Exam 2

Question 1

Sensation

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Perception

Answer 2

process of organizing and interpreting sensory info, allowing us to recognize meaningful objects and events

Question 3

Bottom-up processing

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Top-down processing

Answer 4

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

Question 5

Transduction

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Absolute Threshold

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Subliminal

Answer 7

Below ones absolute threshold for conscious awareness

Question 8

Priming

Answer 8

Being show a picture of a pear and the a few minutes later spelling pear not pair

Question 9

Sensory Adaptation

Answer 9

Diminished sensitivity as a result of constant stimulation

Question 10

Difference Threshold

Answer 10

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 11

Weber’s law

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Cochlea

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Conduction Hearing Loss

Answer 13

Hearing loss that is caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea

Question 14

Wavelength

Answer 14

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

Question 15

Hue

Answer 15

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 16

Intensity

Answer 16

The amount of energy in light or sound wave, which we perceive as brightness or loudness, as determined by the wave’s amplitude

Question 17

Accommodation

Answer 17

1) In developmental psych, adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information.
2) In sensation in perception, the process by which the eye’s lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina

Question 18

Rods

Answer 18

Retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don’t respond

Question 19

Cones

Answer 19

Retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions. The cones detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations

Question 20

Optic Nerve

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Blind Spot

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Fovea

Answer 22

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

Question 23

Feature Detectors

Answer 23

Nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement

Question 24

Parallel Processing

Answer 24

The processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode of info processing for many functions, including vision; contrasts with the step by step (serial) processing of most computers

Question 25

Young-Helmholtz trichromatic (three color) theory

Answer 25

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

Question 26

Opponent-process theory

Answer 26

The theory that opposing retinal processes enable color vision.
Ex: some cells are stimulated by green and others are inhibited by red and vice versa

Question 27

Grouping

Answer 27

the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups

Question 28

Depth Perception

Answer 28

the ability to see objects in thee dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance

Question 29

Visual Cliff

Answer 29

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

Question 30

Binocular Cues

Answer 30

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

Question 31

Retinal Disparity

Answer 31

a binocular cue for perceiving depth: By comparing images from the retinas in the two eyes, the brain computes distance–the greater the difference between the two images, the closer the object

Question 32

Monocular Cues

Answer 32

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

Question 33

Middle ear

Answer 33

The chamber between between the eardrum between the eardrum and cochlea containing three tiny bones, hammer, anvil, stirrup that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea’s oval window

Question 34

Inner ear

Answer 34

the innermost part of the ear containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs

Question 35

Frequency Theory

Answer 35

In hearing the theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch

Question 36

Gate-control Theory

Answer 36

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 traveling up small nerve fibers and is closed by activity in larger fibers or by information coming from the brain

Question 37

Kinesthesis

Answer 37

The system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts

Question 38

Vestibular Sense

Answer 38

The sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance