chapter 4 vocab

Question 1

absolute threshold

Answer 1

the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% OF THE TIME

Question 2

Accommodation

Answer 2

involves altering one’s existing schemas, or ideas, as a result of new information or new experiences

Question 3

Audition

Answer 3

the sense or act of hearing

Question 4

basilar membrane

Answer 4

runs the length of the spiral cochlea, holds the auditory receptors, called hair cells

Question 5

blind spot

Answer 5

point where the optic nerve leaves eye, there are are no receptors cells there

Question 5

binocular depth cues

Answer 5

clues about distance based on differing views of the two eyes

Question 6

bottom-up processing

Answer 6

analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up the brains integration of sensory information

Question 6

change blindness

Answer 6

a phenomenon of visual perception that occurs when a stimulus undergoes a change without it being noticed by the observer

Question 7

cocktail party effect

Answer 7

the ability to focus one’s attention on a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli

Question 7

Cochlea

Answer 7

a snail-shaped tube in the inner ear, where the physical stimuli of the sound wave is converted into a neural impulse.

Question 8

depth perception

Answer 8

involves interpretation of visual cues that indicate how near or far away objects are

Question 9

Cones

Answer 9

retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions, distinguishes colors

Question 10

difference threshold

Answer 10

also known as just noticeable difference, the minimum difference a person can detect between any two stimuli half the time

Question 11

feature detectors

Answer 11

nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, movement

Question 11

fovea

Answer 11

the retina’s area of central focus

Question 12

frequency theory

Answer 12

The rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone; enabling us to sense its pitch.

Question 13

gate-control theory

Answer 13

a mechanism which pain signals can be sent up to the brain to be processed to accentuate the perceived pain

Question 14

Gestalt

Answer 14

the different ways individuals group stimuli together in order to make a whole that makes sense to them.
proximity, similarity, continuity, connectedness, and closure.

Question 15

gustatory system -

Answer 15

the sensory for taste

Question 16

inattentional blindness

Answer 16

failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

Question 17

Kinesthesis

Answer 17

the perception of body movements

Question 17

Iris

Answer 17

a colored muscle that adjusts light intake

Question 18

Lens

Answer 18

focusing incoming light rays into an image

Question 19

middle ear

Answer 19

carry sound waves from the outer ear to the inner ear,

Question 19

olfactory system

Answer 19

the sensory system for smell

Question 20

opponent processing theory

Answer 20

Ewald Hering, the theory that opposing retinal processes enable color vision (red-green, yellow-blue)

Question 21

parallel processing

Answer 21

the processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously, brain’s natural mode of information processing

Question 22

perceptual constancy

Answer 22

consistency, a tendency to experience a stable perception in the face of a continually changing sensory input

Question 22

phi phenomenon

Answer 22

the illusion of movement created by presenting visual stimuli in rapid succession

Question 22

Perception

Answer 22

the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

Question 23

perceptual set

Answer 23

a readiness to perceive a stimulus in a particular way

Question 24

place theory

Answer 24

presumes that we hear different pitches because different sound waves trigger activity at different places

Question 25

Priming

Answer 25

the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one’s perception, memory, or response

Question 26

Retina

Answer 26

a multilayered tissue on the eyeball’s sensitive inner surface

Question 26

Psychophysics

Answer 26

the study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli and our psychological experience of them

Question 27

Pupil

Answer 27

a small adjustable opening

Question 28

Rods

Answer 28

retinal receptors that detect black, white, gray, necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cone doesn’t respond

Question 29

Sensation

Answer 29

the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment

Question 30

selective attention

Answer 30

the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

Question 31

sensory adaptation

Answer 31

our diminishing sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus

Question 32

signal detection theory

Answer 32

a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) and background stimulation (noise)

Question 33

Subliminal

Answer 33

below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness

Question 34

top-down processing

Answer 34

construct perceptions drawing on sensations coming bottom-up to their brain and on experience and expectations

Question 35

Transduction

Answer 35

conversion of one form of energy into another

Question 36

trichromatic theory

Answer 36

three color theory, that the retina contains 3 different color receptors, when stimulate in combination can produce the perception of any color, the cones do their color magic in teams of 3

Question 37

vestibular sense

Answer 37

the movement, gravity, balance sense that allows us to move smoothly

Question 38

visual illusion

Answer 38

involves an apparently inexplicable discrepancy between the appearance of a visual stimulus and its physical reality

Question 39

Weber's Law

Answer 39

computes the difference threshold/just noticeable difference, the change needed is proportional to the the original intensity of the stimulus