Perception and Sensation

Question 1

Sensation

Answer 1

experience of sensory stimulation, the activation of our sense

Question 2

Perception

Answer 2

process of creating meaningful patterns from raw sensory information

Question 3

Bottom-Up Processing

Answer 3

Feature Analysis, we use only the features of the object itself to build a complete perception

Question 4

Top-Down Processing

Answer 4

we perceive by filling in gaps in what we sense. schema, perceptual set, context effects

Question 5

Selective Attention

Answer 5

focus on certain specific sensory information, while ignoring other sensory input

Question 6

Intentional blindness

Answer 6

failing to see objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

Question 7

Perception without Awareness

Answer 7

ability to respond differentially to the content of stimuli like words or digits, without having consciously identified their meaning

Question 8

Change Blindness

Answer 8

The failure to notice significant changes in our environment

Question 9

Absolute Threshold

Answer 9

the least amount of energy that can be detected as a stimulation 50% of the time

Question 10

Signal Detection Theory

Answer 10

investigates the effects of the distractions and interference we experience while perceiving the world.

Question 11

Subliminal

Answer 11

stimuli below our absolute threshold

Question 12

Priming

Answer 12

whenever exposure to one thing can later alter behavior or thoughts

Question 13

Difference Threshold

Answer 13

the smallest change in stimulation that can be detected 50% of the time

Question 14

Weber’s Law

Answer 14

the principle that the just noticeable difference for any given sense is a constant proportion of the stimulation being judged

Question 15

Sensory Adaptation

Answer 15

how an observer becomes less sensitive to a stimulus over time

Question 16

Transduction

Answer 16

Process of external energy (light waves) being transformed into neural impulses

Question 17

Wavelength

Answer 17

the distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next

Question 18

Hue

Answer 18

the dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light

Question 19

Pupil

Answer 19

the small opening in the iris through which light enters the eye

Question 20

Iris

Answer 20

colored part of the eye

Question 21

Lens

Answer 21

transparent part of the eye inside the pupil that focuses light onto the retina

Question 22

Retina

Answer 22

lining of the eye containing receptor cells that are sensitive to light

Question 23

Rods

Answer 23

receptor cells in the retina responsible for night vision and perception of brightness (shades of gray)

Question 24

Cones

Answer 24

receptor cells in the retina responsible for color vision

Question 25

Optic nerve

Answer 25

the bundle of axons on ganglion cells that carries neural messages from each eye to the brain

Question 26

Blind Spot

Answer 26

place on the retina where the axons of all the ganglion cells leave the eye and where there are no receptors

Question 27

Optic Chiasm

Answer 27

a point near the base of the brain where some fibers in the optic nerve from each eye cross to the other side of the brain

Question 28

Feature Detectors

Answer 28

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

Question 29

Parallel Processing

Answer 29

the ability of the brain to do many things (aka, processes) at once

Question 30

Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory

Answer 30

theory of color vision that hold that all color perception derives from the three different color receptors in the retina

Question 31

Opponent Process Theory

Answer 31

Theory of color vision holds that three sets of color receptors respond in an either/or fashion to determine the color you experience

Question 32

Fovea

Answer 32

area of the retina that is the center of the visual field

Question 33

Frequency

Question 34

Pitch

Question 35

Cochlea

Question 36

Cochlear Implant