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Psych 100 > Chapter 6: Sensation and Perception > Flashcards

Chapter 6: Sensation and Perception Flashcards

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1
Q

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

A

Sensation

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2
Q

Sensory nerve endings that respond to stimuli.

A

Sensory Receptors

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3
Q

The process by which our brain organises and interprets sensory information enabling us to recognize objects and events as meaningful.

A

Perception

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4
Q

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

A

Bottom-up Processing

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5
Q

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

A

Top-down Processing

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6
Q

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.

A

Transduction

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7
Q

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

A

Psychophysics

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8
Q

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

A

Absolute Threshold

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9
Q

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.

A

Signal Detection Theory

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10
Q

Below one’s absolute threshold of conscious awareness.

A

Subliminal

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11
Q

the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time. We experience the ___________ as a just noticeable difference.

A

Difference Threshold

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12
Q

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

A

Weber’s Law

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13
Q

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

A

Priming

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14
Q

Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.

A

Sensory Adaptation

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15
Q

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.

A

Perceptual Set

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16
Q

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.

A

Wavelength

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17
Q

The dimension of colour that is determined by the wavelength of light; what we know as the colour names; blue, green, etc.

A

Hue

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18
Q

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

A

Intensity

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19
Q

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.

A

Retina

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20
Q

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

A

Accommodation

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21
Q

Retinal receptors that detect black, white, and grey, and are sensitive to movement. ______ are necessary for peripheral and twilight vision: when cones don’t respond.

A

Rods

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22
Q

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

A

Cones

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23
Q

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

A

Optic Nerve

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24
Q

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

A

Blind Spot

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25
Q

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

A

Fovea

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26
Q

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

A

Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory

27
Q

The theory that opposing retinal processes enable colour vision. For example, some cells are stimulated by green and inhabited by red; others are stimulated by red and inhabited by green.

A

Opponent Process Theory

28
Q

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

A

Feature Detector

29
Q

Processing many aspects of a stimulus or problem simultaneously. Scene → Retinal Processing → Feature Detection → Parallel Processing → Recognition

A

Parallel Processing

30
Q

An organised whole, _______ psychologists emphasised our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.

A

Gestalt

31
Q

The organisation of the visual field into objects (______) that stand out from their surroundings (______).

A

Figure-ground

32
Q

The perceptual tendency to organise stimuli into coherent groups.

A

Grouping

33
Q

The ability to see objects in three dimensions, although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional.

A

Depth Perception

34
Q

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

A

Visual Cliff

35
Q

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

A

Binocular Cue

36
Q

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

A

Retinal Disparity

37
Q

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

A

Monocular Cue

38
Q

An illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession.

A

Phi Phenomenon

39
Q

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

A

Perceptual Constancy

40
Q

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

A

Perceptual Adaptation

41
Q

The sense or act of hearing.

A

Audition

42
Q

The number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time (ex. Per seconds).

A

Frequency

43
Q

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

A

Pitch

44
Q

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.

A

Middle Ear

45
Q

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

A

Cochlea

46
Q

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

A

Inner Ear

47
Q

The most common form of hearing loss, caused by damage to the cochlea’s receptor cells or to the auditory nerve; also called nerve deafness.

A

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

48
Q

A less common form of hearing loss, caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea.

A

Conduction Hearing Loss

49
Q

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

A

Cochlear Implant

50
Q

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

A

Place Theory

51
Q

In hearing, the theory that the rate of nerve impulses travelling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch (also called temporal coding).

A

Frequency Hearing

52
Q

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 travelling up small nerve fibres and is closed by activity in larger fibres or by information coming from the brain.

A

Gate-control Theory

53
Q

A social interaction in which one person suggests to another that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviours will spontaneously occur.

A

Hypnosis

54
Q

A split in consciousness, which allows some thoughts and behaviours to occur simultaneously with others.

A

Dissociation

55
Q

A suggestion, made during a hypnosis session, to be carried out after the subject is no longer hypnotised; used by some clinicians to help control undesired symptoms and behaviours.

A

Posthypnotic Suggestion

56
Q

Our sense of taste.

A

Gustation

57
Q

Our sense of smell.

A

Olfaction

58
Q

Our movement sense—our system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts.

A

Kinesthesia

59
Q

Our balance sense—our sense of body movement and position that enables our sense of balance.

A

Vestibular Sense

60
Q

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

A

Sensory Interaction

61
Q

The influence of bodily sensations, gestures, and other states on cognitive preferences and judgements.

A

Embodied Cognition

62
Q

The controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input; includes telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition.

A

Extrasensory Perception

63
Q

The study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis (also called telekinesis).

A

Parapsychology

Psych 100 (6 decks)

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