Unit 3- Sensation and Perception (6-8%) Flashcards
Size Constancy
We perceive objects as having a constant size, even when our distance from them varies
Shape Constancy
We perceive the form of familiar objects as a constant even while our retinal image of it changes
Closure
We fill in gaps to create a complete, whole object. Thus we assume that the circles are complete but partially blocked by the triangle. Add nothing more than little line segments that close off the circles and now your brain stops constructing a triangle.
Constancy
Unchanging and constant in perception, shape, or size.
Ossicles
Any of three small bones in the middle ear that transfer sounds from the air to the cochlea. They are the smallest bones in the body.
Oval Window
The cochlea’s membrane.
Eardrum
Tight membrane that vibrates with the sound waves from the outer ear
Iris
A colored muscle that adjusts light intake
Lens
focuses incoming light rays into an image
Frequency 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 it’s pinch.
Sensorineural Deafness
Hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea’a receptor cells or to the auditory nerves.
Sensation
Sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.
Perception
The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.
Transduction
Conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensations, the transforming of stimulus energies, such as sights, sounds, and smells, into neural impulses our brains can interpret.
Sensory adaptation/habituation
Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.
Cocktail Party Phenomenon
Your ability to attend to only one voice among many. An example of selective attention.
Light Intensity and Wavelength
Light intensity affects how bright an object appears, and the color or hue is affected by the light wavelength in the visual color spectrum an object reflects. Objects that appear black actually absorb all colors, while objects that are white reflect all light wavelengths. The blue sky absorbs all colors but blue, which it reflects.
Conduction hearing loss
Hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea
Gate control 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
Shadowing
Uses light and darkness to signal to the viewer the location of objects
Retinal Disparity
Retinal disparity is defined as the way that your left eye and your right eye view slightly different images. Retinal disparity is important in gauging how far away objects are. The more difference (or greater disparity) between the image each eye has of the same object, the closer it is to you.
Convergence
The muscles of the eyes send signals to the brain as they move, the more they converge (turn inward toward each other), the closer an object must be.
Accommodation
The process by which the lens bends and focuses the rays of light on the retina
Cochlear Implant
Electronic device that directly converts sounds and stimulates the auditory nerve. A correction for nerve deafness.
Figure-ground
The organization of our visual field into objects (figure) and their surroundings (ground).
Blind spot
The point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a “blind” spot because no receptor cells are located there.
Optic nerve
The nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain.
Afterimages
After you stare at a color for a certain amount of time and then you stare at a blank wall you will see the opposite color. Opposite colors are red-green, yellow-blue, and white-black.
Color blindess
Lacks functioning red or green sensitive cones or even sometimes both.
Rods
Retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision when cones don’t respond.
Proximity
When we group nearby figures together
Continuity
When we perceive smooth, continuous patterns rather than discontinuous ones.
Gustation
Tasting
The different tastes
Sweet, salty, bitter, sour, umami, oleogustus
Linear perspective
The eyes sense of depth and distance perception
Relative size
A perceptual clue that allows you to determine how close objects are to an object of known size.
Brightness Constancy
We perceive an object as having a constant lightness even while its surrounding lighting.
Visual Cliff
A safe cliff experiment to test if newborn animals and infants could perceive depth.
Pinna
Outer ear
Vestibular sense
The sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance
Olfaction
The sense of smell. The resulting experiences of smell are strikingly intimate: You inhale something of whatever or whoever it is you smell.
Interposition
If one object partially blocks our view of another, we perceive it as closer. (Depth Cue)
Texture Gradient
The distortion in size which closer objects have compared to objects farther away.
Signal detection theory
demonstrates that individual absolute thresholds vary, depending on the strength of the signal and also on our experience, expecta- tions, motivation, and alertness.
Top-down processing
refers to how our brains make use of information that has already been brought into the brain by one or more of the sensory systems.
Cornea
Outer protective layer of the eye
Pupil
The adjustable opening in the eye
Retina
The photosensitive inner surface on the back of the eye, contains the rods and cones
Cones
Retinal receptor cells near the center of retina. Function in daylight, responsible for color and detailed vision.
Fovea
Cluster of cones in the center of retina, our area of central focus of vision
Feature detectors
Nerve cells in the brain that respond to the features like shape, angle, or movement.
Trichromatic theory
Implies that the retina has three types of color receptors, red, green, and blue
Cochlea
Snail-shaped tube in the inner ear that contain the hair cell receptors for hearing
Place Theory
Assumes we hear pitch based on the place along the cochlea that is stimulated
Hue
The color we see depends on the wavelength of light
Intensity
The amplitude of the wave of light determines the brightness of the color we see
Kinesthetic Sense (Kinesthesis)
Our sense of body position that is communicated to our brain from our bones and joints
Absolute Threshold
The minimum amount of stimulation necessary to detect a particular light, sound, pressure, taste, or odor 50 percent of the time
Just Noticeable Difference (jnd)
The minimum difference a person can detect between two stimuli 50 percent of the time
Bottom-up processing
Analysis of sensory information that begins with our sensory receptors (details) and works its way up to the brain’s integration of the sensory information
Weber’s Law
The principle related to just noticeable difference that in order for two stimuli to be perceived as different they must differ by a constant percentage, not a constant amount. Touch/weight is 2% difference for example.
Similarity
Grouping principle that says we group similar objects together
Monocular cues
Depth cues like interposition and linear perspective that can be detected by either eye (or both).
Binocular cues
Depth cues like retinal disparity that require the use of both eyes
Vestibular System
Sensory information about motion, equilibrium, and spatial orientation is provided by the vestibular system, which in each ear includes the utricle, saccule, and three semicircular canals.
Motion Parallax
if you’re riding in a car, objects that are close to you seem to go by really quickly (for example, a road sign that you pass), but objects that are further away appear to move much more slowly. This is a monocular depth cue that can help us judge distance of objects as we are in motion.