Introduction To Psychology - 8Th Edition - Rod Plotnik - Chapter 5

Front 1

acupuncture

Back 1

a procedure in which a trained practitioner inserts thin needles into various points on the body’s surface and then manually twirls or electrically stimulates the needles. After 10–20 minutes of needle stimulation, patients often report a reduction in various kinds of pain.

Front 2

adaptation

Back 2

the decreasing response of the sense organs, the more they are exposed to a continuous level of stimulation.

Front 3

afterimage

Back 3

a visual sensation that continues after the original stimulus is removed.

Front 4

auditory association area

Back 4

receives meaningless auditory sensations in the form of neural impulses from the neighboring primary auditory cortex. The auditory association area combines meaningless auditory sensations into perceptions, which are meaningful melodies, songs, words, or sentences.

Front 5

auditory canal

Back 5

a long tube that funnels sound waves down its length so that the waves strike a thin, taut membrane—the eardrum, or tympanic membrane.

Front 6

auditory nerve

Back 6

a band of fibers that carry nerve impulses (electrical signals) to the auditory cortex of the brain for processing.

Front 7

basilar membrane

Back 7

Miniature hair-shaped cells that stick up from the cochlea’s bottom membrane. Vibration of fluid in the cochlear tubes causes movement of the basilar membrane, which literally bends the hair cells. The mechanical bending of the hair cells generates miniature electrical forces that, if large enough, trigger nerve impulses (transduction). Nerve impulses leave the cochlea as explained.

Front 8

cochlea

Back 8

located in the inner ear, has a bony coiled exterior that resembles a snail’s shell. The cochlea contains the receptors for hearing, and its function is transduction— transforming vibrations into nerve impulses that are sent to the brain for processing into auditory information.

Front 9

cochlear implant

Back 9

a miniature electronic device that is surgically implanted into the cochlea. The cochlear implant changes sound waves into electrical signals that are fed into the auditory nerve, which carries them to the brain for processing.

Front 10

color blindness

Back 10

the inability to distinguish two or more shades in the color spectrum. There are several kinds of color blindness.

Front 11

conduction deafness

Back 11

can be caused by wax in the auditory canal, injury to the tympanic membrane, or malfunction of the ossicles. All of these conditions interfere with the transmission of vibrations from the tympanic membrane to the fluid of the cochlea, resulting in degrees of hearing loss.

Front 12

cone

Back 12

The other photoreceptor with a cone like shape is called a cone and is located primarily in the center of the retina in an area called the fovea (FOH-vee-ah).

Front 13

cornea

Back 13

the rounded, transparent covering over the front of your eye. As the light waves pass through the cornea, its curved surface bends, or focuses, the waves into a narrower beam.

Front 14

decibel

Back 14

a unit to measure loudness, just as an inch is a measure of length. Our threshold for hearing ranges from 0 decibels, which is absolutely no sound, to 140 decibels, which can produce pain and permanent hearing loss.

Front 15

dichromats

Back 15

usually have trouble distinguishing red from green because they have just two kinds of cones. This is an inherited genetic defect, found mostly in males, that results in seeing mostly shades of green but differs in severity (Neitz et al., 1996).

Front 16

direction of a sound

Back 16

The brain determines the direction of a sound by calculating the slight difference in time that it takes sound waves to reach the two ears, which are about six inches apart (Goldstein, 2007).

Front 17

disgust

Back 17

is triggered by the presence of a variety of contaminated or offensive things, including certain foods, body products, and gore. We show disgust, which is a universally recognized facial expression, by closing the eyes, narrowing the nostrils, curling the lips downward, and sometimes sticking out the tongue.

Front 18

double-blind procedure

Back 18

neither the researchers (“blind”) nor the subjects (“blind”) know who is receiving what treatment. Because neither researchers nor subjects know who is receiving which treatment, the researchers’ or subjects’ expectations have a chance to equally affect both treatments (drug and placebo).

Front 19

endorphins

Back 19

chemicals produced by the brain and secreted in response to injury or severe physical or psychological stress. The pain-reducing properties of endorphins are similar to those of morphine, a powerful painkilling drug.

Front 20

external ear

Back 20

an oval-shaped structure that protrudes from the side of the head. The function of the external ear is to pick up sound waves and send them down a long, narrow tunnel called the auditory canal.

Front 21

farsightedness (hyperopia)

Back 21

occurs when the eyeball is too short so that objects are focused at a point slightly behind the retina. In this case, distant objects are clear, but near objects appear blurry.

Front 22

flavor

Back 22

when we combine the sensations of taste and smell.

Front 23

fovea

Back 23

in the center of the retina.

Front 24

frequency theory

Back 24

applies only to low-pitched sounds, says that the rate at which nerve impulses reach the brain determines how low the pitch of a sound is.

