Chapter Five Flashcards
Perception
The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events
Sensation
The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment
Bottom-Up Processing
Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information
Top-Down Processing
Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations.
Prosopagnosia
Associated with losing a temporal lobe area essential to recognizing faces, this is a condition where you can see a face but can’t recognize it; you have complete sensation but incomplete perception.
Psychophysics
The study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli (such as their intensity) and our psychological experience of them
Absolute Threshold
The minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time.
Signal Detection Theory
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 detect icon depends partly on a person’ experience, expectations, motivation, and level of fatigue.
Subliminal
Below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness
Priming
The activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one’s perception, memory, or response
Difference Threshold (JND - Just Noticeable Difference)
The minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time
Weber’s Law
The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount).
Sensory Adaption
Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.
(ex: funky new smells go away after awhile)
Transduction
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
Wavelength
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 long pulses of radio transmission.
Hue
The dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light; what we know as the color names blue, green, etc.
Intensity
The amount of energy in a light or sound wave, which we perceive as brightness or loudness, as determined by the wave’s amplitude
Amplitude
Wave height
Cornea
Protects the eye and bends light to provide focus. Light enters the eye through the cornea.
Pupil
The adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters
Iris
A ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening.
Lens
The transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina
Accommodation
The process by which the eye’s lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina
Retina
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
Acuity
The sharpness of vision
Nearsightedness
A condition in which nearby objects are seen more clearly than distant objects because distant objects focus on the front of the retina
Farsightedness
A condition in which far away objects are seen more clearly than near objects because the image of near objects is focused behind the retina