Sensation And Perception Flashcards
Perception
The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.
Sensation
The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.
Bottom-Up processing
Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brains integration of sensory information.
Top-Down processing
Information processing guided by higher level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on out experience and expectations.
Psychophysics
The study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity and our psychological experience of them.
Absolute threshold
The minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time.
Signal detection theory
A theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise).
Subliminal
Below ones absolute threshold for conscious awareness.
Priming
The activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, this predisposing ones perception, memory, our response.
Difference threshold
The minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time.
Weber’s Law
To be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage.
Sensory adaption
Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.
Transduction
Conversion of one form of energy into another.
Wavelength
The distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next.
Hue
The dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light
Intensity
The amount of energy in a light or sound wave, which is perceive as brightness or loudness as determined by the waves amplitude.
Pupil
The adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters.
Iris
A ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening.
Lens
The transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina.
Retina
The light sensitive inner surface of the eye containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of the visual information.
Accommodation
The process by which the eyes lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina.
Feature detectors
Nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement.
Parallel processing
The processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode of information processing for many functions including vision.
Young-Helmholtz trichromatic (three color) theory
The theory that the retina contains three different color receptors.