PSY101 -Chapter 6: Sensation and Perception

Question 1

Sensation

Answer 1

The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.

Question 2

Perception

Answer 2

The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.

Question 3

Bottom-up Processing

Answer 3

Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up the 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, an smell, into neural impulses our brain can interpret.

Question 6

Psychophysics

Answer 6

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

Question 7

Absolute Threshold

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Signal Detection Theory

Answer 8

A theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus amid background stimulation. Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person’s experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness.

Question 9

Subliminal

Answer 9

Below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness.

Question 10

Priming

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Difference Threshold

Answer 11

The minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time. We experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference (jnd).

Question 12

Weber’s Law

Answer 12

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

Question 13

Sensory Adaptation

Answer 13

Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.

Question 14

Perceptual Set

Answer 14

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.

Question 15

Wavelength

Answer 15

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

Question 16

Hue

Answer 16

The dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light; what we know as the color names blue, green, so forth.

Question 17

Intensity

Answer 17

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

Question 18

Lens

Answer 18

The transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina.

Question 19

Retina

Answer 19

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 20

Accommodation

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Rods

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Cones

Answer 22

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 23

Optic Nerve

Answer 23

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

Question 24

Blind Spot

Answer 24

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

Question 25

Fovea

Answer 25

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

Question 26

Feature Detectors

Answer 26

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

Question 27

Parallel Processing

Answer 27

The processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode of information processing for many functions, including vision. Contrasts with the step-by-step processing of most computers and of conscious problem solving.

Question 28

Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory

Answer 28

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

Question 29

Opponent-process Theory

Answer 29

The theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, black-white) 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 30

Gestalt

Answer 30

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

Question 31

Figure-ground

Answer 31

The organization of the visual field into objects that stand out from their surroundings.

Question 32

Grouping

Answer 32

The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups.

Question 33

Binocular Cues

Answer 33

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

Question 34

Retinal Disparity

Answer 34

A binocular cue for perceiving depth: by comparing images from the retinas in the two eyes, the brain computes distance-the greater the disparity between the two images, the closer the object.

Question 35

Monocular Cues

Answer 35

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

Question 36

Phi Phenomenon

Answer 36

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

Question 37

Perceptual Constancy

Answer 37

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

Question 38

Color Constancy

Answer 38

Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object.

Question 39

Perceptual Adaptation

Answer 39

In vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field.

Question 40

Audition

Answer 40

The sense or act of hearing.

Question 41

Frequency

Answer 41

The number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time (like per second).

Question 42

Pitch

Answer 42

A tone’s experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequency.

Question 43

Middle Ear

Answer 43

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

Question 44

Cochlea

Answer 44

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

Question 45

Inner Ear

Answer 45

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

Question 46

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Answer 46

Hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea’s receptor cells or to the auditory nerves; also called nerve deafness.

Question 47

Conduction Hearing Loss

Answer 47

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

Question 48

Cochlear Implant

Answer 48

A device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into the cochlea.

Question 49

Place Theory

Answer 49

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

Question 50

Frequency Theory

Answer 50

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 51

Kinesthesis

Answer 51

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

Question 52

Vestibular Sense

Answer 52

The sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance (related to the head).

Question 53

Pain Influences

Answer 53

Biological: sensory receptors.
Psychological: our mental state
Socio-cultural: pain varies with the situation and cultural traditions.