Chapter 4 Sensation And Perception

Front 1

Sensation

Back 1

stimulation of sense organs

Front 2

Perception

Back 2

selection, organization, and interpretation of sensory input

Front 3

Psychophysics

Back 3

the study of how physical stimuli are translated into psychological experience

Front 4

Absolute Threshold

Back 4

specific type of sensory input is the minimum stimulus intensity that an organism can detect

Front 5

Just Noticeable Difference (JND)

Back 5

smallest CHANGE in a stimulus intensity that can be identified

Front 6

Signal Detection Theory

Back 6

the detection of a stimuli involves decision processes as well as sensory processes. The physical ability to detect a stimulus

Front 7

Criterion

Back 7

standard for how sure you must be before you react to a stimulus. Depends on personal expectations and consequences for missing a signal or reporting a false alarm.

Front 8

Weber's Law

Back 8

the JND is a fixed proportion of the intensity of the stimuli and can be represented by the FORMULA: JND=KI

Front 9

Fechner's Law

Back 9

as the stimulus intensity increases, the amount of energy to PERCEIVE it has DOUBLED also increases.

Front 10

Subliminal Perception

Back 10

Processing of sensory input without conscious awareness

Front 11

Sensory Adaptation

Back 11

gradual decline in sensitivity to a prolonged stimulation (neurons will fire less and are less responsive from warn out from being used so much)

Front 12

Light

Back 12

form of electromagnetic radiation that travels as a wave moving at the speed of light

Front 13

Amplitude

Back 13

height of wave, responsible for the perception of BRIGHTNESS for Light, INTENSITY for Color, and LOUDNESS for Sound

Front 14

Frequency

Back 14

difference between peaks, perception of COLOR for Light, HUE for Color, and PITCH for Sound

Front 15

Purity

Back 15

the "wrinkles" in the wave, perception of SATURATION/RICHNESS for Light and TIMBRE for Sound

Front 16

Saturation

Back 16

relative amount of whiteness

Front 17

Ultraviolet

Back 17

shorter wavelengths of light

Front 18

Infared

Back 18

longer wavelengths of light

Front 19

Retina

Back 19

neural tissue that receives light, lines the inside back surface of the eye, processes info and sends it to the brain, the image appears on the retina upsidedown

Front 20

Cornea

Back 20

where light enters at the front of the eye, protective outer layer of the eye

Front 21

Lens

Back 21

transparent eye structure that focuses light waves falling on the retina, accessory structure for vision

Front 22

Accomidation

Back 22

curvature of lens adjusted to alter visual focus. Not enough bend leads to nearsightedness, too much bend leads to farsightedness

Front 23

Iris

Back 23

colored ring of muscle surrounding the pupil

Front 24

Pupil

Back 24

opening at the center of the eye that permits light to pass into the rear chamber of the eye

Front 25

Optic Disk

Back 25

hole in the retina where optic nerves fibers exit the eye

Front 26

Photoreceptors

Back 26

sensory receptors for vision (rods and cones) responsible for transduction

Front 27

Cones

Back 27

specialized receptors that play a key role in DAYLIGHT vision and COLOR vision, towards the center of the retina

Front 28

Fovea

Back 28

tiny spot at the very center of the retina that has only cones, visual acuity is greatest at this spot

Front 29

Rods

Back 29

specialized visual receptors that play a key role in NIGHT and PERIPHERAL vision (BLACK and WHITE) towards the outside of the retina

Front 30

Dark Adaptation

Back 30

process in which eyes become more sensitive to light in low illumination

Front 31

Light Adaptation

Back 31

process whereby eyes become less sensitive to light in high illumination

Front 32

Optic Nerve

Back 32

collection of axons from ganglion cells that connect the eye to the brain, leaves the eye at the optic disk and a blind spot is created

Front 33

Bipolar Cells

Back 33

receive visual signals from photoreceptors, help see contrast and edge

Front 34

Receptive Field

Back 34

part of a visual cell, the retinal area that when stimulated affects the firing of a cell

Front 35

Transduction

Back 35

Converting energy from the environment into neural impulses. Sensory stimuli from environment -> accessory structure -> transduction at sensory receptors -> thalamus (except smell) -> appropriate part of cerebral cortex

Front 36

Coding

Back 36

Transforming characteristics of a stimulus into patterns of neural activity

Front 37

Temporal

Back 37

Rate of timing of neural firing

Front 38

Spacial

Back 38

Physical location of neural firing

Front 39

The Visual Process

Back 39

Light wave -> cornea -> iris/pupil -> lens -> retina -> photoreceptors -> bipolar cells -> ganglion cells -> optic disk -> thalamus -> occipital lobe

Front 40

Optic Chiasm

Back 40

Point at which the optic nerve from the inside half of each eye cross over then project on the opposite side of the brain

Front 41

Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (LGN)

Back 41

In the thalamus, visual signals are processed in the LGN then distributed to areas in the occipital lobe that make up the primary visual cortex

Front 42

Ventral Stream

Back 42

Understand WHAT the object is by analyzing form, color, shadow ect. In visual cortex

