Modules 16 & 17 Vocabulary

Question 1

: the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receives stimulus energies from our environment

Answer 1

Sensation

Question 2

: the process of organizing and interpreting information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

Answer 2

Perception

Question 3

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

Answer 3

Bottom-up processing

Question 4

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

Answer 4

Top-down processing

Question 5

: the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

Answer 5

Selective attention

Question 6

: failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

Answer 6

Inattentional blindness

Question 7

: failing to notice changes in the environment

Answer 7

Change blindness

Question 8

: 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

Answer 8

Transduction

Question 9

: the study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them

Answer 9

Psychophysics

Question 10

: the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time

Answer 10

Absolute threshold

Question 11

: a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a aunt stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise). Assumes that there is no signal absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person’s experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness

Answer 11

Signal detection theory

Question 12

: below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness

Answer 12

Subliminal

Question 13

: the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one’s perception, memory, or response

Answer 13

Priming

Question 14

: the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time. We experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference (or jnd

Answer 14

Difference threshold

Question 15

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

Answer 15

Weber’s law

Question 16

: diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

Answer 16

Sensory adaptation

Question 17

: a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

Answer 17

Perceptual set

Question 18

: the controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input; includes telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition

Answer 18

Extrasensory perception (ESP)

Question 19

: the study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis

Answer 19

Parapsychology