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AP PSYCH Vocab + Concepts > UNIT 4 Vocab and Concepts > Flashcards

UNIT 4 Vocab and Concepts Flashcards

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1
Q

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

A

Sensation

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2
Q

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

A

Perception

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3
Q

Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brains integration of sensory information

A

Bottom-up processing

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4
Q

Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes such as when we construct perception drawing on our experience and expectations

A

Top-down processing

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5
Q

The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

A

Selective attention

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6
Q

Ability to attend to only one voice out of many

A

Cocktail party effect

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7
Q

Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

A

Inattentional blindness

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8
Q

Failing to notice changes in the environment

A

Change blindness

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9
Q
  1. Receive sensory information, often using specialized receptor cells
  2. Transform that stimulation into neural impulses
    3.deliver the neural information to our brains
A

Transduction process

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10
Q

Conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies, such as sights, sounds, and smells, into neural impulses our brain can interpret

A

Transduction

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11
Q

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

A

Psychophysics

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12
Q

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

A

Absolute threshold

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13
Q

A theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise). Assumes that there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a persons experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness.

A

Signal detection theory

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14
Q

Below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness

A

Subliminal

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15
Q

The activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing ones perception, memory, or response

A

Priming

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16
Q

The minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time. We experience the different threshold as just noticeable different or (JND)

A

Difference threshold

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17
Q

The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount).

A

Weber’s Law

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18
Q

Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

A

Sensory adaptation

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19
Q

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

A

Perceptual set

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20
Q

Claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input; includes telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition

A

Extrasensory perception (ESP)

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21
Q

Mind-to-mind communication

A

Telepathy

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22
Q

Perceiving remote events, such as a house on fire in another state

A

Clairvoyance

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23
Q

Perceiving future events

A

Precognition

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24
Q

The study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis

A

Parapsychology

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25
Q

The distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next. Electromagnetic wavelengths vary from short blips of cosmic rays to the long pulses of radio transmissions

A

Wavelength

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26
Q

The dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light; what we know as the color names blue, green, etc.

A

Hue

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27
Q

the amount of energy in a light or sound wave, which we perceive as brightness or loudness, as determined by the wave’s amplitude

A

Intensity

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28
Q

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

A

Pupil

29
Q

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

A

Iris

30
Q

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

A

Lens

31
Q

The light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information

A

Retina

32
Q

The process by which the eyes lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina

A

Accommodation

33
Q

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

A

Rods

34
Q

Retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions. They detect fine detail and give rise to color sensation.

A

Cones

35
Q

The nerve that carries neural impulses form the eye to the brain

A

Optic nerve

36
Q

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

A

Blind spot

37
Q

The central focal point in the retina, around which the eye’s cones cluster.

A

Fovea

38
Q

Nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement

A

Feature detectors

39
Q

The processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brains natural mode of information processing for many functions including vision. Contrasts with the step-by-step (serial) processing of most computers and of conscious problem solving.

A

Parallel processing

40
Q

An organized whole. These types of psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes

A

Gestalt

41
Q

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

A

Figure-ground

42
Q

The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups

A

Grouping

43
Q

The ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows for us to judge distance

A

Depth perception

44
Q

A laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals

A

Visual cliff

45
Q

Depth cues, such as retinal disparity, that depend on the use of two eyes

A

Binocular cues

46
Q

A binocular cue for perceiving depth; by comparing images from the retinas in the two eyes, the brain computes distance- the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer it is

A

Retinal disparity

47
Q

Depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either eye alone

A

Monocular cues

48
Q

An illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick sessions

A

Phi phenomenon

49
Q

Perceiving objects as unchanging (having constant shapes, sizes, brightness, and color) even as illumination and retinal images change

A

Perceptual constancy

50
Q

Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object

A

Color constancy

51
Q

In vision, the ability to adjunct to an artificially displaces or even inverted visual field

A

Perceptual adaptation

52
Q

The sense or act of hearing

A

Audition

53
Q

The number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time

A

Frequency

54
Q

A tones experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequency

A

Pitch

55
Q

The chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing three tiny bones (hammer, anvil, and stirrup) that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea’s oval window

A

Middle ear

56
Q

A coiled, bony, fluid filled tribe in the inner ear; sound eaves traveling through the cochlear fluid tigger nerve impulses

A

Cochlea

57
Q

The innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs

A

Inner ear

58
Q

Hearing loss caused by damage to the cojeas receptor cells or to the auditory nerves; also called nerve deafness

A

Sensorineural hearing loss

59
Q

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

A

Conduction hearing loss

60
Q

A device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into the cochlea

A

Cochlear implant

61
Q

In hearing, the theory that linked the pitch we hear where the place where the cochlea’s membrane is stimulated

A

Place theory

62
Q

In hearing, the theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of the tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch

A

Frequency theory

63
Q

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 op[ned 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

A

Gate-control theory

64
Q

Sense of smell chain action of events
-odors interact with receptors (hairs in nose)
-nerve cells in nose convey information about stimulus to brain olfactory bulb
- intimate connection in humans for memory and survival

A

Olfaction

65
Q

The system for sensing the position and movements of individual body parts

A

Kinesthesia

66
Q

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

A

Vestibular sense

67
Q

The principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences its taste

A

Sensory interaction

68
Q

In psychological science, the influence of bodily sensations, gestures and other states on cognitive preferences and judgements

A

Embodied cognition

AP PSYCH Vocab + Concepts (5 decks)

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