Sensation And Perception Chapter One

Front 1

Abducens (VI) Nerves

Back 1

The sixth pair of cranial nerves, which innervate the lateral rectus muscle of each eye.

Front 2

Absolute Threshold

Back 2

The minimum amount of stimulation necessary for a person to detect a stimulus 50% of the time.

Front 3

Adaptation

Back 3

A reduction in response caused by prior or continuing stimulation.

Front 4

Auditory (VIII) Nerves

Back 4

The eighth pair of cranial nerves, which connect the inner ear with the brain, transmitting impulses concerned with hearing and balance. The auditory nerve is composed of the cochlear nerve and the vestibular nerve and therefore is sometimes referred to as the “vestibulocochlear nerve.”

Front 5

Cranial Nerves

Back 5

Twelve pairs of nerves (one for each side of the body) that originate in the brain stem and reach sense organs and muscles through openings in the skull.

Front 6

Cross-modality Matching

Back 6

The ability to match the intensities of sensations that come from different sensory modalities. This ability enables insight into sensory differences. For example, a listener might adjust the brightness of a light until it matches the loudness of a tone.

Front 7

Doctrine of Specific Nerve Energies

Back 7

A doctrine formulated by Johannes Müller stating that the nature of a sensation depends on which sensory fibers are stimulated, not on how fibers are stimulated.

Front 8

Dualism

Back 8

The idea that both mind and body exist.

Front 9

Empiricism

Back 9

The idea that experience from the senses is the only source of knowledge.

Front 10

Fechner's Law

Back 10

A principle describing the relationship between stimulus and resulting sensation such that the magnitude of subjective sensation increases proportionally to the logarithm of the stimulus intensity.

Front 11

Just Noticeable Difference (JND)

Back 11

The smallest detectable difference between two stimuli, or the minimum change in a stimulus that enables it to be correctly judged as different from a reference stimulus.

Front 12

Magnitude Estimation

Back 12

A psychophysical method in which the participant assigns values according to perceived magnitudes of the stimuli.

Front 13

Materialism

Back 13

The idea that physical matter is the only reality, and everything including the mind can be explained in terms of matter and physical phenomena. Materialism is a type of monism.

Front 14

Mentalism

Back 14

The idea that the mind is the true reality and objects exist only as aspects of the mind’s awareness. Mentalism is a type of monism.

Front 15

Method of Adjustment

Back 15

The method of limits for which the subject controls the change in the stimulus.

Front 16

Method of Constant Stimuli

Back 16

A psychophysical method in which many stimuli, ranging from rarely to almost always perceivable (or rarely to almost always perceivably different from a reference stimulus), are presented one at a time. Participants respond to each presentation: “yes/no,” “same/different,” and so on.

Front 17

Method of Limits

Back 17

A psychophysical method in which the particular dimension of a stimulus, or the difference between two stimuli, is varied incrementally until the participant responds differently.

Front 18

Mind-Body Dualism

Back 18

Originated by René Descartes, the idea positing the existence of two distinct principles of being in the universe: spirit/soul and matter/body.

Front 19

Monism

Back 19

The idea that mind and matter are formed from, or reducible to, a single ultimate substance or principle of being.

Front 20

Nativism

Back 20

The idea that the mind produces ideas that are not derived from external sources, and that we have abilities that are innate and not learned.

Front 21

Neurotransmitter

Back 21

A chemical substance used in neuronal communication at synapses.

Front 22

Oculomotor (III) Nerves

Back 22

The third pair of cranial nerves, which innervate all the extrinsic muscles of the eye except the lateral rectus and the superior oblique muscles, and which innervate the elevator muscle of the upper eyelid, the ciliary muscle, and the sphincter muscle of the pupil.

Front 23

Olfactory (I) Nerves

Back 23

The first pair of cranial nerves, which conduct impulses from the mucous membranes of the nose to the olfactory bulb.

Front 24

Optic (II) Nerves

Back 24

The second pair of cranial nerves, which arise from the retina and carry visual information to the thalamus and other parts of the brain.

Front 25

Panpsychism

Back 25

The idea that all matter has consciousness.

Front 26

Polysensory

Back 26

Blending multiple sensory systems.

Front 27

Psychophysics

Back 27

The science of defining quantitative relationships between physical and psychological (subjective) events.

Front 28

Reciever Operating Characteristics (ROC) Curve

Back 28

In studies of signal detection, the graphical plot of the hit rate as a function of the false alarm rate. If these are the same, points fall on the diagonal, indicating that the observer cannot tell the difference between the presence and absence of the signal. As the observer’s sensitivity increases, the curve bows upward toward the upper left corner. That point represents a perfect ability to distinguish signal from noise (100% hits, 0% false alarms).

Front 29

Sensory Transducer

Back 29

A receptor that converts physical energy from the environment into neural activity.

Front 30

Signal Detection Theory

Back 30

A psychophysical theory that quantifies the response of an observer to the presentation of a signal in the presence of noise. Measures attained from a series of presentations are sensitivity (d′) and criterion of the observer.

Front 31

Stevens' Power Law

Back 31

A principle describing the relationship between stimulus and resulting sensation, such that the magnitude of subjective sensation is proportional to the stimulus magnitude raised to an exponent.

Front 32

Synapse

Back 32

The junction between neurons that permits information transfer.

Front 33

Trochlear (IV) Nerves

Back 33

The fourth pair of cranial nerves, which innervate the superior oblique muscles of the eyeballs.

Front 34

Two-Point Touch Threshold

Back 34

The minimum distance at which two stimuli (e.g., two simultaneous touches) are just perceptible as separate.

Front 35

Vitalism

Back 35

The idea that “vital forces” are active within living organisms, and these forces cannot be explained by physical processes of matter more generally.

Front 36

Weber Fraction

Back 36

The constant of proportionality in Weber’s law.

Front 37

Weber's Law

Back 37

The principle that the just noticeable difference (JND) is a constant fraction of the comparison stimulus.