unit 3 : sensation & perception

Question 1

sensation

Answer 1

process when your sensory receptors & nervous system receive & represents stimulus from the environment

Question 2

inattentional blindness

Answer 2

failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

Question 3

change blindness

Answer 3

failing to notice changes in the environment

Question 4

selective attention

Answer 4

focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

Question 5

transduction

Answer 5

conversion of one form of energy into another. sights, sounds, smells into neural impulses

Question 6

psychophysics

Answer 6

the study of the relationship between characteristics of stimuli (ex: intensity) & our psychological experience of them

Question 7

absolute threshold

Answer 7

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

Question 8

signal detection theory

Answer 8

predicts how & when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus. assumes there is no absolute threshold, depends on experience, alertness, & expectation

Question 9

subliminal

Answer 9

below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness

Question 10

priming

Answer 10

the unconscious activation of certain associations, predisposing one’s perception, memory, or response

Question 11

difference threshold

Answer 11

minimum difference between 2 stimuli required for detection 50% of the time

Question 12

gustav fechner

Answer 12

one of the founders for psychophysics

Question 13

sensory adaption

Answer 13

diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

Question 14

habituation vs. sensory adaption

Answer 14

habituation involves learning to ignore a stimulus. sensory adaption involves your senses becoming less responsive

Question 15

receptor cells

Answer 15

specialized cells for each sense

Question 16

perceptual set

Answer 16

a mental predisposition to perceive one thing & not another

Question 17

context effects

Answer 17

when our perception of something is influenced by the surrounding environment or conditions.

Question 18

cornea

Answer 18

clear outer layer of the eye that helps focus light onto the retina

Question 19

pupil

Answer 19

adjustable opening in the middle of the eye that lets light in

Question 20

iris

Answer 20

colored portion around the pupil, controls the size of the pupil opening

Question 21

lens

Answer 21

transparent structure behind pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina

Question 22

fovea

Answer 22

small central part of the retina where vision is the sharpest, high concentration of cone cells = high color

Question 23

optic nerve

Answer 23

nerve that carries neural impulses from the eyes to the brain

Question 24

accommodation

Answer 24

process where the eye’s lenses changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina

Question 25

rods

Answer 25

retinal receptors that detect black, white, gray. necessary for peripheral & twilight vision when cones don’t respond

Question 26

cones

Answer 26

retinal receptor cells that in daylight detects fine detail & gives rise to color sensations

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

parallel processing

Answer 28

processing many aspects of a problem simultaneously

Question 29

blindsight

Answer 29

response to visual stimuli without consciously perceiving them

Question 30

young-helmholtz trichromatic theory

Answer 30

theory that the retina contains 3 different color receptors (red green blue) when stimulated in combination can produce the perception of any colors

Question 31

color deficient vision

Answer 31

absence of specific cones in the retina that detects red, green, & blue

Question 32

opponent process theory

Answer 32

vision theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision

Question 33

opponent process theory

Answer 33

vision theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision

Question 34

explain afterimages

Answer 34

when the cones in your eyes become overstimulated it has a temporary fatigue & shows the opposing color

Question 35

figure ground

Answer 35

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

Question 36

grouping

Answer 36

the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups

Question 37

proximity

Answer 37

grouping nearby figures together

Question 38

similarity

Answer 38

items that are similar to each other are perceived to be a unified group

Question 39

continuity

Answer 39

perceiving smooth continuous patterns rather than discontinuous ones

Question 40

closure

Answer 40

we fill in gaps to create a complete, whole object

Question 41

common fate (connectedness)

Answer 41

items moving in the same direction are perceived to be a unified group

Question 42

ear canal

Answer 42

tubular structure that channels sound waves from the outer ear to the ear drum, amplifies and transmits sound

Question 43

eardrum

Answer 43

vibrates in response to sound waves & converts into mechanical vibrations that are transmitted to the bones of the middle ear

Question 44

ossicles: hammer, anvil, stirrup

Answer 44

transmits & amplifies sound vibrations from the ear drum to the inner ear

Question 45

oval window

Answer 45

transmits vibrations into the cochlea

Question 46

hairs on basilar membrane

Answer 46

hair cells are sensory receptors that converts sound vibrations into electrical signals

Question 47

auditory nerve

Answer 47

transmits electrical signals generated by hair cells to the brain

Question 48

cochlea

Answer 48

coiled fluid-filled tube that converts sound vibrations into electrical signals

Question 49

sensorineural hearing loss

Answer 49

hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea’s receptor cells or to the auditory nerves. (disease, aging)

Question 50

conduction hearing loss

Answer 50

hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea