Chapter 5 - Vocabulary

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 environments.

Question 2

Bottom-up processing

Answer 2

Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brains integration of sensory information.

Question 3

Top-down processing

Answer 3

Information processing guided by a higher level mental process, as we construct perceptions drawing on our experiences and expectations.

Question 4

Prosopagnosia

Answer 4

A condition that after losing or damaging a temporal lobe area, the ability to recognize faces is lost.

Question 5

Psychopsychics

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Absolute threshold

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Signal detection theory

Answer 7

A theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus amid a background and detection depends partially on a persons experience, expectations, motivations, and level of fatigue.

Question 8

Subliminal

Answer 8

Below ones absolute threshold for conscious awareness.

Question 9

Priming

Answer 9

The activation often unconsciously, of 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% of the time. We experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference.

Question 11

Weber’s law

Answer 11

The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage.

Question 12

Sensory adaptation

Answer 12

Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.

Question 13

Transduction

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Wavelength

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Hue

Answer 15

The dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light; what we know as the color names of blue, green, yellow, 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

The 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 changes shape to help focus near or far objects on the retina.

Question 20

Accommodation

Answer 20

The process by which the 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 of neurons 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 closer objects are seen more clearly than faraway objects because faraway 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 receptor cells that detect black, white, and grey; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don’t respond.

Question 26

Cones

Answer 26

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

Question 27

Optic nerve

Answer 27

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

Question 28

Blind spot

Answer 28

The point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a blind spot.

Question 29

Fovea

Answer 29

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

Question 30

Parallel processing

Answer 30

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 processing of most computers and of conscious problem solving.

Question 31

Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory

Answer 31

The theory that the retina contains three different color receptors - one most sensitive to red, on to blue, and one to green - which when stimulated in combination can produce the perception of any color.

Question 32

Opponent process theory

Answer 32

The theory that opposing retinal processes enable color vision. Some cells that are stimulated by green are inhibited by red and vice-versa.

Question 33

Color constancy

Answer 33

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

Question 34

Audition

Answer 34

Hearing.

Question 35

Frequency

Answer 35

The number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time.

Question 36

Pitch

Answer 36

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

Question 37

Middle ear

Answer 37

The chamber between the eardrum and the cochlea that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea’s oval window.

Question 38

Cochlea

Answer 38

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

Question 39

Inner ear

Answer 39

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

Question 40

Place theory

Answer 40

In hearing, the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea’s membrane is stimulated.

Question 41

Frequency theory

Answer 41

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 42

Conduction hearing loss

Answer 42

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

Question 43

Sensorineural hearing loss

Answer 43

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

Question 44

Cochlear implant

Answer 44

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

Question 45

Gate control theory

Answer 45

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 the small nerve fibers and is closed by the activity in large fibers or by information coming from the brain.

Question 46

Sensory interaction

Answer 46

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

Question 47

Kinesthesis

Answer 47

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

Question 48

Vestibular sense

Answer 48

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