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Psychology Chapter 3 Flashcards

1
Q

Sensation - def

A

detection of external stimuli & conversion into nervous system activity.

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2
Q

Perception - def

A

selection, organization, and interpretation of stimuli.

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3
Q

Steps 1 & 2 of information processing are….4

A

gathering, judging, learning, and remembering info.

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4
Q

Psychophysics - def

A

study of relationships between the physical attributes of stimuli and the psychological experiences they produce.

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5
Q

Transducer - def

A

a mechanism that converts energy from one form to another.

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6
Q

Sense receptors - def

A

specialized neural cells in the sense organs that change physical energy into neural impulses.

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7
Q

Sensory threshold - def

A

minimal intensity of stimulus energy required for the stimulus to be detected.

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8
Q

Absolutely threshold - def

A

lowest intensity of a stimulus that can be detected 50% of the time.

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9
Q

Differential threshold - def

A

level of change in a stimulus that can be detected 50% o the time (ability to distinguish between two different stimuli.)

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10
Q

JND -

A

Just noticeable difference.

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11
Q

Dark Adaptation - def

A

refers to the process in which the visual receptors become more sensitive with time spent in the dark.

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12
Q

Sensory adaptation - def

A

occurs when our sensory experience decreases with continued exposure to a stimulus.

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13
Q

Signal detection theory - def

A

states that stimulus detection is a decision making process of determining if a signal exists against a background of noise.

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14
Q

Vision - stimulus - ?

A

light.

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15
Q

White light is the highest saturation. T/F?!

A

FALSE. It is the lowest.

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16
Q

3 Physical Characteristics of light -

A

Wave Amplitude, Wavelength, and Wave Purity.

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17
Q

Wave Amplitude - def

A

brightness.

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18
Q

Wavelength - def

A

hue.

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19
Q

Wave Amplitude and wavelength don’t interact. T/F?!

A

FALSE. They do!

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20
Q

Wave purity - def

A

saturation.

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21
Q

Light spectrum - what are the colors?

A

ROY G BIV

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22
Q

Cornea - def

A

tough, round outer shell that begins focusing light waves.

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23
Q

Pupil - def

A

opening where light enters.

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24
Q

Iris - def

A

colored, expands or contracts depending on light intensity.

