Unit 3 Flashcards
Define sensation
Process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment
Define perception
The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events
Define button-up processing
Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information
Define top-down processing
Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, like when we construct perceptions with our experience and expectations
Define selective attention
The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus
Define inattentional blindness
Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere
Define change blindness
Failing to notice changes in the environment
Define transduction
Conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, we transform stimulus energies (sights, sounds, smells) into neural impulses our brains can interpret
Define psychophysics
Study of relationships between physical characteristics of stimuli, such as intensity, and our psychological experience of them
Define absolute threshold
The minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time
Define signal detection theory
Theory predicting how and when we detect faint stimuli amid background stimulation
Assumes that there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness
Define subliminal
Below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness
Define priming
The activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one’s perception, memory, or response
Define difference threshold
The minimum difference between 2 stimuli required for detection 50% of the time
Experienced as a “just noticeable difference”
Define Weber’s Law
Principle that, to be perceived as different, 2 stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage rather than a constant minimum amount
Define sensory adaptation
Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation
Define perceptual set
A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another
Define extrasensory perception
The controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input
Telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition
Define parapsychology
Study of paranormal phenomena including ESP and psychokinesis
Define wavelength
Distance from peak of 1 light or sound wave to the peak of the next
Define hue
The dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light
Blue, green, etc.
Define intensity
The amount of energy in a light or sound wave, which we perceive as brightness or loudness, as determined by the wave’s amplitude
Define pupil
The adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters
Define iris
A ring of muscle tissue that forms the color portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening
Define lens
The transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina
Define retina
The light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones, and layers of neurons that begin processing visual information
Define accommodation
The process by which the eye’s lens changes shape to focus near or far objects in the retina
Define rods
Retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray
Necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don’t respond
Define cones
Retinal receptors that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or well-lit conditions
Detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations
Define optic nerve
The nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain
Define blind spot
The point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating the blind spot because no receptors cells are located there
Define fovea
The central focal point in the retina, around which the cones cluster
Define feature detectors
Nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement
Define parallel processing
The processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously
The brain’s natural mode of information processing for functions like vision
Contrast with the step-by-step/serial processing of most computers
Define Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory
The theory that the retina contains 3 different color receptors:
One most sensitive to red, one to green, and one to blue
When stimulated in combination, can produce the perception of any color
Define opponent-process theory
The theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision
Define gestalt
An organized whole
Gestalt psychologists emphasize our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes
Define figure-ground
The organization of the visual field into objects that stand out from their surroundings
Define grouping
The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups
Define depth perception
The ability to see objects in 3D although images that strike the retina are 2D;
allows us to judge distance
Define visual cliff
A laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals
Define binocular cues
Depth cues, such as retinal disparity, that depend on the use of 2 eyes
Define retinal disparity
A binocular cue for perceiving depth:
by comparing images from the retinas in the 2 eyes, the brain computes distance
The greater the disparity between the 2 images, the closer the object
Define monocular cues
Depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either eye alone
Define phi phenomenon
An illusion of movement created when 2 or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession
Define perceptual constancy
Perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change
Define color constancy
Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object
Define perceptual adaptation
In vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field
Define audition
The sense or act of hearing
Define frequency
The number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time
Define middle ear
The chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing 3 tiny bones:
hammer, anvil, stirrup
that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea’s oval window
Define pitch
A tone’s experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequency
Define cochlea
A coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear; sound waves traveling through the cochlea fluid triggers nerve impulses
Define inner ear
The innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs
Define sensorineural hearing loss
Hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea’s receptor cells or to the auditory nerves
Define conduction hearing loss
Hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts the sound waves to the cochlea
Define cochlear implant
A device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into the cochlea
Define place theory
In hearing, the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea’s membrane is stimulated
Define frequency theory
In hearing, theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, enabling us to sense its pitch
Define gate/control theory
Theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological gate that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain
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
Define kinesthesia
The system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts
Define vestibular sense
The sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance
Define sensory interaction
The principle that 1 sense may influence another, like when the smell of food influences its taste
Define embodied cognition
Influence of bodily sensations, gestures, and other states on cognition preferences and judgments