Front 43

Dorsal Stream

Back 43

Understand WHERE the object is using movement and depth. In the visual cortex

Front 44

Feature Detectors

Back 44

Neurons that respond selectively to very specific features of more complex stimuli (edges, lines, angles)

Front 45

Visual Agnosia

Back 45

An inability to recognize objects

Front 46

Prosopagnosia

Back 46

Inability to recognize familiar faces (doesn't affect hair)

Front 47

Subtractive Color Mixing

Back 47

Works by removing some wavelengths of light leaving less light than originally there (paints)

Front 48

Additive Color Mixing

Back 48

Works by superimposing lights, putting more light in the mixture than exists at any one light by itself (lights)

Front 49

Trichromatic Theory

Back 49

The human eye had three types of color receptors (cones) with differing sensitivities to different light wavelengths associated with red green and blue

Front 50

Color blindness

Back 50

Encompasses a large variety of deficiencies in the ability to distinguish among colors

Front 51

Dichromats

Back 51

People who have only two types of color receptors

Front 52

Complementary Colors

Back 52

Pairs of colors that produce gray tones when mixed. Red v green, yellow v blue, black v white

Front 53

Afterimage

Back 53

Visual image of a complementary color of the stimulus that persists after the stimulus is removed

Front 54

Color Effects on Behavior (Red)

Back 54

Red=wrong, stop, danger

Front 55

Reversible Figure

Back 55

Drawing that is compatible with two interpretations that can switch back and forth

Front 56

Perceptual Set

Back 56

Tendency to perceive a stimulus a certain way

Front 57

Innatentional Blindness

Back 57

Involves failure to see visible objects or events because one's attention is focused elsewhere

Front 58

Feature Analysis

Back 58

Process of detecting specific elements in visual input and assembling them into a more complex form

Front 59

Bottom-Up Processing

Back 59

Progression from individual elements to a whole

Front 60

Top-down Processing

Back 60

Progression from the whole to the individual elements

Front 61

Subjective Contours

Back 61

Involves the perception of Contours where none actually exist

Front 62

Gestalt Psychology

Back 62

The whole can be greater than the sum of the parts (grouping)

Front 63

Phi Phenomenon

Back 63

Illusion of movement created by presenting visual stimuli in rapid succession

Front 64

Figure and Ground

Back 64

Figure- the thing looked at, more likely to be a figure when it's smaller

ground- background

Front 65

Proximity

Back 65

Objects that are close together tend to be grouped together

Front 66

Closure

Back 66

Viewers tend to supply missing elements to close or complete a visual figure (fill in the gaps)

Front 67

Similarity

Back 67

Elements that are similar tend to be grouped together

Front 68

Simplicity

Back 68

Viewers tend to organize elements in the simplest way possible

Front 69

Continuity

Back 69

Viewers tend to see elements in ways that produce smooth continuation

Front 70

Common Region

Back 70

Grouping using boundaries

Front 71

Perceptual Hypothesis / Likelyhood Principle

Back 71

Inference about what firm could be responsible for a pattern of sensory stimulation

Front 72

Depth Perception

Back 72

Interpretation of visual cues that indicate how near or far objects are

Front 73

Binocular Depth Cues

Back 73

Clues about distance bard on the differing views of two eyes

Front 74

Retinal Disparity

Back 74

Principle of binocular cues, refers to the fact that objects within 25 ft project images to slightly different locations on the right and left retinas

Front 75

Convergence

Back 75

Sensing the eyes converge towards each other as objects come closer

Front 76

Monocular Depth Cues

Back 76

Clues about distance based on one eye only

Front 77

Pictorial Depth Cues

Back 77

Clues about distance that can be given in a flat picture

Front 78

Motion Parallax

Back 78

Closer objects move faster through our visual fields

Front 79

Linear Perspective

Back 79

Vertical parallel lines that run away from the viewer seen to get closer together

Front 80

Texture Gradient

Back 80

As distance increases, a texture gradually becomes denser and less distant

Front 81

Interposition

Back 81

Shapes of near objects overlap or mask those of more distant ones

Front 82

Relevant Size

Back 82

If separate objects are expected to be the same size, larger ones apart closer

Front 83

Height in Plane

Back 83

Near objects are low in the visual field

Front 84

Light and Shadow

Back 84

Patterns of light and dark suggest shadows can create an impression of a 3-D form

Front 85

Perceptual Constancy

Back 85

Tendency to experience a stable perception in the face of continually changing sensory input

Front 86

Visual Illusion

Back 86

Apparently inexplicable discrepancy between the appearance of a visual stimulus and is physical reality

Front 87

Impossible Figures

Back 87

Objects that can be represented in 2-D but not exist in 3-D space

Front 88

Conduction Deafness

Back 88

Problems/damage with the middle ear (helped with hearing aids)

Front 89

Nerve Deafness (Sensorineural)

Back 89

Problems/damage to cilia (hair cells) or auditory nerve (corrected with cochlear implant)

Front 90

Synesthesia

Back 90

Cross talk of the senses