Chapter 12 Sensation And Perception

Front 1

Absolute threshold

Back 1

Minimum amount of energy in order for an organism to detect a stimulus

Front 2

Adaption

Back 2

Occurs when we are constantly surrounded by a stimulus and so start to block it out

Front 3

Afterimage

Back 3

Image that remains even if the image is no longer presented

Front 4

Agnosia

Back 4

Deficit of perception

Front 5

Agraphia

Back 5

Condition whereby a person cannot write

Front 6

Alexia

Back 6

Condition whereby a person cannot read

Front 7

Amplitude

Back 7

Size of sound of light waves

Front 8

Anosmia

Back 8

Condition when a person has lost the sense of smell

Front 9

Auditory nerve

Back 9

Nerve that takes signal from ear to the brain

Front 10

Binocular depth cues

Back 10

Signs that we sense through two eyes and use it to perceive depth

Front 11

Blind spot

Back 11

Place where optic nerve leaves the eye, meaning that no photoreceptor can occupy this space

Front 12

Brightness

Back 12

Property of colour that is determined by amplitude of the light wave, which is the amount of light we see coming from wavelengths

Front 13

Bottom up processing

Back 13

Processing that starts with the smallest, individual elements of a stimuli and proceeds to more complex elements

Front 14

Congenital analgia

Back 14

Condition whereby people are unable to perceive pain or unable to respond to pain they receive

Front 15

Chromosomes

Back 15

Units of genetic information on which the design of a person's body is based

Front 16

Closure

Back 16

Gestalt law of organisation whereby people close or ignore the gaps in objects to form a meaningful whole

Front 17

Colour constancy

Back 17

Feature of perceptual constancy whereby the perception of a colour stays the same or constant even though the retina is not as bright owing to different levels of lighting

Front 18

Cones

Back 18

Cone shaped photoreceptors that are sensitive to colour

Front 19

Cornea

Back 19

Transparent curved covering on the outside of the eye

Front 20

Depth perception

Back 20

Ability to perceive the three dimensional quality of our world

Front 21

Difference threshold

Back 21

Line which one has to cross to tell difference between stimulus A and stimulus B

Front 22

Eardrum

Back 22

Membrane inside outer ear that sound waves cause to vibrate

Front 23

Feature detectors

Back 23

Neurons in primary visual cortex that only respond to certain visual stimuli, such as horizontal lines

Front 24

Feature detection theory

Back 24

Theory of visual perception that states that neurons in the retina send information using the optic nerve to the brain via thalamus

Front 25

First law of psychophysics

Back 25

Whether a change in a stimulus is noticed depends on the proportion by which the stimulus has changed.

Front 26

Fovea

Back 26

Area of the retina where the best vision occurs

Front 27

Frequency

Back 27

Characteristic of sound that refers to the number of waves that occur per second

Front 28

Frequency theory

Back 28

States that our ability to distinguish different pitches is related to the number of times the auditory nerve fires

Front 29

Gate control theory

Back 29

States that our experience of pain can be reduced if receptors carrying different messages block the path of pain to the brain

Front 30

Hue

Back 30

Property of colour determined by the wavelength of light

Front 31

Illusion

Back 31

Incorrect visual perception

Front 32

Iris

Back 32

Coloured band of circular muscles that surrounds the pupil

Front 33

Just noticeable difference (JND)

Back 33

Level that people will notice a difference in stimuli 50% of the time

Front 34

Kinaesthesia

Back 34

Sense that monitors the body's position by noting the skeletons position and movement

Front 35

Lens

Back 35

Transparent layer over the front of the retina that is used to focus light onto the back of the retina

Front 36

Monocular depth cues

Back 36

Signs that we sense through one eye and use to perceive depth

Front 37

Olfactory epithelium

Back 37

Membrane of the Nose that secretes mucus

Front 38

Opponent process theory

Back 38

States that we have neurons in our retina that are able to process 3 pairs of colours: red-green , yellow-blue , black-white

Front 39

Optic nerve

Back 39

Nerve that carries signals from eye to brain

Front 40

Otoliths

Back 40

Small crystals in canals of the ears responsible for sensing the movement of our bodies when we move forward or backwards, fast or slow

Front 41

Pain

Back 41

Intensive negative pressure or temperature

Front 42

Perception

Back 42

Process that entails actively choosing information from sensation, organising it, and Interpreting it to make meaning to out world

Front 43

Photoreceptor cells

Back 43

Rod shaped cells and cone shaped cells in the the retina that change the electromagnetic energy of light into electrochemical energy that is relayed to the brain

Front 44

Place theory

Back 44

States that we hear pitch because the vibrations caused by each frequency makes a specific on the basilar membrane vibrate

Front 45

Prospagnosia

Back 45

Condition where people cannot recognise faces

Front 46

Proximity

Back 46

Law of organisation where those objects closest together are perceived as belonging together

Front 47

Psychophysics

Back 47

Field in psychology that studies sensations, their limits, and how they are perceived

Front 48

Pupil

Back 48

Opening in the eye that controls amount of light let through

Front 49

Retina

Back 49

Very thin part of the eye that contains all cells that pick up light

Front 50

Rods

Back 50

Photoreceptors that are sensitive to black and white

Front 51

Saturation

Back 51

Property of colour determined by how pure the colour appears

Front 52

Shape constancy

Back 52

Perceiving the shape of something as remaining stable

Front 53

Signal detection theory

Back 53

Theory of stimuli detection that noticing a signal depends on many factors besides their physical intensity

Front 54

Similarity

Back 54

Law of organisation where things that look the same are grouped together

Front 55

Size constancy

Back 55

Perceptual constancy where object becomes smaller on retina as it becomes further away, the person who knows it size remains the same

Front 56

Sensation

Back 56

Passive process during which sensory receptors and the brain receive info from environment

Front 57

Sound shadow

Back 57

Feature of hearing where closest ear to the noise will hear sound first, and persons head will block sound waves travelling to other ear to a certain degree, lowering intensity of sound

Front 58

Synesthesia

Back 58

Condition where different sense experiences overlap

Front 59

Threshold

Back 59

Level of energy that a stimulus must a have in order for you to perceive it

Front 60

Timbre

Back 60

Characteristic of sound that relates to the quality of sound

Front 61

Top down processing

Back 61

Processing that starts with the most high level of a stimuli and moves to more basic elements

Front 62

Trichromatic theory

Back 62

Theory of colour vision that proposes that red, blue and green light for the basis of every possible colour of light we can think of

Front 63

Transduction

Back 63

Process whereby energy signals turn into electromagnetic impulse

Front 64

Vestibular sense

Back 64

Sense of balance that resides in the inner ear

Front 65

Vision

Back 65

Ability to make sense and meaning from light waves from the environment that enter the eye and are sent to the brain

Front 66

Visual acuity

Back 66

Persons ability to see the fine details of objects , to see objects from different distances and to distinguish between them

Front 67

Visual object agnosia

Back 67

Condition that occurs when people can sense the visual field , but cannot identify or put a name to an object