Sensation Flashcards
Transduction
The signals are transformed into neural impulses
Sensory adaptation
decreasing responsiveness to stimuli due to constant stimulation
Cocktail party effect
If you are talking with a friend and someone across the room says your name, your attention will probably involuntarily switch across the room
Synesthesia
A phenomenon some people experience in which the activation of one sense, like seeing a color, activates another sense
Prosopagnosia
Rare condition that involves the inability to recognize faces
Wavelengths
The spectrum of visible light
Accomodation
Light that enters the pupils is focused by the lens
Lens
Curved and flexible so it can change shape to focus the light on the retina
Nearsightedness
When the lens cannot adapt enough to focus the light properly
Farsightedness
When the lens cannot adapt enough to focus the light properly
Retina
Like a scress on the back of your eye where specialized neurons are activated by the different wavelengths of light
Transduction
The translation of incoming stimuli into neural signals
Photoreceptors
First layer of cells that are directly activated by light
Cones
Cells in the first layer of photoreceptors which are cells activated by color
Rods
Cells that respond to black and white
Ganglion cells
Make up the optic nerve that sends impulses to a specific region in the thalamus called the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN)
Blind spot
The spot where the optic nerve leaves the retina has no rods or cones
Trichromatic theory
Oldest and simplest theory of how and why we see color; Hypothesizes that we have three types of cones in the retina and that each type detects a different primary color of light: red, blue, or green. These cones are activated in different combinations to produce all the colors of the visible spectrum
Afterimages
Visual phenomenon if you stare at one color for a while and you look at a white or blank space, you will see a negative color afterimage
Dichromatism
People with this condition cannot see either red/green shades or blue/yellow shades
Monochromatism
Color blindness that causes people to see only shades of gray
Opponent-process theory
States that the sensory receptors arranged in the retina come in pairs: red/green pairs, yellow/blue pairs, and black/white pairs
Amplitude
The height of a sound wave that determines the loudness of the sound
Frequency
The length of sound waves that determines pitch
Loudness
Determined by amplitude and measured in decibals
Pitch
Determined by frequency and measured in megahertz
Sound localization
Way to determine approximately where a sound originated
Place theory
States that the hair cells in cochlea respond to different frequencies of sound based on where they are located in the cochlea
Conduction deafness
Occurs when something goes wrong with the system of conducting the sound to the cochlea
Nerve deafness
Or sensorineural deafness, occurs when the hair cells in the cochlea are damaged, usually by loud noise
Sensorineural deafness
Or nerve deafness, occurs when the hair cells in the cochlea are damaged, usually by loud noise
Gate control theory
Helps explain how we experience pain that way we do; Explains that some pain messages have a higher priority than others
Taste receptors
Located on papillae, which are the bumps on your tongue
Supertasters
If all the bumps on your tongue are packed tightly together you probably taste food intensely
Nontaster
Or medium taster, if the taste buds are spread apart
Medium taster
Or nontaster, if the taste buds are spread apart
Semicircular canals
There are three of these in the inner ear that give the brain feedback about body orientation
Kinesthesis
Our kinesthetic sense that gives us feedback about the position and orientation of specific body parts
Gustation
Or taste, Sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami, and oleogustus tastebuds
Olfaction
Or smell, Smell receptors connected to the olfactory bulb (in the nose)
Vestibular sense
Hairlike cells in the three semicircular canals in the inner ear
