Sensation and Perception (Modules 17-19) Flashcards
The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment
Sensation
Sensory nerve endings that respond to stimuli
Sensory Receptors
The process by which our brain organizes and interprets sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events
Perception
Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information
Bottom-up Processing
Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations
Top-down Processing
Conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies, such as sights, sounds, and smells, into neural impulses our brain can interpret
Transduction
The study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them
Psychophysics
The minimum stimulus energy needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time
Absolute Threshold
A theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise). Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person’s experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness
Signal Detection Theory
Below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness
Subliminal
The minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time. We experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference (or jnd)
Difference Threshold
The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount)
Weber’s Law
Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation
Sensory Adaptation
A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another
Perceptual Set
What Three Aspects Affect Our Interpretations of Perceptual Set?
Context, Motivation, and Emotion
The distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next. Electromagnetic wavelengths vary from the short blips of gamma rays to the long pulses of radio transmission
Wavelength
The dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light; what we know as the color names blue, green, and so forth
Hue
The amount of energy in a light wave or sound wave, which influences what we perceive as brightness or loudness. Intensity is determined by the wave’s amplitude (height)
Intensity
The light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information
Retina
(1) In developmental psychology, adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information. (2) In sensation and perception, the process by which the eye’s lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina
Accommodation
Nearsightedness
Myopia
Retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray, and are sensitive to movement. Rods are necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don’t respond
Rods
Retinal receptors that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions. Cones detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations
Cones
the nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain; composed of bipolar and ganglion cells
Optic Nerve
The point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a “blind” spot because no receptor cells are located there
Blind Spot
The theory that the retina contains three different types of color receptors—one most sensitive to red, one to green, one to blue—which, when stimulated in combination, can produce the perception of any color
Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic (three-color) Theory
The theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, blue-yellow, white-black) enable color vision. For example, some cells are stimulated by green and inhibited by red; others are stimulated by red and inhibited by green
Opponent-Process Theory
Nerve cells in the brain’s visual cortex that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement
Feature Detectors
Processing many aspects of a stimulus or problem simultaneously
Parallel Processing
Visual Subdimensions
Motion, form, depth, and color
Information Processing Sequence
Scene → Retinal Processing → Feature Detection → Parallel Processing → Recognition
An organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes
Gestalt
The organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground)
Figure-Ground
The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups (proximity, continuity, and closure)
Grouping
The ability to see objects in three dimensions, although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance
Depth Perception
A laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals
Visual Cliff
A depth cue, such as retinal disparity, that depends on the use of two eyes
Binocular Cues
A binocular cue for perceiving depth. By comparing retinal images from the two eyes, the brain computes distance—the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object
Retinal Disparity
A depth cue, such as interposition or linear perspective, available to either eye alone
Monocular Cues
Perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent color, brightness, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change – a top-down process
Perceptual Constancy
The ability to adjust to changed sensory input, including an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field
Perceptual Adaptation
The sense or act of hearing
Audition
The number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time (for example, per second)
Frequency
A tone’s experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequency
Pitch
The chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing three tiny bones—hammer (malleus), anvil (incus), and stirrup (stapes)—that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea’s oval window
Middle Ear
a coiled, bony, snail-shaped, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear; sound waves traveling through the cochlear fluid trigger nerve impulses
Cochlea
The innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs
Inner Ear
The most common form of hearing loss, caused by damage to the cochlea’s receptor cells or to the auditory nerve; also called nerve deafness
Sensorineural Hearing Loss
A less common form of hearing loss, caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea
Conduction Hearing Loss
A device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into the cochlea
Cochlear Implant
In hearing, the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea’s membrane is stimulated. (Also called place coding.)
Place Theory
In hearing, the theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch. (Also called temporal coding.)
Frequency Theory
The theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological “gate” that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain. The “gate” is opened by the activity of pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers and is closed by activity in larger fibers or by information coming from the brain
Gate-Control Theory
A social interaction in which one person (the hypnotist) suggests to another (the subject) that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will spontaneously occur
Hypnosis
A split in consciousness, which allows some thoughts and behaviors to occur simultaneously with others
Dissociation
A suggestion, made during a hypnosis session, to be carried out after the subject is no longer hypnotized; used by some clinicians to help control undesired symptoms and behaviors
Posthypnotic Suggestions
Our sense of taste
Gustation
Our sense of smell
Olfaction
Our movement sense—our system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts
Kinesthesia
Our balance sense—our sense of body movement and position that enables our sense of balance
Vestibular Sense
Our balance sense—our sense of body movement and position that enables our sense of balance
Sensory Interaction
The influence of bodily sensations, gestures, and other states on cognitive preferences and judgments
Embodied Cognition
The controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input; includes telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition
Extrasensory Perception (ESP)
Mind-to-mind communication
Telepathy
Perceiving remote events, such as a house on fire across the country
Clairvoyance
Perceiving future events, such as an unexpected death in the next month
Precognition
The study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis (also called telekinesis)
Parapsychology
