Sensation And Perception (4)

Question 1

absolute threshold

Answer 1

The minimum intensity of stimulation necessary to detect a sensation half the time.

Question 2

audition

Answer 2

Hearing; the sense of sound perception.

Question 3

binocular depth cues

Answer 3

Cues of depth perception that arise from the fact that people have two eyes.

Question 4

binocular disparity

Answer 4

A depth cue; because of the distance between the two eyes, each eye receives a slightly different retinal image.

Question 5

bottom-up processing

Answer 5

Perception based on the physical features of the stimulus.

Question 6

cones

Answer 6

Retinal cells that respond to higher levels of light and result in color perception.

Question 7

convergence

Answer 7

A cue of binocular depth perception; when a person views a nearby object, the eye muscles turn the eyes inward.

Question 8

difference threshold

Answer 8

The minimum amount of change required to detect a difference between two stimuli.

Question 9

eardrum

Answer 9

A thin membrane that marks the beginning of the middle ear; sound waves cause it to vibrate.

Question 10

fovea

Answer 10

The center of the retina, where cones are densely packed.

Question 11

gustation

Answer 11

The sense of taste.

Question 12

haptic sense

Answer 12

The sense of touch.

Question 13

monocular depth cues

Answer 13

Cues of depth perception that are available to each eye alone.

Question 14

motion parallax

Answer 14

A monocular depth cue observed when moving relative to objects, in which the objects that are closer appear to move faster than the objects that are farther away.

Question 15

object constancy

Answer 15

Correctly perceiving objects as constant in their shape, size, color, and lightness, despite raw sensory data that could mislead perception.

Question 16

olfaction

Answer 16

The sense of smell.

Question 17

olfactory bulb

Answer 17

The brain center for smell, located below the frontal lobes.

Question 18

olfactory epithelium

Answer 18

A thin layer of tissue within the nasal cavity that contains the receptors for smell.

Question 19

perception

Answer 19

The processing, organization, and interpretation of sensory signals in the brain.

Question 20

place coding

Answer 20

A mechanism for encoding the frequency of auditory stimuli in which the frequency of the sound wave is encoded by the location of the hair cells along the basilar membrane.

Question 21

retina

Answer 21

The thin inner surface of the back of the eyeball, which contains the sensory receptors that transduce light into neural signals.

Question 22

Rods

Answer 22

Retinal cells that respond to low levels of light and result in black-and-white perception.

Question 23

sensation

Answer 23

The detection of physical stimuli and the transmission of this information to the brain.

Question 24

sensory adaptation

Answer 24

A decrease in sensitivity to a constant level of stimulation.

Question 25

signal detection theory (SDT)

Answer 25

A theory of perception based on the idea that the detection of a stimulus requires a judgment—it is not an all-or-nothing process.

Question 26

sound wave

Answer 26

A pattern of changes in air pressure during a period of time; it produces the perception of a sound.

Question 27

taste buds

Answer 27

Sensory organs in the mouth that contain the receptors for taste.

Question 28

temporal coding

Answer 28

A mechanism for encoding low-frequency auditory stimuli in which the firing rates of cochlear hair cells match the frequency of the sound wave.

Question 29

top-down processing

Answer 29

The interpretation of sensory information based on knowledge, expectations, and past experiences.

Question 30

transduction

Answer 30

The process by which sensory stimuli are converted to neural signals the brain can interpret.

Question 31

vestibular sense

Answer 31

Perception of balance determined by receptors in the inner ear.