Unit 4: Module 16

Question 1

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

Answer 1

Sensation

Question 2

Sensory nerve endings that respond to stimuli

Answer 2

Sensory receptors

Question 3

Process of organizing and interpreting sensory information enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

Answer 3

Perception

Question 4

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

Answer 4

Bottom-up Processing

Question 5

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

Answer 5

Top-down Processing

Question 6

Focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

Answer 6

Selective attention

Question 7

Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

Answer 7

Inattentional blindness

Question 8

Failing to notice changes in the environment, a form of inattentioal blindness

Answer 8

Change blindness

Question 9

Conversion of one form of energy into another, in sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies, (sights, smells) into neural impulses our brain can interpret

Answer 9

Transduction

Question 10

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

Answer 10

Psychophysics

Question 11

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

Answer 11

Absolute threshold

Question 12

How and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) among background stimulation (noises). Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection demands partly on a person’s experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness.

Answer 12

Signal detection theory

Question 13

Below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness

Answer 13

Subliminal

Question 14

Minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time. We experience this at just a noticeable difference.

Answer 14

Difference threshold

Question 15

The activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one’s perception, memory, or response

Answer 15

Priming

Question 16

Principle that to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage, rather than a constant amount

Answer 16

Weber’s law

Question 17

Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

Answer 17

Sensory adaptation