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General Psychology > Sensation and Perception (Modules 17-19) > Flashcards

Sensation and Perception (Modules 17-19) Flashcards

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1
Q

The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment

A

Sensation

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2
Q

Sensory nerve endings that respond to stimuli

A

Sensory Receptors

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3
Q

The process by which our brain organizes and interprets sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

A

Perception

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4
Q

Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information

A

Bottom-up Processing

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5
Q

Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations

A

Top-down Processing

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6
Q

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

A

Transduction

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7
Q

The study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them

A

Psychophysics

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8
Q

The minimum stimulus energy needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time

A

Absolute Threshold

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9
Q

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

A

Signal Detection Theory

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10
Q

Below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness

A

Subliminal

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11
Q

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)

A

Difference Threshold

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12
Q

The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount)

A

Weber’s Law

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13
Q

Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

A

Sensory Adaptation

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14
Q

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

A

Perceptual Set

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15
Q

What Three Aspects Affect Our Interpretations of Perceptual Set?

A

Context, Motivation, and Emotion

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16
Q

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

A

Wavelength

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17
Q

The dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light; what we know as the color names blue, green, and so forth

A

Hue

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18
Q

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)

A

Intensity

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19
Q

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

A

Retina

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20
Q

(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

A

Accommodation

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21
Q

Nearsightedness

A

Myopia

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22
Q

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

A

Rods

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23
Q

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

A

Cones

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24
Q

the nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain; composed of bipolar and ganglion cells

A

Optic Nerve

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25
Q

The point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a “blind” spot because no receptor cells are located there

A

Blind Spot

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26
Q

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

A

Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic (three-color) Theory

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27
Q

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

A

Opponent-Process Theory

28
Q

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

A

Feature Detectors

29
Q

Processing many aspects of a stimulus or problem simultaneously

A

Parallel Processing

30
Q

Visual Subdimensions

A

Motion, form, depth, and color

31
Q

Information Processing Sequence

A

Scene → Retinal Processing → Feature Detection → Parallel Processing → Recognition

32
Q

An organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes

A

Gestalt

33
Q

The organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground)

A

Figure-Ground

34
Q

The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups (proximity, continuity, and closure)

A

Grouping

35
Q

The ability to see objects in three dimensions, although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance

A

Depth Perception

36
Q

A laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals

A

Visual Cliff

37
Q

A depth cue, such as retinal disparity, that depends on the use of two eyes

A

Binocular Cues

38
Q

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

A

Retinal Disparity

39
Q

A depth cue, such as interposition or linear perspective, available to either eye alone

A

Monocular Cues

40
Q

Perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent color, brightness, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change – a top-down process

A

Perceptual Constancy

41
Q

The ability to adjust to changed sensory input, including an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field

A

Perceptual Adaptation

42
Q

The sense or act of hearing

A

Audition

43
Q

The number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time (for example, per second)

A

Frequency

44
Q

A tone’s experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequency

A

Pitch

45
Q

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

A

Middle Ear

46
Q

a coiled, bony, snail-shaped, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear; sound waves traveling through the cochlear fluid trigger nerve impulses

A

Cochlea

47
Q

The innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs

A

Inner Ear

48
Q

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

A

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

49
Q

A less common form of hearing loss, caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea

A

Conduction Hearing Loss

50
Q

A device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into the cochlea

A

Cochlear Implant

51
Q

In hearing, the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea’s membrane is stimulated. (Also called place coding.)

A

Place Theory

52
Q

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.)

A

Frequency Theory

53
Q

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

A

Gate-Control Theory

54
Q

A social interaction in which one person (the hypnotist) suggests to another (the subject) that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will spontaneously occur

A

Hypnosis

55
Q

A split in consciousness, which allows some thoughts and behaviors to occur simultaneously with others

A

Dissociation

56
Q

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

A

Posthypnotic Suggestions

57
Q

Our sense of taste

A

Gustation

58
Q

Our sense of smell

A

Olfaction

59
Q

Our movement sense—our system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts

A

Kinesthesia

60
Q

Our balance sense—our sense of body movement and position that enables our sense of balance

A

Vestibular Sense

61
Q

Our balance sense—our sense of body movement and position that enables our sense of balance

A

Sensory Interaction

62
Q

The influence of bodily sensations, gestures, and other states on cognitive preferences and judgments

A

Embodied Cognition

63
Q

The controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input; includes telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition

A

Extrasensory Perception (ESP)

64
Q

Mind-to-mind communication

A

Telepathy

65
Q

Perceiving remote events, such as a house on fire across the country

A

Clairvoyance

66
Q

Perceiving future events, such as an unexpected death in the next month

A

Precognition

67
Q

The study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis (also called telekinesis)

A

Parapsychology

General Psychology (9 decks)

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