Chapter 6 Sensation and Perception

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 by which our brain organizes and interprets sensory information, enabling us to recognize objects and events as meaningful.

Question 4

Bottom up Processing

Answer 4

“starts at your sensory receptors and works up to higher levels of processing.”

Question 5

Top down Sensory

Answer 5

constructs perceptions from this sensory input by drawing on your experience and expectations.

Question 6

Transduction?

Answer 6

“The process of converting one form of energy into another that our brain can use”

Question 7

Psychophysics?

Answer 7

“studies the relationships between the physical energy we can detect and its effects on our psychological experiences.”

Question 8

What three steps are basic to all our sensory systems?

Answer 8

1) RECIVE: sensory stimulation, often using specialized receptor cells.
2) TRANSFORM: that stimulation into neural impulses.
3) DELIVER: the neural information to our brain.”

Question 9

“What is the rough distinction between sensation and perception?”

Answer 9

Sensation is the bottom-up process by which your sensory receptors and your nervous system receive and represent stimuli. Perception is the top-down process by which your brain creates meaning by organizing and interpreting what your senses detect.

Question 10

Absolute Thresholds

Answer 10

“the minimum stimulus energy needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time.”

Question 11

signal detection theory

Answer 11

“a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation ”

Question 12

subliminal?

Answer 12

“below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness.”

Question 13

priming

Answer 13

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

Question 14

difference threshold

Answer 14

“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 15

Weber’s law

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Sensory Adaptation?

Answer 16

“diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.”

Question 17

Perceptual Set?

Answer 17

“a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.”

Question 18

Sensory adaptation helps us focus on?

a) visual stimuli
b) auditory stimuli.
c) constant features of the environment.
d) important changes in the environment.

Answer 18

D

Question 19

What is wavelength?

Answer 19

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 20

Hue?

Answer 20

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 21

Intensity?

Answer 21

the amount of energy a light wave or sound wave contains, which influences what we perceive as brightness or loudness.

Question 22

What is Retina?

Answer 22

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 23

Eye: accommodation?

Answer 23

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

Question 24

Eye: What are Rods?

Answer 24

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

Question 25

Eye: What are Cones?

Answer 25

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 26

Eye: What is optic nerve?

Answer 26

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

Question 27

Eye: Blind spot?

Answer 27

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

Question 28

Eye: What is Fovea?

Answer 28

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