psych chapter 6

Question 1

sensation

Answer 1

the detection of physical energy emitted or reflected by physical objects; it occurs when energy in the external environment or the body stimulates receptors in the sense organs

Question 2

perception

Answer 2

the process by which the brain organizes and interprets sensory information.

Question 3

sense receptors

Answer 3

specialized cells that convert physical energy in the environment or the body to electrical energy that can be transmitted as nerve impulses to the brain.

Question 4

doctorine of specific nerve energies

Answer 4

the principle that different sensory modalities exist because signals received by the sense organs stimulate different nerve pathways leading to different areas of the brain.

Question 5

synesthesia

Answer 5

a condition in which stimulation of one sens also evokes another.

Question 6

absolute threshold

Answer 6

the smallest quantity of physical energy that can be reliably detected by an observer.

Question 7

difference threshold

Answer 7

the smallest difference in stimulation that can be reliably detected by an observer when two stimuli are compared.

Question 8

signal detection theory

Answer 8

a psycho-physical theory that divides the detection of a sensory signal into a sensory process and a decision process

Question 9

sensory adaptation

Answer 9

the reduction or disappearance of sensory responsiveness when stimulation is unchanging or repetitious.

Question 10

sensory deprivation

Answer 10

the absence of normal levels of sensory stimulation.

Question 11

selective attention

Answer 11

the focusing of attention on selected aspects of the environment and the blocking out of others

Question 12

inattentional blindness

Answer 12

failure to consciously perceive something you are looking at because you are not attedning to it.

Question 13

hue

Answer 13

the dimension of visual experience specified by colour names and related to the wavelength of light

Question 14

brightness

Answer 14

lightness or luminance, the dimension of visual expereince related to the amount of light emitted from or reflected by an object.

Question 15

saturation

Answer 15

vividness or purity of colour, the dimension of visual experience related to the complexity or light waves.

Question 16

retina

Answer 16

neural tissue lining the back of the eyeballs interior, which contains the receptors for vision

Question 17

rods

Answer 17

visual receptors that respond to dim light

Question 18

cones

Answer 18

visual receptors involved in colour vision

Question 19

ganglion cells

Answer 19

neurons in the retina of the eye that gather information, from receptor cells; their axons make up the optic nerve.

Question 20

feature detector cells

Answer 20

cells in the visual cortex that are sensitive to specific features of the environment.

Question 21

trichromatic theory

Answer 21

a theory of colour that proposes three mechanisms in the visual system, each sensitive to a certain range of wavelength, their interaction is assumed to produce at the different experiences of hue.

Question 22

opponent process theory

Answer 22

a theory of color perceptions that assumes that the visual system treats pairs of colors as opposing or antagonistic.

Question 23

gestalt principles

Answer 23

principles that describe the brains organization of sensory information into meaningful unity and patterns.

Question 24

binocular cues

Answer 24

visual cues to depth or distance requiring two eyes

Question 25

convergence

Answer 25

the turning inward of the eyes, which occurs when they focus on nearby objects

Question 26

retinal disparity

Answer 26

the slight difference in lateral separations between two objects as seen by the left eye and the right eye

Question 27

monocular cues

Answer 27

visual cues to depth or distance that can be sued by one eye alone

Question 28

perceptual constancy

Answer 28

the accurate perception of objects as stable or unchanged despite changes in the sensory patterns they produce

Question 29

what are the visual constancies

Answer 29

1. shape constancy
2. location constancy
3. size constancy
4. brightness constancy
5. colour constancy

Question 30

loudness

Answer 30

the dimension of auditory experience related to the intensity of a pressure wave.

Question 31

pitch

Answer 31

the dimension of auditory experience related to the frequency of a pressure wave, the height or depth of tone.

Question 32

timbre

Answer 32

the distinguishing quality of a sound, the dimension of auditory experience related to the complexity of the pressure wave.

Question 33

organ of corti

Answer 33

a structure in the cochlea containing hair cells that serve as the receptors for hearing

Question 34

cochlea

Answer 34

a snail shaped, fluid filled organ in the inner ear, containing the structure where the receptors for hearing are located.

Question 35

papillae

Answer 35

knob like elevators on the tongue. containing the taste buds

Question 36

taste buds

Answer 36

nests of taste receptor cells

Question 37

gate control theory - pain

Answer 37

the theory that the experience of pain depends in part on whether pain impulses get past a neurological gate in the spinal cord and thus reach the brain.

Question 38

priming

Answer 38

a method used to measure unconscious cognitive processes in which a person is exposed to information and is later tested to see whether the information affects behaviour or performance on another task or in another situation.