Sensation and Perception

Question 1

Sensation

Answer 1

Process of detecting physical energy from your environment and encoding it as neural signals.

Question 2

Psychophysics

Answer 2

Study of the relationship between physical energy and psychological experiences.

Question 3

Stimulus

Answer 3

Change in the environment detected by sensory receptors.

Question 4

Absolute threshold

Answer 4

Weakest level of a stimulus that can be correctly detected.

Question 5

Signal detection theory

Answer 5

Minimum threshold varies with fatigue, attention, expectations, etc.

Question 6

Difference threshold

Answer 6

Minimum difference between any two stimuli that can be detected.

Question 7

Just noticeable difference

Answer 7

Experience of the difference threshold.

Question 8

Weber’s law

Answer 8

Difference thresholds increase in proportion to the size of the stimulus.

Question 9

Subliminal stimulation

Answer 9

Receiving messages below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness.

Question 10

Transduction

Answer 10

Transformation of stimulus energy to electrochemical energy of neural impulses.

Question 11

Perception

Answer 11

Process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting sensations; recognizing meaningful objects and events.

Question 12

Cornea

Answer 12

Transparent, cured layer of the front of the eye; bends incoming light rays.

Question 13

Iris

Answer 13

Colored muscle surrounding the pupil; regulates the size of the pupil opening.

Question 14

Pupil

Answer 14

Small, adjustable opening; smaller in light and larger in darkness.

Question 15

Lens

Answer 15

Structure behind the pupil; changes shape based on focusing incoming rays into an image.

Question 16

Accommodation

Answer 16

Process of changing the curvature of the lens to focus light rays into the retina.

Question 17

Retina

Answer 17

Light-sensitive surface in the back of the eye containing rods and cones that transmit light energy.

Question 18

Fovea

Answer 18

Small area of the retina where cones are most concentrated for highest visual acuity in bright light.

Question 19

Photoreceptors

Answer 19

Modified neurons that convert light energy to electrochemical neural impulses.

Question 20

Rods

Answer 20

Detects black, white, gray, and movement.

Question 21

Cones

Answer 21

Detects color and fine detail in daylight or in bright-light conditions.

Question 22

Bipolar cells

Answer 22

Transmit impulses from rods and cones to ganglion cells.

Question 23

Ganglion cells

Answer 23

Axons converge to form the optic nerve.

Question 24

Blind spot

Answer 24

Where the optic nerve leaves the eye, leaving it without receptor cells and no vision.

Question 25

Optic nerve

Answer 25

Carries neural impulses from the eye to the thalamus of the brain.

Question 26

Acuity

Answer 26

Ability yo detect fine details, sharpness of vision.

Question 27

Dark adaptation

Answer 27

Increased visual sensitivity that gradually develops in dark conditons.

Question 28

Feature detectors

Answer 28

Individual neurons in the primary visual cortex/occipital lobes that respond to specific features of a visual stimulus.

Question 29

Parallel processing

Answer 29

Analyzes different elements of sensory information such as color, brightness, shape, etc.

Question 30

Trichromatic theory

Answer 30

Proposed mechanism for color with cones that are sensitive to different wavelengths of light.

Question 31

Opponent-process theory

Answer 31

Proposed mechanism for color vision with opposing retinal processes for red-green, yellow-blue, and white-black.

Question 32

Sensory adaptation

Answer 32

Temporary decrease in sensitivity to a stimulus when a situation doesn’t change.

Question 33

Attention

Answer 33

Choosing among the various stimuli and allowing some to be further processed by your senses and brain.

Question 34

Audition

Answer 34

The sense of hearing.

Question 35

Frequency

Answer 35

Number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given amount of time.

Question 36

Pitch

Answer 36

Highness or lowness of a sound.

Question 37

Timbre

Answer 37

The quality of a sound based on the purity of a waveform.

Question 38

Sound localization

Answer 38

Process by which you determine the location of a sound.

Question 39

Outer ear

Answer 39

Pinna, auditory canal, and eardrum.

Question 40

Middle ear

Answer 40

Hammer, anvil, and stirrup.

Question 41

Inner ear

Answer 41

Cochlea, semicircular canals, vestibular sacs.

Question 42

Cochlea

Answer 42

Transduces mechanical energy of vibrating molecules to the electrochemical energy of neural impulses.

Question 43

Auditory nerve

Answer 43

Axons of neurons in the cochlea converge transmitting sound messages through the medulla, the pons, and the thalamus to the auditory cortex of the temporal lobes.

Question 44

Conduction deafness

Answer 44

Loss of hearing when the eardrum is punctured or any of the ossicles lose their ability to vibrate.

Question 45

Nerve deafness

Answer 45

Loss of hearing from damage to the cochlea, hair cells, or auditory neurons.

Question 46

Place theory

Answer 46

Position on the basilar membrane at which waves rach their peak, depending on tone frequency.

Question 47

Frequency theory

Answer 47

Rate of the neural impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, allowing a pitch to be sensed.

Question 48

Schemas

Answer 48

Concepts or frameworks that organize and interpret information.