Module 18: Vision- Sensory and Perceptual Processing

Question 1

Wavelength

Answer 1

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 gamma rays to the long pulses of radio transmissions.

Question 2

Hue

Answer 2

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 3

Intensity

Answer 3

The amount of energy in a light wave or sound wave, which influences what we perceive as brightness of loudness. Intensity is determined by the wave’s amplitude (height).

Question 4

Retina

Answer 4

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.

Question 5

Accommodation

Answer 5

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

Question 6

Rods

Answer 6

Retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray, and are sensitive to movement. Rods are necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don’t respond.

Question 7

Cones

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Optic nerve

Answer 8

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

Question 9

Blind spot

Answer 9

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

Question 10

Fovea

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Young-Helmholtz trichromatic (three-color) theory

Answer 11

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

Question 12

Opponent-process theory

Answer 12

The theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, blue-yellow, white-black) enable color vision. For example, some cells are stimulated by green and inhibited by red; others are stimulated by red and inhibited by green.

Question 13

Feature detectors

Answer 13

Nerve cells in the brain’s visual cortex that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such, as shape, angle, or movement.

Question 14

Parallel processing

Answer 14

Processing many aspects of a stimulus or problem simultaneously.

Question 15

Gestalt

Answer 15

An organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.

Question 16

Figure-ground

Answer 16

The organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground)

Question 17

Grouping

Answer 17

The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups.

Question 18

Depth perception

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Visual cliff

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Binocular cue

Answer 20

A depth cue, such as retinal disparity, that depends on the use of two eyes.

Question 21

Retinal disparity

Answer 21

A binocular cue for perceiving depth. By comparing retinal images from the two eyes, the brain computes distance–the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object.

Question 22

Monocular cue

Answer 22

A depth cue, such as interposition or linear perspective, available to either eye alone.

Question 23

Phi phenomenon

Answer 23

An illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession.

Question 24

Perceptual constancy

Answer 24

Perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent color, brightness, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change.

Question 25

Perceptual adaptation

Answer 25

The ability to adjust to changed sensory input, including an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field.