Front 25

gate control theory of pain

Back 25

says that nonpainful nerve impulses (shifting attention) compete with pain impulses (headache) in trying to reach the brain. This competition creates a bottleneck, or neural gate, that limits the number of impulses that can be transmitted. Thus, shifting one’s attention or rubbing an injured area may increase the passage of nonpainful impulses and thereby decrease the passage of painful impulses; as a result, the sensation of pain is dulled. The neural gate isn’t a physical structure but rather refers to the competition between nonpainful and painful impulses as they try to reach the brain.

Front 26

hair cells

Back 26

The auditory receptors, called hair cells, are miniature hair-shaped cells that stick up from the cochlea’s bottom membrane, called the basilar (BAZ-ih-lahr) membrane.

Front 27

iris

Back 27

a circular muscle that surrounds the pupil and controls the amount of light entering the eye. In dim light, the iris relaxes, allowing more light to enter—the pupil dilates; in bright light, the iris constricts, allowing less light to enter—the pupil constricts. The iris muscle contains the pigment that gives your eye its characteristic color.

Front 28

lens

Back 28

a transparent, oval structure whose curved surface bends and focuses light waves into an even narrower beam. The lens is attached to muscles that adjust the curve of the lens, which, in turn, adjusts the focusing.

Front 29

loudness

Back 29

The brain calculates loudness primarily from the frequency or rate of how fast or how slowly nerve impulses arrive from the auditory nerve.

Front 30

Meniere's disease

Back 30

results from a malfunction of the semicircular canals of the vestibular system. The symptoms include sudden attacks of dizziness, nausea, vomiting, spinning, and head-splitting buzzing sounds.

Front 31

middle ear

Back 31

a bony cavity that is sealed at each end by membranes. The two membranes are connected by three small bones.

Front 32

monochromats

Back 32

have total color blindness; their worlds look like black-and-white movies. This kind of color blindness is rare and results from individuals having only rods or only one kind of functioning cone (instead of three).

Front 33

motion sickenss

Back 33

feelings of discomfort, nausea, and dizziness in a moving vehicle, is believed to develop when there is a sensory mismatch between the information from the vestibular system—that your head is physically bouncing around—and the information reported by your eyes—that objects in the distance look fairly steady

Front 34

nearsightedness (myopia)

Back 34

results when the eyeball is too long so that objects are focused at a point in front of the retina. In this case, near objects are clear, but distant objects appear blurry.

Front 35

neural deafness

Back 35

can be caused by damage to the auditory receptors (hair cells), which prevents the production of impulses, or by damage to the auditory nerve, which prevents nerve impulses from reaching the brain. Since neither hair cells nor auditory nerve fibers regenerate, neural deafness was generally untreatable until the development of the cochlear implant.

Front 36

olfaction

Back 36

a chemical sense because its stimuli are various chemicals that are carried by the air. The upper part of the nose has a small area that contains receptor cells for olfaction. The function of the olfactory receptors is transduction, to transform chemical reactions into nerve impulses.

Front 37

olfactory cells

Back 37

receptors for smell and are located in two 1-inch-square patches of tissue in the uppermost part of the nasal passages. Olfactory cells are covered with mucus, a gluey film into which volatile molecules dissolve and stimulate the underlying olfactory cells. The olfactory cells trigger nerve impulses that travel to the brain, which interprets the impulses as different smells.

Front 38

opponent-process theory

Back 38

says that ganglion cells in the retina and cells in the thalamus of the brain respond to two pairs of colors—red-green and blueyellow. When these cells are excited, they respond to one color of the pair; when inhibited, they respond to the complementary pair.

Front 39

opsins

Back 39

are activated in bright light and allow us to see color. Unlike rods, cones are wired individually to neighboring cells; this one-on-one system of relaying information allows us to see fine details.

Front 40

ossicles

Back 40

The three tiny bones are collectively called ossicles and, because of their shapes, are referred to as the hammer, anvil, and stirrup. The first ossicle—hammer—is attached to the back of the tympanic membrane. When the tympanic membrane vibrates, so does the hammer. In turn, the hammer sends the vibrations to the attached anvil, which further sends the vibrations to the attached stirrup. The stirrup makes the connection with the end membrane, the oval window. The three ossicles act like levers that greatly amplify the vibrations, which, in turn, cause the attached oval window to vibrate.

Front 41

outer ear

Back 41

consists of three structures: external ear, auditory canal, and tympanic membrane.

Front 42

pain

Back 42

an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience that may result from tissue damage, one’s thoughts or beliefs, or environmental stressors (job, traffic). Pain receptors in the body send nerve impulses to the somatosensory and limbic areas of the brain, where impulses are changed into pain sensations. Pain is essential for survival: it warns us to avoid or escape dangerous situations or stimuli and makes us take time to recover from injury.

Front 43

perception

Back 43

the experience we have after our brain assembles and combines thousands of individual, meaningless sensations into a meaningful pattern or image. However, our perceptions are rarely exact replicas of the original stimuli. Rather, our perceptions are usually changed, biased, colored, or distorted by our unique set of experiences. Thus, perceptions are our personal interpretations of the real world.

