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52 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
Sensation
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the detection of physical energy emitted or reflected by physical objects; it occurs when energy in the external environment or the body stimulates receptors in the sense organs.
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Perception
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the process by which the brain organizes and interprets sensory information.
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sense receptors
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specialized cells that convert physical energy in the environment or the body to electrical energy that can be transmitted as nerve impulses to the brain.
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doctrine of specific nerve energies
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the principle that different sensory modalities exist because signals received by the sense organs stimulate different nerve pathways leading to different areas of the brain
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synesthesia
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a condition in which stimulation of one sense also evokes another.
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psychophysics
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the field concerned with how the physical properties of stimuli are related to our psychological experience of them
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absolute threshold
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the smallest quantity of physical energy that can be reliably detected by an observer
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difference threshold
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the smallest difference in stimulation that can be reliably detected by an observer when two stimuli are compared.
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signal detection theory
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a psychophysical theory that divides the detection of a sensory signal into a sensory process and a decision process
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sensory adaptation
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the reduction or disappearance of sesnsory responsiveness when stimulation is unchanging or repetitious.
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Sensory deprivation
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the absence of normal levels of sensory stimulation
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selective attention
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the focusing of attention on selected aspects of the environment and the blocking out of others
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inattentional blindness
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failure to consciously perceive something you are looking at because you are not attending to it
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hue
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the dimension of visual experience specified by colour names and related to the wavelength of light
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brightness
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lightness or luminance;; the dimension of visual experience related to the amount of light emitted from or reflected by an object.
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saturation
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vividness or purity of colour; the dimension of visual experience related to the complexity of light waves.
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retina
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neural tissue lining the back of the eyeball's interior which contains the receptors for vision
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rods
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visual receptors that respond to dim light
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cones
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visual receptors involved in colour vision
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dark adaptation
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a process by which visual receptors become maximally sensitive to dim light
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ganglion cells
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neurons in the retina of the eye that gather information from receptor cells their axons make up the optic nerve.
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feature detector cells
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cells in the visual cortex that are sensitive to specific features of the environment
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trichromatic theory
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a theory of colour perception that proposes three mechanisms in the visual system, each sensitive to a certain range of wavelengths; their interaction is assumed to produce all different experiences of hue.
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opponent-process theory
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a theory of colour perception that assumes that the visual system treats pairs of colours as opposing or antagonistic.
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negative afterimage
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seeing red after starting at green; the cells that switch on or off to signal the presence of green send the opposite signal red when the green is removed and vice versa.
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figure
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the item of interest that stands out from the ret of the environment
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the ground
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the environment or background
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gestalt principles
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principles that describe the brains organization of sensory information into meaningful units and patterns
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binocular cues
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visual cues to depth or distance requiring two eyes
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convergence
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the turning inward of the eyes which occurs when they focus on a nearby object.
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retinal disparity
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the slgiht difference in lateral separation between two objects as seen b the left eye and the right eye
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monocular cues
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visual cues to depth or distance that can be used by one eye alone.
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perceptual constancy
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the accurate perception of objects as stable or unchanged despite changes in the sensory patterns they produce
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pitch
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the dimension of auditory experience related to the frequency of a pressure wave; the height or depth of a tone
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frequency
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how rapdly the air vibrate - that is the number of times per second the wave cycles through a peak and a low point
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timbre
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the distinguishing quality of a soung; the dimension of auditory experience related to the complexity of the pressure wave.
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organ of corti
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a structure in the cochlea containing hair cells that serve as receptors for hearing.
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cochlea
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a snail shaped fluid filled organ in the inner ear, containing the structure where the receptors for hearing are located.
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basilar membrane
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the rubbery membrane that stretches across the interior of the cochlea in which the hair cells of the cochlea are embedded.
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gustation
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sense of taste
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papillae
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knoblike elevations on the tongue, containing the taste buds.
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taste buds
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nests of taste receptor cells.
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olfaction
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sense of smell
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gate control theory of pain
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the theory that the experience of plain depends in part on whether pain impulses get past a neurological gate in the spinal cord and thus reach the brain
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phantom pain
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the experience of pain ina missing limb or other body part.
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kinesthesis
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the sense of body position and movement of body parts
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equilirium
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the sense of balance
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semicircular canals
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sense organs in the inner ear that contribute to equilibrium by responding to rotation of the head
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critical period
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a crucial window of time during a person must have experiences or perception will be impaired.
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perceptual set
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a habitual way of perceiving, based on expectations
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priming
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a method used to measure unconscious cognitive processes, in which a person is exposed to information is later tested to see whether the information affects behavior or performance on another task or in another situation
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parapsychology
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the study of purported psychic phenomena such as ESP and mental telepathy.
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