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25
Lens - def
flexible, changes shape to focus images on the back of the eye.
26
Ciliary muscles - def
expand or contract to reflexively change the shape of the lens.
27
Accommodation - def
the changing of the shape of the lens.
28
Fovea - def
place where our visual acuity is best in daylight or in reasonably high levels of illumination.
29
Blind spot - def
the place at which the nerve impulses from the rods and cones, having passed through layers of cells, exit the eye.
30
Humor - fluid. Two kinds? What are they?
Aqueous - nourishes front of the eye. | Vitreous - interior - keeps eye spherical.
31
Retina - def
back of the eye where light is transduced and vision begins.
32
Optic nerve - def
collection of neurons leaving the eye, heading back to other parts of the brain.
33
Photoreceptors - what are they? 2
Rods and Cones.
34
Rods - def - info
120 million per eye. Found in the periphery of the retina. Work best in low light. Don't discriminate color.
35
Cones - def - info
6 million per eye, found in center of retina (fovea.) Work best in bright conditions. Discriminate color.
36
Optic Chiasm - def
where and how fibers in the optic nerve get directed to the occipital lobe.
37
Trichromatic Theory - def
eye contains 3 distinct receptors - red, green and blue.
38
Opponent Process Theory - def
eye contains 3 pairs of mechanisms that respond to different to different wavelengths of light - red/green, blue/yellow, black/white.
39
Stimulus - hearing - ?
Sound!
40
3 Physical characteristics of sound -
Wave amplitude (loudness/decibel system.) Wavelength or frequency - Pitch (hertz.) Wave purity - Timbre -
41
What's the audible spectrum? Hertz
20-20,000 hertz.
42
Timbre - def
pronounced tamber - the psychological quality or character of a sound that reflects its degree of purity.
43
Pinna of the ear - what is it and what does it do?
The outer ear and it collects and funnels waves to the eardrum.
44
Cochlea - what is it?
fluid filled, inner ear structure. Contains receptor cells for hearing.
45
What are the receptor cells for hearing?
Hair cells.
46
Neural impulses leave the ear via the ____ toward the ___>
auditory nerve/temporal lobe.
47
Gustation - def
taste, chemical molecules dissolved in saliva.
48
What are the tastes?
Sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami (savory).
49
What are the receptors for olfaction?
Taste Buds
50
Pheromones - chemical - def
produce distant odors, may relate to sexual attraction.
51
Touch/pressure - certain body parts....__?
have more receptors and are more sensitive.
52
Temperature has very specific hot/cold receptors. T/F?
FALSE. At least, for now!
53
Pain - def
intense stimulation.
54
Gate control theory of pain - def
suggests that the spinal cord contains a neurological gate that controls pain signals to the brain.
55
Sensation - def
conversion of energy from the environment into a pattern of responses by the nervous sytem.
56
Perception - def
making sense of that information (from sensation.)
57
3 Steps of Perception -
Attend, Process, Organize.
58
Attention - perceptual selectivity - stimulus factors (4.)
Intensity. Size. Motion. Repetition.
59
The most important thing to stimulus factors is.... ?
Contrast.
60
Personal factors - attention - 3
Motivation, expectation, past experience -
61
Mental Set - def
formed when we are psychologically ready, or predisposed, to perceive something.
62
Bottom-up processing - def
stimulus processing/inductive. Data-driven processing (synthesis.) Perception determined partly by the bits and pieces of info received via sense.
63
Top-down processing - def
deductive. Conceptually driven processing (decomposition.) Perception depends partly on what you already know.
64
Taking the picture of the old lady/young lady... if you already have seen it, you are using what form of processing?
Top-down processing
65
Personal factors for top down -
we perceive stimuli as going together because we want them to, expect them to, or because they have gone together in the past.
66
Stimulus Factor - Continuity - def
things appear to continue the way that they started.
67
Stimulus Factor - Closure - def
filling in spaces or gaps.
68
Stimulus Factor - Proximity - def
events occurring together perceived as part of the same whole.
69
Stimulus Factor - Similarity - def
stimuli that are alike tend to be grouped together.
70
Stimulus Factor - Common fate - def
stimuli that appear to move together are grouped together.
71
Stimulus Factor - Subjective Contours - def
where arrangements of lines and patterns enable us to see figures that are not actually there.
72
Figure ground relationship - def
those stimuli that are attended to and grouped together are figured, where as the rest is the ground - it's the QUEEN/VASE.
73
Ocular Cues - def
cues to depth/distance based on how eye works.
74
Retinal disparity - def
each eye gets slightly different view of a 3D object
75
Convergence - def
eyes turn towards each other when something gets close.
76
Organism with front set eyes have better depth perception. T/F?!
True!
77
Retinal Disparity and Convergence - binocular or monocular?
Binocular (requires both eyes.)
78
Accommodation - def
doesn't work well more than an arm's length away. It is when the lens changes shape to focus images on retina. We lose this ability over time.
79
Accommodation is binocular - T/F?
FALSE. It is monocular - requires just one eye.
80
Physical Cues - relative size - def
like how in a painting, things closer are bigger.
81
Physical Cues - Interposition - def
objects in front obscure objects behind them (like a card on top of another.)
82
Physical Cues - Linear Perspective - def
lines appear to converge in the distance.
83
Physical Cues - Texture Gradient - def
texture appears to become smoother as it gets farther out.
84
Physical Cues - Motion Parallax - def
objects that are closer tend to appear that they are moving faster.
85
Physical Cues - Patterns of shading - def
gives the appearance of 3D.
86
Vestibular sense - def
tells us about balance, about where we are in relation to gravity, and about acceleration or deceleration.
87
Kinesthetic Sense - def
senses the position and movements of parts of the body.
88
Shape constancy - example
door has different shape when it's open vs. closed.
89
Brightness Constancy - def
the brightness remains roughly the same in darker light.
90
Color Constancy - def
you always know the color, even if some stimuli changes.

Psychology (8 decks)

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