Front 44

pitch

Back 44

our subjective experience of a sound being high or low, which the brain calculates from specific physical stimuli, in this case the speed or frequency of sound waves. The frequency of sound waves is measured in cycles, which refers to how many sound waves occur within 1 second.

Front 45

place theory

Back 45

says that the brain determines medium- to higherpitched sounds on the basis of the place on the basilar membrane where maximum vibration occurs.

Front 46

placebo

Back 46

an intervention, such as taking a pill, receiving an injection, or undergoing an operation, that resembles medical therapy but that, in fact, has no medical effects.

Front 47

placebo effect

Back 47

a change in the patient’s illness that is attributable to an imagined treatment rather than to a medical treatment.

Front 48

primary auditory cortex

Back 48

located on the top edge of each temporal lobe, receives electrical signals from receptors in the ears and transforms these signals into meaningless sound sensations, such as vowels and consonants.

Front 49

primary visual cortex

Back 49

located at the very back of the occipital lobe, receives electrical signals from receptors in the eyes and transforms these signals into meaningless basic visual sensations, such as lights, lines, shadows, colors, and textures.

Front 50

pupil

Back 50

a round opening at the front of your eye that allows light waves to pass into the eye’s interior.

Front 51

retina

Back 51

located at the very back of the eyeball, is a thin film that contains cells that are extremely sensitive to light. These light-sensitive cells, called photoreceptors, begin the process of transduction by absorbing light waves.

Front 52

rhodospin

Back 52

Rods are photoreceptors that contain a single chemical, called rhodopsin which is activated by small amounts of light. Because rods are extremely light sensitive, they allow us to see in dim light, but to see only black, white, and shades of gray.

Front 53

rod

Back 53

One kind of photoreceptor with a rod like shape is called a rod and is located primarily in the periphery of the retina.

Front 54

sensation

Back 54

our first awareness of some outside stimulus. An outside stimulus activates sensory receptors, which in turn produce electrical signals that are transformed by the brain into meaningless bits of information.

Front 55

somatosensory cortex

Back 55

a narrow strip of cortex that is located on the front edge of the parietal lobe and extends down its side. The somatosensory cortex processes sensory information about touch, location of limbs, pain, and temperature. The right somatosensory cortex receives information from the left side of the body and vice versa.

Front 56

sound waves

Back 56

are the stimuli for hearing (audition), resemble ripples of different sizes. Similar to ripples on a pond, sound waves travel through space with varying heights and frequency. Height, which is the distance from the bottom to the top of a sound wave, is called amplitude. Frequency refers to the number of sound waves that occur within 1 second.

Front 57

taste

Back 57

a chemical sense because the stimuli are various chemicals. On the surface of the tongue are receptors, called taste buds, for five basic tastes: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami. The function of taste buds is to perform transduction, which means transforming chemical reactions into nerve impulses.

Front 58

taste buds

Back 58

shaped like miniature onions, are the receptors for taste. Chemicals dissolved in the saliva activate the taste buds, which produce nerve impulses that eventually reach areas in the brain’s parietal lobe. The brain transforms these nerve impulses into sensations of taste.

Front 59

touch

Back 59

The sense of touch includes pressure, temperature, and pain. Beneath the outer layer of skin are a half-dozen miniature sensors that are receptors for the sense of touch. The function of the touch sensors is to change mechanical pressure or temperature variations into nerve impulses that are sent to the brain for processing.

Front 60

transduction

Back 60

refers to the process in which a sense organ changes, or transforms, physical energy into electrical signals that become neural impulses, which may be sent to the brain for processing.

Front 61

trichromatic theory

Back 61

says that there are three different kinds of cones in the retina, and each cone contains one of three different light-sensitive chemicals, called opsins. Each of the three opsins is most responsive to wavelengths that correspond to each of the three primary colors: blue, green, and red. All other colors can be mixed from these three primary colors.

Front 62

tympanic membrane

Back 62

a taut, thin structure commonly called the eardrum. Sound waves strike the tympanic membrane and cause it to vibrate. The tympanic membrane passes the vibrations on to the first of three small bones to which it is attached.

Front 63

vertigo

Back 63

symptoms are dizziness and nausea, results from malfunction of the semicircular canals of the vestibular system.

Front 64

vestibular system

Back 64

which is located above the cochlea in the inner ear, includes three semicircular canals, resembling bony arches, which are set at different angles. Each of the semicircular canals is filled with fluid that moves in response to movements of your head. In the canals are sensors (hair cells) that respond to the movement of the fluid. The functions of the vestibular system include sensing the position of the head, keeping the head upright, and maintaining balance.

Front 65

visible spectrum

Back 65

one particular segment of electromagnetic energy that we can see because these waves are the right length to stimulate receptors in the eye.

Front 66

visual agnosia

Back 66

the individual fails to recognize some object, person, or color, yet has the ability to see and even describe pieces or parts of some visual stimulus.

Front 67

visual association area

Back 67

located next to the primary visual cortex, transforms basic sensations, such as lights, lines, colors, and textures, into complete, meaningful visual perceptions, such as persons, objects, or animals.