Psychology Midterm (Ch. 4 definitions, terms, people, etc.) Flashcards
Stimulation of sense organs
Sensation
Selection, organization, and interpretation of sensory input
Perception
Transparent eye structure that focuses light rays falling on retina
Lens
Curvature of lens adjusting to alter visual focus
Accomodation
Distant objects are blurry
Nearsightedness
Close objects are blurry
Farsightedness
Opening in center of iris that regulates amount of light passing into rear chamber of eye
Pupil
Neural tissue lining back surface of eye
Absorbs light, processes images, sends visual information to brain
Retina
Visual receptors that specialize in night vision and peripheral vision
Rods
Visual receptors that specialize in daylight vision and color vision
Cones
Retinal area that affects firing of a visual cell
Receptive field
Point at which axons from inside half of each eye cross over and project to the opposite half of the brain
Optic chiasm
Visual signals are processed here and distributed to areas in the occipital lobe
LGN (lateral geniculate nucleus)
Neurons that respond selectively to very specific features of more complex stimuli
Feature detectors
Color mixing where some wavelengths of light are removed, leaving less light than was originally there
Subtractive color-mixing
Color mixing where there are superimposed lights, adding more light into the mixture
Additive color-mixing
Theory that human eye has three types of receptors with different sensitivities to different light wavelengths
Trichromatic theory of color vision
Pairs of colors that produce gray tones when mixed
Complementary colors
Sound-collecting cone that makes up much of the external ear
Pinna
Three tiny bones in the ear: hammer, anvil, stirrup
Amplify tiny changes in air pressure
Ossicles
Fluid-filled, coiled tunnel that contains receptors for hearing (located in inner ear)
Cochlea
Holds auditory receptors (hair cells) and runs the length of the spiraled cochlea
Basilar membrane
Theory claiming that perception of pitch corresponds to vibration of different portions along the basilar membrane
Place theory
Proposed that specific sound frequencies vibrate specific parts of the basilar membrane
Hermann von Helmholtz
Theory claiming that perception of pitch corresponds to frequency the entire basilar membrane vibrates
Frequency theory
Gradual decline in sensitivity to prolonged sensation
Sensory adaptation
This is the only sensory system not routed through the thalamus before it projects onto the cortex
Smell
Theory claiming that incoming pain sensations must pass through a “gate” in the spinal cord that can be closed, thus blocking ascending pain signals
Gate-control theory
