Module 1.6

Question 1

Sensation

Answer 1

the process of detecting information from the environment that meets a certain threshold and tranducing stimuli into neurochemical messages for processing

Question 2

Absolute threshold

Answer 2

occurs when a stimulus can be detected at least 50% of the time

Question 3

Just noticeable difference (JND)

Answer 3

the smallest difference between two stimuli that can be consistently and accurately detected on 50% of trials.

Question 4

Sensory adaptation

Answer 4

reduced responsiveness in a sensory receptor or sensory system caused by prolonged or repeated stimulation.

Question 5

Weber’s law

Answer 5

describes the degree to which stimuli need to be differnt for the difference to be detected

Question 6

Sensory interaction

Answer 6

sensory systems work together constantly

Question 7

Synesthesia

Answer 7

an experience of sensation in which one system of sensation is experienced through another

Question 8

Retina

Answer 8

photosensitive surface at the bck of the eye

Question 9

Transduction

Answer 9

the process by which one form of energy is converted into another

Question 10

Blind spot

Answer 10

located where the visual nerve exits the eye

Question 11

Lens

Answer 11

focuses the visual stimuli onto the retina

Question 12

Accommodation

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Nearsightedness

Answer 13

The retinal image is blurred because the focal point of one or both eyes lies in front of, rather than on, the retina.

Question 14

Farsightedness

Answer 14

is a refractive error due to an abnormally short eyeball, which causes the image of close objects to be blurred because the focal point of one or both eyes lies behind, rather than on, the retina

Question 15

Rods

Answer 15

cells that lie in the periphery of the eye and detect shapes and movement, but not color

Question 16

Trichromatic theory

Answer 16

one of several concepts of the physiological basis of color vision, as derived from experiments on color mixture in which all hues were able to be matched by a mixture of three primary colors. The Young–Helmholtz theory of color vision is the best known trichromatic theory.

Question 17

Opponent-process theory

Answer 17

any one of a class of theories describing color vision on the basis of the activity of mechanisms, which may correspond to cells, that respond to red–green, blue–yellow, or black–white

Question 18

Cones

Answer 18

photoreceptor cells located in the fovea of the eye that process color and detail; researchers have identified blue, green, and red cones

Question 19

Afterimages

Answer 19

result when certain ganglion cells in the retina are activated while others are not

Question 20

Ganglion cells

Answer 20

the cells involved in opponent process are red/green, blue/yellow, and black/white

Question 21

Color vision deficiency

Answer 21

involves damage or irregularities to one or more cones or ganglion cells

Question 22

Dichromatism

Answer 22

partial color blindness in which the eye contains only two types of cone photopigment instead of the typical three; red-green is the most common deficency

Question 23

Monochromatism

Answer 23

a partial color blindness in which the eye contains only one type of cone photopigment instead of the typical three: Everything appears in various shades of a single color.

Question 24

Prosopagnosia (face blindness)

Answer 24

the ability to perceive and recognize faces is impaired, whereas the ability to recognize other objects may be relatively unaffected

Question 25

Blindsight

Answer 25

a condition in which a person can respond to a visual stimulus without consciously experiencing it

Question 26

Pitch

Answer 26

a tone’s experienced highness or or lowness; deponds on frequency

Question 27

Amplitudes

Answer 27

the height of sound waves determines the perceived loudness

Question 28

Place theory

Answer 28

in hearing, the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea’s membrane is stimulated

Question 29

Volley theory

Answer 29

neural cells can alternate firing and by firing in rapid succession, they can achieve a combined frequency above 1000 waves per second

Question 30

Frequency theory

Answer 30

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 pitch

Question 31

Sound localization

Answer 31

describes how we identify where sounds in our environment ar coming from

Question 32

Conduction deafness

Answer 32

a less common form of hearing loss, causes by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea

Question 33

Sensorineural deafness

Answer 33

hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea’s receptor cells or to the auditory nerves

Question 34

smell

Answer 34

only sense not processed first in the thalamus

Question 35

Gustation

Answer 35

our sense of taste

Question 36

Types of tastes

Answer 36

sweet, sour, umami, salty, bitter

Question 37

Taste receptors

Answer 37

located on the tongue and the number of taste receptors is related to how sensitive people are to tastes

Question 38

Supertasters

Answer 38

a person who tastes certain flavors and foods more strongly than other people;have the most taste buds and report PROP to taste very strong, even revolting.

Question 39

Medium tasters

Answer 39

They can detect PROP, but don’t have a strong aversion to its bitterness.

Question 40

Nontasters

Answer 40

have fewer than average taste buds. They are called non-tasters because they are unable to detect bitterness of a chemical called PROP

Question 41

Chemicals senses

Answer 41

smell and taste interact to create the sensation of taste

Question 42

Receptors in the skin

Answer 42

help the brain process and/or transduce touch stimuli

Question 43

Gate control theory

Answer 43

the theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological gate that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain; gate opens when small fibers are activated and is closed by activating large fibers

Question 44

Phantom limb sensation

Answer 44

occurs when people who have lost limbs report sensation or pain where the limb used to be

Question 45

Vestibular sense

Answer 45

controls balance and is primarily detected by the semicircular canals and structures in the brain

Question 46

Kinesthesis

Answer 46

the sense of one’s body movement; it allows the body to move in coordinated ways without having to look at the various parts of the body as it moves