Unit 4- Sensation and Perception (6-8%)

Question 1

Size Constancy

Answer 1

We perceive objects as having a constant size, even when our distance from them varies

Question 2

Shape Constancy

Answer 2

We perceive the form of familiar objects as a constant even while our retinal image of it changes

Question 3

Closure

Answer 3

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.

Question 4

Constancy

Answer 4

Unchanging and constant in perception, shape, or size.

Question 5

Ossicles

Answer 5

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.

Question 6

Oval Window

Answer 6

The cochlea’s membrane.

Question 7

Eardrum

Answer 7

Tight membrane that vibrates with the sound waves from the outer ear

Question 8

Iris

Answer 8

A colored muscle that adjusts light intake

Question 9

Lens

Answer 9

focuses incoming light rays into an image

Question 10

Frequency Theory

Answer 10

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.

Question 11

Nerve Deafness

Answer 11

Hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea’a receptor cells or to the auditory nerves.

Question 12

Sensation

Answer 12

Sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.

Question 13

Perception

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Transduction

Answer 14

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.

Question 15

Sensory adaptation/habituation

Answer 15

Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.

Question 16

Cocktail Party Phenomenon

Answer 16

Your ability to attend to only one voice among many. An example of selective attention.

Question 17

Light Intensity and Wavelength

Answer 17

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.

Question 18

Conduction hearing loss

Answer 18

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

Question 19

Gate control theory

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Shadowing

Answer 20

Uses light and darkness to signal to the viewer the location of objects

Question 21

Retinal/Binocular Disparity

Answer 21

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.

Question 22

Convergence

Answer 22

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.

Question 23

Accommodation

Answer 23

The process by which the lens bends and focuses the rays of light on the retina

Question 24

Cochlear Implant

Answer 24

Electronic device that directly converts sounds and stimulates the auditory nerve. A correction for nerve deafness.

Question 25

Figure-ground

Answer 25

The organization of our visual field into objects (figure) and their surroundings (ground).

Question 26

Blind spot

Answer 26

The point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a “blind” spot because no receptor cells are located there.

Question 27

Optic nerve

Answer 27

The nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain.

Question 28

Afterimages

Answer 28

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.

Question 29

Color blindess

Answer 29

Lacks functioning red or green sensitive cones or even sometimes both.

Question 30

Rods

Answer 30

Retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision when cones don’t respond.

Question 31

Proximity

Answer 31

When we group nearby figures together

Question 32

Continuity

Answer 32

When we perceive smooth, continuous patterns rather than discontinuous ones.

Question 33

Gustation

Answer 33

Tasting

Question 34

The different tastes

Answer 34

Sweet, salty, bitter, sour, umami

Question 35

Linear perspective

Answer 35

The eyes sense of depth and distance perception

Question 36

Relative size

Answer 36

A perceptual clue that allows you to determine how close objects are to an object of known size.

Question 37

Brightness Constancy

Answer 37

We perceive an object as having a constant lightness even while its surrounding lighting.

Question 38

Visual Cliff

Answer 38

A safe cliff experiment to test if newborn animals and infants could perceive depth.

Question 39

Pinna

Answer 39

Outer ear

Question 40

Vestibular sense

Answer 40

The sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance

Question 41

Olfaction

Answer 41

The sense of smell. The resulting experiences of smell are strikingly intimate: You inhale something of whatever or whoever it is you smell.

Question 42

Interposition

Answer 42

If one object partially blocks our view of another, we perceive it as closer. (Depth Cue)

Question 43

Texture Gradient

Answer 43

The distortion in size which closer objects have compared to objects farther away.

Question 44

Signal detection theory

Answer 44

demonstrates that individual absolute thresholds vary, depending on the strength of the signal and also on our experience, expecta- tions, motivation, and alertness.

Question 45

Top-down processing

Answer 45

demonstrates that individual absolute thresholds vary, depending on the strength of the signal and also on our experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness.

Question 46

Cornea

Answer 46

Outer protective layer of the eye

Question 47

Pupil

Answer 47

The adjustable opening in the eye

Question 48

Retina

Answer 48

The photosensitive inner surface on the back of the eye, contains the rods and cones

Question 49

Cones

Answer 49

Retinal receptor cells near the center of retina. Function in daylight, responsible for color and detailed vision.

Question 50

Fovea

Answer 50

Cluster of cones in the center of retina, our area of central focus of vision

Question 51

Feature detectors

Answer 51

Nerve cells in the brain that respond to the features like shape, angle, or movement.

Question 52

Trichromatic theory

Answer 52

Implies that the retina has three types of color receptors, red, green, and blue

Question 53

Cochlea

Answer 53

Snail-shaped tube in the inner ear that contain the hair cell receptors for hearing

Question 54

Place Theory

Answer 54

Assumes we hear pitch based on the place along the cochlea that is stimulated

Question 55

Hue

Answer 55

The color we see depends on the wavelength of light

Question 56

Intensity

Answer 56

The amplitude of the wave of light determines the brightness of the color we see

Question 57

Kinesthetic Sense

Answer 57

Our sense of body position that is communicated to our brain from our bones and joints

Question 58

Absolute Threshold

Answer 58

The minimum amount of stimulation necessary to detect a particular light, sound, pressure, taste, or odor 50 percent of the time

Question 59

Difference Threshold

Answer 59

Also called just noticeable difference (jnd). The minimum difference a person can detect between two stimuli 50 percent of the time

Question 60

Bottom-up processing

Answer 60

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

Question 61

Weber’s Law

Answer 61

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

Question 62

Similarity

Answer 62

Grouping principle that says we group similar objects together

Question 63

Monocular cues

Answer 63

Depth cues like interposition and linear perspective that can be detected by either eye (or both).

Question 64

Binocular cues

Answer 64

Depth cues like retinal disparity that require the use of both eyes

Question 65

Vestibular System

Answer 65

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.