina that detect shape, color, motion, and depth
Visual Receptor Cells
Light enters the eye through the transparent cornea and passes through the pupil at the center of the iris. The lens adjusts to focus the light on the retina, where it appears upside down and backward…
Receptor cells on the retina are excited or inhibited by the light and send information to the visual cortex through the optic nerve
One type of photoreceptor cell in the retina, that detects brightness and responds to black and white
Rod
One of the photoreceptor cells in the retina that responds to red, green, and blue
Cones
In the visual cortex and helps us recognize objects, and some neurons respond selectively to faces and other body parts
Feature Detector Neurons
A theory that proposes that color perception is the result of the signals sent by the three types of cones
The Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Color Theory
A theory that proposes that we perceive color as three sets of opponent colors: red-green, yellow-blue, and white-black
The Opponent-Process Color Theory
Perceived as a function of the size and brightness of objects.
Examples are the beta effect and the phi phenomenon
Motion
This occurs when different senses work together, for instance, when taste, smell, and touch together produce the flavor of food
Sensory Interaction
