Chapter 6

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

Sensory Receptors

Answer 2

Sensory nerve endings that respond to stimuli

Question 3

Perception

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Bottom-up processing

Answer 4

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

Question 5

Top-Down Processing

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Transduction

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Psychophysics

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Absolute threshold

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Signal Detection Theory

Answer 9

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 alertness

Question 10

Subliminal

Answer 10

Below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness

Question 11

Priming

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Difference Threshold

Answer 12

The minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time. We experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference.

Question 13

Sensory Adaptation

Answer 13

Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

Question 14

Perceptual Set

Answer 14

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

Question 15

Wavelength

Answer 15

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 gamma rays to the long pulses of radio transmission

Question 16

Hue

Answer 16

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

Question 17

Intensity

Answer 17

The amount of energy in a light wave or sound wave, which influences what we perceive as brightness or loudness. Intensity is determined by the wave’s amplitude (height).

Question 18

Retina

Answer 18

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 19

Accomodation

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Rods

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Cones

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Optic Nerve

Answer 22

Te nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain

Question 23

Blind Spot

Answer 23

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

Question 24

Fovea

Answer 24

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

Question 25

Young-Helmholtz trichromatic (three-color) theory

Answer 25

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

Question 26

Opponent-process theory

Answer 26

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 27

Feature detectors

Answer 27

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

Question 28

Parallel Processing

Answer 28

Processing many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode of information processing for many functions, including vision

Question 29

Gestalt

Answer 29

An organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes

Question 30

Figure-ground

Answer 30

The organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground).

Question 31

Grouping

Answer 31

The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups

Question 32

Depth Perception

Answer 32

The ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance

Question 33

Visual cliff

Answer 33

A laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals

Question 34

Binocular Cue

Answer 34

A depth cue, such as retinal disparity, that depends on the use of two eyes

Question 35

Retinal Disparity

Answer 35

A binocular cue for perceiving depth. By comparing retinal images from the two eyes, the brainn computes distance - the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object

Question 36

Monocular cue

Answer 36

A depth cue, such as interposition or linear perspective, available to either eye alone

Question 37

Phi Phenomenon

Answer 37

An illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on an doff in quick succession

Question 38

Perceptual Constancy

Answer 38

Perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent color, brightness, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change

Question 39

Perceptual Adaptation

Answer 39

The ability to adjust to changed sensory input, including an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field

Question 40

Audition

Answer 40

The sense or act of hearing

Question 41

Frequency

Answer 41

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