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70 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Sensation
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The processes by which our sense organs receive information from the environment
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Transduction
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The process by which physical energy is converted into sensory neural impulses
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Perception
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The processes by which people select, organize, and interpret sensations
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Psychophysics
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The study of the relationship between physical stimulation and subjective sensations
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Absolute threshold
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The smallest amout of stimulation that can be detected
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Signal-Detection Theory
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The theory that detecting a stimulus is jointly determined by the signal and the subject's response criterion
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Just Noticable Difference (JND)
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The smallest amount of change in a stimulus that can be detected
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Weber's law
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The principle that the JND of a stimulus is a constant proportion despite variations in intensity
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Color
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determined by the length of a lightwave. Short waves are blueish, long waves are red
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Intensity/brightness
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Amplitute or height of a lightwave causes this
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Purity/ Saturation
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A measure of the numbers of wavelengths that make up light. The fewer the wavelengths, the richer the color.
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Cornea
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The clear outer membrane that bends light so that it is sharply focused in the eye
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Iris
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The ring of muscle tissue that gives eyes their color and controls the size of the pupil
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Pupil
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The small round hole in the iris of the eye through which light passes
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Lens
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A transparent structure in the eye that focuses light on the retina.
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Accomodation
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The visual process by which lenses become rounded for viewing nearby objects and flatter for viewing remote objects.
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Retina
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The rear, multilayered part of the eye where rods and cones convert light into neural impulses
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Rods
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Rod-shaped photoreceptor cells in the retina that are highly sensitive to light
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Cones
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Cone-shapped photoreceptor cells in the retina that are sensitive to color
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Fovea
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The center of the retina, where cones are clustered
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Dark adaptation
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A process of adjustment by which the eyes become more sensitive to light in a dark environment
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Light adaptation
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The process of adjustment by which the eyes become less sensitive to light in a bright environment
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Optic Nerve
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The pathway that carries visual information from the eyeball to the brain
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Blind Spot
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A part of the retina through which the optic nerve passes. Lacking rods and cones, this spot is not responsive to light
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Receptive field
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An area of the retina in which stimulation triggers a response in a cell within the visual system
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Visual Cortex
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Located in the back of the brain, it is the main information-processing center for visual information
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Feature Detectors
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Neurons in the visual cortex that respond to specific aspects of a visual stimulus (such as lines or angles)
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Simple Cells
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Feature detector cells that are activated by highly particular images.
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Complex Cells
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Feature detector cells that receive input from many simple cells. They specialize in certain types of images. React to any where in the visual field
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Hypercomplex Cells
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Feature detector cells that recieve input from complex cells and respond to stimulus patterns. the letter A
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Trichromatic Theory
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A theory of color vision stating that the retina contains three types of color receptors, for red, blue, and green, and that these combine to produce all colors.
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Afterimage
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A visual sensation that persists after prolonged exposure to and removal of a stimulus.
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Opponent-process theory
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The theory that color vision is derived from three pairs of opposing receptors. The opponent colors are blue and yellow, red and green, and black and white.
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Audition
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The sense of hearing
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White noise
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A hissing sound that results from a combination of all frequencies of the sound spectrum
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Outer ear
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The fleshy pinna, the auditory canal, and the eardrum
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Middle ear
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The hammer, the anvil, and the stirrup
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Inner Ear
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Oval window, cochlea, basilar membrane, auditory nerve
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Auditory localization
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The ability to judge the direction a sound is coming from.
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Conduction Hearing loss
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Hearing loss caused by damage to the eardrum or bones in the middle ear
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Sensoineural hearing loss
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Hearing loss caused by damage to the structures of the inner ear
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Olfactory System
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The structures responsible for the sense of smell
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Pheromones
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Chemicals secreted by animals that transmit signals-usually to other animals of the same species
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Gustatory system
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The structures responsible for the sense of taste
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Taste buds
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Nets of taste-receptor cells
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Gate-Control Theory
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The theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" that blocks pain signals from the brain when flooded by competing signals.
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Kinesthetic System
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Teh structures distributed throughout the body that give us a sense of position and movement of body parts
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Vestibular System
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The inner ear and brain structures that give us a sense of equilibrium
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Synesthesia
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A rare condition in which stimulation in one sensory modality triggers sensations in another sensory modality.
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Reversable Figure
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A drawing that one can percieve in different ways by reversing figure and ground
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Gestalt Psychology
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A school of thought rooted in the idea that the whole (perception) is different from the sum of its parts (sensation)
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Proximity
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The closer objects are, the more likely they are to be grouped together
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Similarity
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Objects that are similare in size, shape, color or any other fearture are more likely to be grouped together
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Continuity
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People percieve contours of straight and curved lines as continuous flowing patterns
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Closure
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When there are gaps in a figure in a familiar form, people mentally close the gaps and perceive as a whole.
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Common Fate
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Groups of objects that move together, like schools of fish fall into this Gestalt Law of Grouping
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Size Consistancy
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The tendency to view an object as constant in size despite changes in the size of the retinal image
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Shape Consistancy
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The tendency to see an object as retaining its form despite changes in orientation
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Depth Perception
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The use of visual cues to estimate the depth and distance of objects
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Convergence
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A binocular cue for depth perception involving the turning inward of the eyes as an object gets closer
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Binocular Disparity
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A binocular cue for depth perception whereby the closer an object is to a perceiver, the more different the image is in each retina
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Monocular Depth cues
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Distance cues, such as linear perspective, that enable us to percieve depth with one eye EX: Relative image size, texture gradient, linear perspective, interposition, atmospheric perspective, relative elevation, familiarity.
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Visual cliff
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An apparatus used to test depth perception in infants and animals
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Perceptual set
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The effects of prior experience and expectations on interpretations of sensory input.
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Perceptual illusions
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Patterns of sensory input that give rise to misperceptions
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Muller-Lyer illusion
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An illusion in which the pervcieved length of a line is altered by the position of other lines taht enclose it
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Ponzo illusion
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An illustration in which the perceived length of a line is affected by linear perspective cues
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Moon illusions
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The tendency for people to see the moon as larger when it's low on the horizon than when it is overhead
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Extrasensory perception (ESP)
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The alleged ability to percieve something without ordinary sensory information
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Parapsychology
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The study of ESP and other claims that cannot be explained by existing principles of science
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