chapter 5

Question 1

Sensory receptor cells

Answer 1

specialized cells to convert (sensory transduction) specific stimuli into neural impulses

Question 2

Sensation

Answer 2

the act of using our sensory systems to detect physical energy in our environments and convert it to neural (electrical) signals

Question 3

Transduction

Answer 3

transformation of physical energy into electrical signals

Question 4

Psychophysics

Answer 4

the study of physical stimuli effects on sensory perceptions and mental states or the measurement of sensory experience

Question 5

Gustave Fechner - Psychophysics

Answer 5

studied the strength of a stimulus and a person’s ability to detect it

Question 6

Signal detection analysis

Answer 6

techniques to determine the ability to separate from true signals from background noise

Question 7

Response bias:

Answer 7

behavioral bias to respond yes

Question 8

Sensitivity

Answer 8

true ability to detect presence or absence of signal

Question 9

Absolute threshold

Answer 9

the minimum stimulus needed to detect a stimulus 50% of the time

Question 10

psychological factors that signal detection depends on?

Answer 10

expectations, experience, motivation, and fatigue

Question 11

Weber’s law

Answer 11

JND is constant proportion of original intensity

Question 12

Perception

Answer 12

the conscious recognition and identification of a
sensory stimulus

Question 13

Bottom-up processing

Answer 13

Sensory information from environment driving the process of understanding

Question 14

Top-down processing

Answer 14

Knowledge and expectancy driving the process of understanding

Question 15

Sensory adaptation

Answer 15

a process whereby repeated stimulation of a sensory cell leads to a reduced response

Question 16

wavelength

Answer 16

the length of a wave from one peak to the next - determines frequency

Question 17

amplitude

Answer 17

the height from the troughs to crest - strength/energy

Question 18

Timbre

Answer 18

a sounds purity and is affected by frequency, amplitude, and timing

Question 19

cornea

Answer 19

transparent covering over the eye, focuses light

Question 20

pupil

Answer 20

opening in the eye through which lights passes through

Question 21

iris

Answer 21

coloured portion of the eye, a muscle that controls pupil size

Question 22

lens

Answer 22

curved, transparent, and provides additional focus

Question 23

retina

Answer 23

light sensitive lining of the eye

Question 24

what part of the eye contains all receptor cells?

Answer 24

retina/fovea

Question 25

cones (parts of the eye)

Answer 25

used for central and colour vision, fovea is all cones

Question 26

rods (parts of the eye)

Answer 26

used for periphery and night vision, more rods than cones, more responsive to dark and light

Question 27

what do rods and cones do? (anatomy of the eye)

Answer 27

transduce light waves into neural impulses

Question 28

optic chasm

Answer 28

an x shaped structure, the point where the optic nerve from each eye met

Question 29

thalamus

Answer 29

sensory relay sensor

Question 30

lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN)

Answer 30

a cluster of neurons in the thalamus

Question 31

where is visual information processed?

Answer 31

parallel pathways

Question 32

trichromatic theory

Answer 32

three different receptors for colour each responding to different wavelengths of light (only blue, red, green)

Question 33

opponent process theory

Answer 33

colour pairs work to inhibit one another -green-red; blue-yellow; and black-white -one dyad is excited and the other is inhibited

Question 34

afterimage

Answer 34

continuation of sensation once stimuli is removed

Question 35

color blindness

Answer 35

fail to see the same range of colours

Question 36

monochromatic

Answer 36

only see white, black, and grey

Question 37

depth perception

Answer 37

perception of spatial relations in 3D space

Question 38

binocular cues

Answer 38

cues that rely on both eye

Question 39

monocular cues

Answer 39

cues that rely on one eye

Question 40

Binocular Disparity

Answer 40

slightly different stimuli recorded by the retina of each eye, provides us with a binocular cue of dept

Question 41

interposition

Answer 41

when one object blocks another, we perceive the blocked object as further away

Question 42

auditory cortex (temporal lobe)

Answer 42

organized in a tonotopic map - different frequencies are projected to specific sites

Question 43

temporal theory

Answer 43

different frequencies are converted into different rates of action potentials. High frequency sounds produce more rapid firing (phase lock)

Question 44

place theory

Answer 44

different frequencies activate different regions of the basilar membrane. The brain equates the place activity occurred on the basilar membrane with a particular frequency (place coding)

Question 45

Monaural (one-eared)

Answer 45

sound’s source relative to body position

Question 46

Binaural (two-eared)

Answer 46

relies on a horizontal axis by delivering different patterns of vibration between the eardrums in each ear

Question 47

deafness

Answer 47

loss of hearing either partial or complete

Question 48

congenital deafness

Answer 48

born without hearing

Question 49

conductive hearing loss

Answer 49

problem delivering sound to cochlea - temporary or permanent -treated with hearing aid

Question 50

Interaural level difference

Answer 50

sound on the right side of the body is heard more intensely by the right ear

Question 51

Interaural timing difference

Answer 51

small differences in time at which a sound arrives at each ear

Question 52

Sensorineural hearing loss

Answer 52

Transmission failure from cochlea to brain

Question 53

Ménière’s disease

Answer 53

degeneration of inner ear structures – Tinnitus (ringing); vertigo (sense of spinning), increased ear pressure

Question 54

solution for

Answer 54

Require cochlear implant to directly stimulate auditory nerve

Question 55

linear perspective

Answer 55

parallel lines appear to converge at a distance

Question 56

aerial perspective

Answer 56

objects that appear hazy, or that are covered with smog or dust, appear further away

Question 57

papillae

Answer 57

bumps that cover the surface of the tongue

Question 58

taste bud

Answer 58

clusters of sensory receptor cells that bind the food molecules that dissolve in our saliva and turn this information into a neural impulse

Question 59

odorants

Answer 59

airborne chemicals that are detected as odors

Question 60

olfactory receptor neurons

Answer 60

the receptor cells bind odorant molecules into a neural impulse and send that impulse to the brain

Question 61

pheromones

Answer 61

chemical messages - often to signal

Question 62

inflammatory pain

Answer 62

pain signaling tissue damage

Question 63

neuropathic pain

Answer 63

exaggerating signal of damage to neurons in the PNS or CNS

Question 64

Congenital analgesia

Answer 64

born without the ability to perceive pain

Question 65

vestibular

Answer 65

ability to maintain balance and body posture

Question 66

pain perception

Answer 66

development & individual differences

Question 67

kinsynthetic

Answer 67

receptor cells in your muscles tell the brain when you are moving and where your body parts are

Question 68

figure-ground

Answer 68

the main object or background

Question 69

similarity

Answer 69

stimuli resembling one another tend to be grouped together

Question 70

proximity

Answer 70

visual stimuli near to one another tend to be grouped together

Question 71

continuity

Answer 71

objects that continue a pattern or are grouped together

Question 72

closure

Answer 72

we tend to fill in small gaps so they are perceived as wholes

Question 73

pattern perception

Answer 73

ability to discriminate different figures and shapes

Question 74

perceptual hypotheses

Answer 74

educated guesses that we make while interpreting sensory information