Unit 4- Sensation and perception

Question 1

What is sensation?

Answer 1

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

Question 2

What is perception?

Answer 2

The process of organizing and interpreting sensory info, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

Question 3

What is the difference between bottom up processing and top down processing?

Answer 3

Bottom up- Begins with the sensory receptors and works up to brain’s integration of sensory information

Top down- Information processed by higher level mental processes; big picture then little details

Question 4

What is selective attention?

Answer 4

The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

Ex.: cocktail party effect

Question 5

What is inattentional blindness?

Answer 5

Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

Question 6

What is change blindness?

Answer 6

Failing to notice changes in the environment

Question 7

What is transduction

Answer 7

Converting one form of energy into another

Ex. Converting stimulus energies into neural impulses our brains can interpret.

Question 8

What is absolute threshold?

Answer 8

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

Question 9

What is signal detection theory?

Answer 9

A theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus amid background stimulation, assuming there is no absolute threshold and depends partly on a person’s experiences , expectations, motivations, and alertness

Question 10

What does subliminal mean?

Answer 10

Stimuli you cannot detect 50% of the time; below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness

Question 11

What does prime/priming mean?

Answer 11

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

Question 12

What is difference threshold?

Answer 12

The minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time, experienced as a just noticeable difference (jnd)

Question 13

What is Weber’s law?

Answer 13

To be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage

Question 14

What is sensory adaptation?

Answer 14

Diminished sensitivity as a result of constant stimulation

Question 15

What is a perceptual set?

Answer 15

A mental predisposition that functions as a lens through which we perceive the world

Question 16

Our learned concepts, ________, prime us to organize and interpret ambiguous stimuli in different ways

Answer 16

schemas

Question 17

What is parapsychology?

Answer 17

The study of paranormal phenomena, including extrasensory perception (ESP) and psychokinesis

Question 18

What are the three most testable forms of ESP?

Answer 18

-telepathy (mind to mind communication)
-clairvoyance (perceiving remote events)
-precognition (perceiving future events)

Question 19

The hue we perceive in light depends on its ___________ and its brightness depends on its ____________

Answer 19

wavelength

intensity

Question 20

Short wavelength= what colors and what pitched sounds?

Answer 20

bluish colors

high pitched sounds

Question 21

Great amplitude= what colors and what kind of sound?

Answer 21

bright colors

loud sounds

Question 22

Long wavelength= what colors and what pitched sound?

Answer 22

reddish colors

low pitched sounds

Question 23

Small amplitude= what colors and what kind of sounds?

Answer 23

Dull colors

quiet sounds

Question 24

What is the pupil?

Answer 24

The adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters

Question 25

What is the iris?

Answer 25

A ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening

Question 26

What is the lens?

Answer 26

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

Question 27

What is the retina?

Answer 27

Light sensitive, inner surface of the eye, contains receptor rods and cones and a layer of neurons that begin processing visual information

Question 28

What is accommodation?

Answer 28

The eye lens change shape to focus near or far shapes on the retina.

Question 29

What do rods do?

Answer 29

Detect black, white, and gray, necessary for peripheral and twilight vision when cones don’t respond

Question 30

What do cones do?

Answer 30

Detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations

Question 31

What are bipolar cells?

Answer 31

Provide the pathway from photoreceptors to the activation of ganglion cells

Question 32

What do ganglion cells form the _____ ______.

Answer 32

optic nerve

Question 33

What does the optic nerve do?

Answer 33

Carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain.

Question 34

What is the blind spot?

Answer 34

The point where the optic nerve leaves the eye; there are no receptor cells

Question 35

What is the fovea?

Answer 35

the central focus point of the retina, the cones cluster here

Question 36

What is the Young Hemholtz trichromatic theory?

Answer 36

The retina contains three different color receptors; one sensitive to red, green, and blue. When stimulated in combination, can produce any color.

Question 37

What is the opponent process theory?

Answer 37

Opposing retinal processes enable color vision

Question 38

What is proximity?

Answer 38

We group nearby figures together

Question 39

What is continuity?

Answer 39

We perceive smooth, continuous patterns rather than a discontinuous one

Question 40

What is closure?

Answer 40

We fill in gaps to create a complete, whole object