Chapter 6 Vocabulary - Sensation and Perception

Question 0

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

Answer 0

Perception

Question 1

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

Answer 1

Sensation

Question 2

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

Answer 2

Absolute Threshold

Question 3

The minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time

Answer 3

Difference Threshold (just noticeable difference)

Question 4

A theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise) [assuming that detecting depends partly on a person’s experiences, expectations, motivation,and alertness]

Answer 4

Signal-Detection Theory

Question 5

The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (for an average person to perceive a difference, two stimuli must differ by a constant proportion)

Answer 5

Weber’s Law

Question 6

Below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness

Answer 6

Subliminal Perception

Question 7

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)

Answer 7

Transduction

Question 8

The sense of your position and movement of your body parts

Answer 8

Kinesthetic Sense

Question 9

The sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance (monitors your heads position and movement)

Answer 9

Vestibular Sense

Question 10

Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information (starts at the sensory receptors and works up to higher levels of processing)

Answer 10

Bottom-Up Processing

Question 11

Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations (constructs perceptions from the sensory input by drawing on our experiences and expectations)

Answer 11

Top-Down Processing

Question 12

Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

Answer 12

Sensory Adaptation

Question 13

Depth cues, such as retinal disparity, that depend on the use of two eyes

Answer 13

Binocular Cues

Question 14

Depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either eye alone

Answer 14

Monocular Cues

Question 15

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

Answer 15

Frequency

Question 16

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

Answer 16

Pitch