Sensation and Perception

Question 1

Sensory Adaptation

Answer 1

Our diminishing sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus

Question 2

Weber’s Law

Answer 2

The principle that, to be perceived as different, 2 stimuli must vary by a constant minimum %

Question 3

Just noticeable difference (JND)

Answer 3

The minimum difference a person can detect between any 2 stimuli, 50% of the time

Question 4

Subliminal

Answer 4

Below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness

Question 5

Signal Detection Theory

Answer 5

People’s absolute thresholds vary, there is no single absolute threshold. Predicts when we will detect weak signals, measured as our ratio of “hits” to “false alarms.” Depends on a person’s experience, expectations, motivations and fatigue

Question 6

Absolute Threshold

Answer 6

The minimum amount of stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time

Question 7

Psychophysics

Answer 7

The study of how physical energy relates to our psychological experience

Question 8

Top-down Processing

Answer 8

Sensory analysis based on our experience and expectations

Question 9

Bottom-up Processing

Answer 9

Sensory analysis that starts at the entry level

Question 10

Sensation

Answer 10

Detecting physical energy from the environment and encoding it as neural signals (receiving info. and representing it in our brain).

Question 11

Vestibular sense

Answer 11

The sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance. Equilibrium of inner ear

Question 12

Kinesthesis

Answer 12

The system of sensing the position and movement of individual body parts

Question 13

Sensory interaction

Answer 13

One sense may influence another

Question 14

Gate-control Theory

Answer 14

The spinal cord contains a neurological gate that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass to the brain

Question 15

Nerve deafness

Answer 15

Caused by damage to the cochlea’s receptor cells or to the auditory nerves

Question 16

Conduction hearing loss

Answer 16

Caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea

Question 17

Volley principle

Answer 17

A group of neural cells can alternate firing–> this way they can achieve a combined frequency above 1,000/sec

Question 18

Frequency theory

Answer 18

The rate of neural impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense it’s pitch

Question 19

Place theory

Answer 19

Links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea’s membrane is stimulated

Question 20

Pitch

Answer 20

A tone’s highness or lowness–> depends on frequency
long waves= low frequency= low pitch
short waves= high frequency= high pitch

Question 21

Frequency

Answer 21

Length of waves

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

Question 22

Color Constancy

Answer 22

Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object

Question 23

Opponent-process theory

Answer 23

Opposing retinal processes enable color vision–> explains after images

Question 24

Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory

Answer 24

The retina contains 3 different color receptors (red, green, blue). When stimulated in a combination, they can produce the perception of any color

Question 25

Blindsight

Answer 25

When people experience blindness in part of their field of vision due to loss part of visual cortex (stroke)

Question 26

Parallel processing

Answer 26

When we can do several things at once

Brain divides a visual scene into sub-dimensions (color, depth, movement, form) and works on each simultaneously

Question 27

Feature detectors

Answer 27

Nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus such as shape, angle, or movement

Question 28

Fovea

Answer 28

The central focal point in the retina, around which the eye’s cones cluster

Question 29

Optic nerve

Answer 29

Carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain

Question 30

Cones

Answer 30

Receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight/well-lit conditions- detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations

Question 31

Rods

Answer 31

Retinal receptors that detect black, white and gray–> necessary for peripheral and twilight vision
-When cones don’t respond

Question 32

Farsightedness

Answer 32

Faraway objects are seen more clearly because the image of near objects focus behind the retina

Question 33

Nearsightedness

Answer 33

Nearby objects are seen more clearly because distant objects focus in front of the retina

Question 34

Acuity

Answer 34

The sharpness of vision

Question 35

Accommodation

Answer 35

The process by which the eye’s lens, changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina

Question 36

Intensity

Answer 36

Amount of energy in waves (brightness or loudness)

-Determined by wave’s amplitude

Question 37

Hue

Answer 37

The dimension of color determined by the wavelength of light

Question 38

Wavelength

Answer 38

The distance of one’s wave peak to the next

Question 39

Transduction

Answer 39

The process by which our sensory systems convert stimulus energy into neural messages