Sensation & Perception

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Sensation

Back 1

The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment

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Perception

Back 2

The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information and enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

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Bottom up processing

Back 3

Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information

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Top-down processing

Back 4

Information processing guided by higher level mental processes as when we construct perceptions drawing on her experience and expectations

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Selective attention

Back 5

The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

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Inattentional blindness

Back 6

Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

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Change blindness

Back 7

Failing to notice changes in the environment

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Psychophysics

Back 8

The study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli such as their intensity and our psychological experience of them

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Absolute threshold

Back 9

The minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time

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Signal detection theory

Back 10

A theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus amidst backgrounds stimulation assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person's experience expectations motivation and alertness

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Subliminal

Back 11

Below one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness

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Priming

Back 12

The activation often unconsciously of certain associations thus predisposing one's perception memory or response

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Difference threshold

Back 13

The minimum difference between the two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time we experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference

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Weber's law

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The principle that to be perceived as different two stimuli must differ by a constant percentage rather than a constant amount

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Sensory adaptation

Back 15

Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

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Transduction

Back 16

Conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies such as sights sounds and smells into neural impulses our brains can interpret

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Wavelength

Back 17

The distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next electromagnetic wave length vary from the short blips of cosmic rays to the long pulses of radio transmission

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Hue

Back 18

The dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light what we know as the color names blue, green, and so forth

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Intensity

Back 19

The amount of energy in a light or sound wave, which we perceive as brightness or loudness as determined by the waves amplitude

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Pupil

Back 20

The adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters

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Iris

Back 21

A ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening

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Lens

Back 22

The transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina

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Retina

Back 23

The light-sensitive inner surface of the eye containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information

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Accommodation

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The process by which the eyes lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina

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Rods

Back 25

Retinal receptors that detect black white and grey; necessary for peripheral and Twilight vision when cones don't respond

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Cones

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Retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions. Detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations

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Optic nerve

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The nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain

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Blind spot

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The point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye. Where no receptor cells are located.

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Fovea

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The central focal point in the retina around which the eye's cones cluster

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Feature detectors

Back 30

Nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement.

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Parallel processing

Back 31

The processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously. The brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions including vision. Contrast with the step by step processing of most computers and of conscious problem solving

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Young-Helmoltz Trichromatic theory

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The theory that the retina contains three different color receptors one most sensitive to red, one green one to blue which when stimulated in combination can produce the perception of any color

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Opponent process theory

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The theory that opposing retinal processes and Abel color vision for example some cells are stimulated by green and inhibited by red, others are stimulated by red and inhibited by green

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Audition

Back 34

The sense or act of hearing

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Frequency

Back 35

The number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time

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Pitch

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A tone's experienced highness or lowness depends on frequency

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Middle ear

Back 37

The chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing three tiny bones that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea's oval window

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Cochlea

Back 38

A coiled bony fluid-filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses

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Inner ear

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The innermost part of the ear containing the cochlea semicircular canals and vestibular sacs

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Place theory

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In hearing, the theory that links the pitch we here with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated

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Frequency theory

Back 41

In hearing, the theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a time, thus enabling us to sense its pitch

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Conduction hearing loss

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Hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea.

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Sensorineural hearing loss

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Damage to the cochlea's hair cell receptors or their associated nerves can cause this kind of hearing loss

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Cochlear implant

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Restore hearing for people with nerve deafness. This electronic device translates sounds into electrical signals that, wired into the cochlea's nerves, convey information about sound to the brain.

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Kinesthesis

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Your sense of position and movement of your body parts.

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Vestibular sense

Back 46

Monitors your head's (and thus your body's) position and movement.

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Gate-control theory

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Theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological gate that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain. The gate is opened up by the activity of pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers and is closed by activity in larger fibers or by information coming from the brain

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Sensory interaction

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The principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences its taste

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Sweet salty sour bitter umami

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Basic tastes

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Gestalt

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An organized whole. Psychologists of this field emphasize our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes

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Figure-ground

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The organization of the visual field into objects that stand out from their surroundings

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Grouping

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Perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups

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Depth perception

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The ability to see objects in three dimensions. Although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance

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Visual cliff

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A laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals

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Binocular cues

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Depth cues such as retinal disparity that depend on the use of two eyes

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Retinal disparity

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A binocular cue for perceiving depth. By comparing images from the retinas and the two eyes, the brain computes distance- the greater the disparity between the two images, the closer the object

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Monocular cue

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Depth cues such as interposition and linear perspective available to either eye alone

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Phi penomenon

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An illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession

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Perceptual constancy

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Perceiving object is unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change

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Color constancy

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Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color even if changing illumination alters the wavelength reflected by the object

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Perceptual adaptation

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In vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field

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Perceptual set

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A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

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Telepathy

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Mind to mind communication. One person sending thoughts to another or perceiving another's thoughts.

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Clairvoyance

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Receiving remote events such as sensing that a friends house is on fire

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Precognition

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Perceiving future events such as a political leaders death or a sporting events outcome

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Psychokinesis

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Mind over matter; such as levitating a table or influencing the roll of a die