Chapter Four - Sensation and Perception Flashcards
Absolute Threshold
Lowest level of a stimulus needed for the nervous system ti detect a change 50% of the time.
Accommodation
Changing the shape of the lens to focus on objects near or far.
Acuity
Sharpness of vision.
Audition
Our sense of hearing.
Basilar Membrane
Membrane supporting the organ of corti and hair cells in the cochlea.
Binocular Depth Cues
Stimuli that enable us to judge depth using both eyes.
Blind Spot
Region of the retina containing no rods and completely devoid of sense receptors.
Bottom-Up Processing
Processing in which a whole is constructed from parts.
Cochlea
Bony, spiral-shaped sense organ used for hearing.
Colour Blindness
Inability to see some or all colours.
Cones
Receptor cells in the retina allowing us to see in colour.
Cornea
Part of the eye containing transparent cells that focus light on the retina.
Dark Adaptation
Time in dark before rods regain maximum light sensitivity.
Depth Perception
Ability to judge distance and 3D relations.
Feature Detector Cell
Cell that detects lines and edges.
Fovea
Central portion of the retina.
Frequency Theory
Rate at which neurons fire the action potentials reproduces the pitch.
Gate Control Model
Idea that pain is blocked or gated from consciousness by neural mechanisms in the spinal cord.
Gustation
Our sense of tatse.
Hue
Colour of light.
Illusion
Perception in which the way we perceive a stimulus doesn’t match its physical reality.
Inattentional Blindness
Failure to detect stimuli that are in plain sight when our attention is focused elsewhere.
Just Noticeable Difference
The smallest change in the intensity of a stimulus that we can detect.
Lens
Part of the eye that changes curvature to keep images in focus.
Monocular Depth Cues
Stimuli that enable us to judge depth using only one eye.
Olfaction
Our sense of smell.
Opponent Process Theory
Theory that we perceive colours in terms of three pairs of opponent colours. Either red or green, blue or yellow, and black or white.
Optic Nerve
Nerve that travels from the retina to the brain.
Organ of Corti
Tissue containing the hair cells necessary for hearing.
Parallel Processing
Ability to attend many sense modalities simultaneously.
Perception
The brain’s interpretation of raw sensory inputs.
Perceptual Constancy
The process by which we perceive stimuli consistently across varies conditions.
Perceptual Set
Set formed when expectations influence perceptions.
Phantom Pain
Pain or discomfort felt in an amputated limb.
Pheromone
Odourless chemical that serves as a social signal to members of one’s species.
Place Theory
A specific place along the basilar membrane matches a tone with a specific pitch.
Proprioception
Our sense of body position.
Psychophysics
The study of how we perceive sensory stimuli based on their physical characteristics.
Pupil
Circular hole through which light enters the eye.
Retina
Membrane at the back of the eye responsible for converting light into neural activity.
Rods
Receptor cells in the retina allowing us to see in low levels of light.
Selective Attention
Process of selecting one sensory channel and ignoring or minimizing others.
Semicircular Canals
Three fluid-filled canals in the inner ear responsible for our sense of balance.
Sensation
Detection of physical energy by sense organs, which then send information to the brain.
Sense Receptor
Specialized cell responsible for converting external stimuli into neural activity for a specific sensory system.
Sensory Adaptation
Process in which activation is greatest when a stimulus is first detected.
Signal Detection Theory
Theory regarding how stimuli are detected under different conditions.
Somatosensory
Our sense of touch, temperature, and pain.
Subliminal Perception
Perception below the limen, or threshold of conscious awareness.
Synesthesia
A condition in which people experience cross-modal sensations.
Taste Bud
Sense receptor in the tongue that responds to sweet, salty, sour, bitter, umami, and perhaps fat.
Timbre
Complexity or quality of sound that makes musical instruments, human voices, or other sources sound unique.
Top-Down Processing
Conceptually driven processing influenced by beliefs and expectancies.
Transduction
Process of converting an external energy or substance into electrical activity within neurons.
Trichromatic Theory
Idea that colour vision is based on our sensitivity to three primary colours.
Vestibular Sense
Our sense of equilibrium or balance.
Weber’s Law
Principle stating there is a constant proportional relationship between the JND and original stimulus intensity.
