Chapter 5 Flashcards
___ is the process that detects stimuli from our body and our environment.
Sensation
____ is the process that organizes sensations into meaningful objects and events.
Perception
Our sensory organs convert the physical properties of sound, light, and other kinds of stimuli into neural impulses. This conversion process is called ______, and it takes place at structures called sensory receptors.
transduction
One important fact to remember is that an individual can be aware of a stimulus in his or her environment only if he or she has ______ receptors that can transduce it.
sensory
Sensory Receptors for Each Primary Sense
Vision Hearing Taste Smell Touch
Our Senses Vary in Their _____ Thresholds
Sensitivity
_______ threshold - the lowest level of intensity of a given stimulus that a person can detect half the time.
Absolute
Absolute thresholds can _____ across individuals.
vary
As people age, their absolute thresholds for all senses increase, which means that ______ is necessary to detect stimuli.
greater stimulation
__________ explains how detection of a stimulus is influenced by an observer’s decision-making strategy or criterion.
Signal detection theory
Two important factors that shape this decision making are:
The observer’s expectations about the probability that the stimulus will occur, and
The rewards and costs associated with detecting or not detecting the stimulus.
One major contribution of signal-detection theory is that it points out that we do not have ________for a given sense.
a single absolute threshold
In addition to detecting a __________, we often must detect changes in the _____ of a stimulus or discriminate between _____.
weak stimulus, intensity, two similar stimuli.
____ law - a weak or ____ stimulus does ________ before a person notices that the stimulus has changed, but a strong or ___ stimulus requires a ____ before the change is noticed.
Weber’s, small, not require much change,
Large, proportionately greater change
Our _____ Receptors Adapt toUnchanging Stimuli
Sensory
Sensory _____ occurs when our sensory receptors decrease in responsiveness to stimuli that ____
adaptation, continue without change.
Light Passes through the _____before Focusing on the Retina
Cornea, Pupil, and Lens
Visual abnormalities can affect visual acuity, or the sharpness of the visual image at the retina.
true
Visual Information from Both Eyes Is Transmitted to Both ____.
Brain Hemispheres
Color doesn’t exist in the world ___
– it is all in our heads
Psychophysics is the study of how physical stimuli are translated into ______.
psychological experience.
Cross-cultural research indicates that there is a universally shared ____ for experiencing color among humans.
physiological basis
The _____ theory of color perception proposes there are ____ types of color receptors in the retina (cones) that produce the primary color sensations of ____
Young-Helmholtz trichromatic, three. red, green, and blue.
By combining different stimulation levels from these_______ receptors, our visual system produces a multitude of_____.
three color, different color levels
Trichromatic theory provides a partial explanation for color-blindness its _______
nonfunctioning cones
Opponent-process theory, proposed by _____ proposed that bipolar and ganglion cells in the ______ process light waves in terms of pairs of opposing ____.
Ewald Hering, retina and thalamus, colors
Opponent-process theory also explains certain aspects of color blindness that cannot be explained by trichromatic theory
Some “color blindness” involves loss of ability to perceive ______.
pairs of colors rather than just one color.
____ is the relative constancy of perceived color under different conditions of ______.
Color constancy, illumination
_____ depends on a wave of pressure created when an object vibrates. The vibration causes molecules in an_____ medium, such as air, water, or solid material, to move away from the vibrating image as sound waves.
Sound, elastic, waves.
Perceiving the location of sound ______ is the ability to locate objects in space Based on when sound waves reach our ears, which ear receives it first, loudest, etc.
Sound localization
_____ theories attempt to explain how the auditory system converts sound waves into perceptions of ___:
Three, pitch
____ theory - pitch is determined by which place along the ________ is most activated
Place, cochlea’s basilar membrane
______ theory - pitch is determined by the frequency with which the_____.
Frequency, basilar membrane vibrates.
____ theory - ____ work in groups and ____firing, thus achieving a combined frequency corresponding to the frequency of the sound wave.
Volley,neurons, alternate
The Two General Types of ____
Hearing Impairment
_______ is hearing loss that is present at birth.
Congenital hearing loss
_____ is caused by abnormalities in one or more areas of the auditory system
Conduction hearing loss
The ear can be divided into three major parts:
___ ___ ___
The outer ear
The middle ear
The inner ear
The main parts of the inner ear are:
___ ___ ___
The oval window
The cochlea
The organ of Corti
____ and ___ are classified as higher senses in humans, meaning they are extremely important to our survival.
Hearing, vision
In contrast, the senses of taste, ___ ___ ___ ___ are classified as minor senses because they are not considered as crucial to sustaining life.
taste, smell, touch, and proprioception
__ ___ Represent “Far” and “Near” Chemical Senses
Smell and Taste
_____ is the sense of smell, and its stimuli are airborne molecules.
Olfaction, airborne
____ ____ occurs when a substance makes contact with specialized receptor cells in the mouth and throat.
Taste or gustation
The taste buds on the surface of the tongue are grouped together in structures called
papillae
Touch or the ___ Senses— Pressure, Temperature, and Pain
Skins
Pressure: ____
touch
Temperature: _____
receptors are located in the skin
Pain: ___
not well understood but critical to survival
Not well understood; no pain center in the brain
_____ theory: _-fibers and _-fibers
Gate-control theory: L-fibers and S-fibers
L-fibers are____ and transmit sharp pain signals and close the pain “gate”
fast,sharp
S-fibers are ____and transmit dull and burning pain
slow, dull
Tolerance – ___ and____ factors
genetics and psychological factors
The ___ Detect Body Movement and Location
Proprioceptive Senses
Two proprioceptive senses
_____ & ____.
Kinesthetic,Vestibular
_____ sense provides information about the ______ of body parts with respect to one another.
Kinesthetic ,movement and location
_____ sense (or equilibrium) provides information on the position of the body in space—especially the head—by sensing_____
Vestibular , gravity and motion.
_____ is a rare and extraordinary sensory condition in which people perceive stimuli in ______.
Synesthesia, other senses,colored hearing.
According to Gestalt psychologists, our perceptions are not to be understood as the mind passively responding to a cluster of individual sensations, but rather, as the mind actively organizing ___ stimuli into a _____, or gestalt.
sensory stimuli into a coherent whole, or gestalt.
____ perception is the process by which sensations are organized into meaningful _____
Form,shapes and patterns.
One basic rule of form perception is the figure-ground relationship.
figure-ground relationship. i
figure-ground relationship.
Gestalt principle that when people focus on an object in their perceptual field, they automatically distinguish it from its surroundings.
Sensory Stimuli Are Organized into a Gestalt through Form Perception, Depth Perception, and Perceptual Constancy
Similarity: Proximity: Continuity: Connectedness: Closure: Common fate:
____perception is the ability to perceive objects ____-dimensionally.
depends on the use of both binocular cues and monocular cues.
Depth, three
Monocular cues
Interposition,Familiar size: Linear perspective: Texture gradients: Atmospheric blur:Height in the field of view,Light and shadow,Motion parallax
_____ is the tendency to perceive objects as relatively stable despite continually changing sensory information.
Perceptual constancy, changing
is a misperception of physical reality often due to the misapplication of perceptual principles.
A perceptual illusion
