Chapter 5

Question 0

Perception

Answer 0

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

Question 1

Sensation

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Bottom-up Processing

Answer 2

Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information.

Question 3

Top-down Processing

Answer 3

Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations.

Question 4

Prosopagnosia

Answer 4

Complete sensation but incomplete perception; this is a failure of perception.

Question 5

Psychodynamics

Answer 5

The study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them.

Question 6

Absolute Threshold

Answer 6

The minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time.

Question 7

Signal Detection Theory

Answer 7

A theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (“signal”) amid background stimulation (“noise”). Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person’s experience, expectations, motivation, and level of fatigue.

Question 8

Subliminal

Answer 8

Below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness.

Question 9

Priming

Answer 9

The activation, often unconsciously,mod certain associations, thus predisposing one’s perception, memory, or response.

Question 10

Difference Threshold

Answer 10

The minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time. We experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference. (Also called just noticeable difference or jnd.).

Question 11

Weber’s Law

Answer 11

The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount).

Question 12

Sensory Adaptation

Answer 12

Dismissed sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.

Question 13

Transduction

Answer 13

Conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transmission of stimulus energies, such as sights, sounds, and smells, into neural impulses our brain can interpret.

Question 14

Wavelength

Answer 14

The distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next. Electromagnetic wavelengths very from the short blips of cosmic rays to the long pulses of radio transmission.

Question 15

Hue

Answer 15

The dimension if color that is determined by the wavelength of light; what we know as the color names blue, green, and so forth.

Question 16

Intensity

Answer 16

The amount of energy in a light or sound wave, which we perceive as brightness or loudness, as determined by the wave’s amplitude.

Question 17

Pupil

Answer 17

The adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters.

Question 18

Iris

Answer 18

A ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening.

Question 19

Lens

Answer 19

The transparent structure behind the pupil that changed shape to help focus images on the retina.

Question 20

Accommodation

Answer 20

The process by which the eye’s lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina.

Question 21

Retina

Answer 21

The light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers that begin the processing of visual information.

Question 22

Acuity

Answer 22

The sharpness of vision.

Question 23

Nearsightedness

Answer 23

A condition in which nearby objects are seen more clearly then distant objects because distant objects focus in front of the retina.

Question 24

Farsightedness

Answer 24

A condition in which faraway objects are seen more clearly than near objects because the image of near objects is focused behind the retina.

Question 25

Rods

Answer 25

Retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don’t respond.

Question 26

Cones

Answer 26

Retinal receptors that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions. The cones detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations.

Question 27

Bipolar Cells

Answer 27

Bipolar cells are a type of nerve cells that combine the impulses from many of the visual receptor cells in the retina and then transmits those impulses to the ganglion cells.

Question 28

Ganglion Cells

Answer 28

Ganglion Cells are neurons that relay information from the retina to the brain via the optic nerve. There are at least three classes of ganglion cells (midget, parasol, and bistratified), which vary in function and connect to different visual centers in the brain. For example, parasol ganglion cells are responsible for detecting motion, while midget ganglion cells detect visual details.

Question 29

Optic Nerve

Answer 29

The nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain.

Question 30

Blind Spot

Answer 30

The point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a “blind” spot because no receptor cells are located there.

Question 31

Fovea

Answer 31

The central focal point in the retina, around which the eye’ scones cluster.

Question 32

Feature Detectors

Answer 32

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

Question 33

Parallel Processing

Answer 33

The processing of several aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode of information processing for many functions, including vision. Contrasts with the step-by-step (serial) processing of most computers and of conscious problem solving.

Question 34

Blindsight

Answer 34

Blindness in part of the field of vision due to destruction in the visual cortex–from a stroke or surgery.

Question 35

Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic (Three-Color) Theory

Answer 35

The theory that the retina contains three different color receptors–one most sensitive to red, one to green, one to blue–which can produce the perception of any color.

Question 36

Opponent-Process Theory

Answer 36

The theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision. For example, some cells are stimulated by green and inhibited by red; others are stimulated by red and inhibited by green.

Question 37

Color Constancy

Answer 37

Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object.

Question 38

Audition

Answer 38

The sense or act of hearing.

Question 39

Frequency

Answer 39

The number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time (for example, per second).

Question 40

Pitch

Answer 40

A tone’s experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequency.

Question 41

Middle Ear

Answer 41

The chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing three tiny bones (hammer, anvil, and stirrup) that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea’s oval window.

Question 42

Cochlea

Answer 42

A coiled bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses.

Question 43

Cilia

Answer 43

Tiny hairs lining the cochlea.

Question 44

Inner Ear

Answer 44

The innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs.

Question 45

Place Theory

Answer 45

In hearing, the theory they links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea’s members in is stimulated.

Question 46

Frequency Theory

Answer 46

In hearing, the theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch.

Question 47

Conduction Hearing Loss

Answer 47

Hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea.

Question 48

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Answer 48

Hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea’s receptor cells or to the auditory nerves; also called nerve deafness.

Question 49

Cochlear Implant

Answer 49

A device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into the cochlea.

Question 50

Gate-Control Theory

Answer 50

The theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological “gate” that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain. The “gate” is opened by the activity of pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers and is closed by activity in larger nerve fibers or by information coming from the brain.

Question 51

Sensory Interaction

Answer 51

The principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences taste.

Question 52

McGurk Effect

Answer 52

A perceptual phenomenon that demonstrates an interaction between hearing and vision in speech perception.

Question 53

Olfaction

Answer 53

The sense of smell.

Question 54

Synesthesia

Answer 54

The phenomenon where the senses become joined.

Question 55

Kinesthesis

Answer 55

The system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts.

Question 56

Vestibular Sense

Answer 56

The sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance.