Chapter 5 Second Half FML Flashcards
Optic nerve
Nerve that carries neural impulses from eye to brain
Blind spot
Point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a blind spot because no receptor cells are located there
Fovea
Central focal point in retina, around which the eyes cones cluster
Feature detectors
Nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of stimulus, such as shape, angle or movement
Parallel processing
Process of several aspects of a problem simultaneously, the brains natural mode of information processing for many functions. Contrasts with step by step processing of most computers and conscious problem solving
Blindsight
Ability to respond to visual information without consciously seeing it
Damage to primary visual cortex can say where object is but they say they can’t see it
Young-helmholtz trichromatic (three color) theory
Theory that the retina contains three different color receptors
One most sensitive to red
One most sensitive to green
One most sensitive to blue
Which when stimulated in combination can produce the perception of any color
Opponent-process theory
The theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, and white-black) enable color vision
Color constancy
Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent colors even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object
Audition
The sense or act of hearing
Frequency
The number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time
Pitch
Tones experienced highness or lowness, dependent on frequency
Middle ear
Chamber between the ear drum and the cochlea containing three tiny bones (hammer, anvil stirrup) that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea’ oval window
Cochlea
A coiled, bony, fluid filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses
Cilia
Hair cell shape/structure that beat in unison to create movement, sends message to brain that we are hearing
Inner ear
Innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canals and vestibular sacs
Place theory
In hearing, the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea’s membrane is stimulated
Frequency theory
In hearing, the theory that the rate of nerve impulses travels up the auditory nerve matches the frequency cycle of a tone, thus enabling us to sense it’s pitch
Conduction hearing loss
Hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to cochlea
Sensorineural hearing loss
Hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea’s receptor cells or to the auditory nerves, also called nerve deafness
Cochlear implant
Device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into the cochlea
Gate-control theory
Theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological gate that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain
It opens by the activity of pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers and is closed by activity in larger fibers or by information coming from the brain
Sensory interaction
The principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences its taste
Mcgurk effect
Sensory interaction can influence what we hear, if we see a speaker saying one syllabus, while hearing another, we may perceive a third syllable that blends both inputs