Weiten Ch 4

Front 1

Absolute threshold

Back 1

The minimum amount of stimulation that an organism can detect for a specific type of sensory input.

Front 2

Additive color mixing

Back 2

Formation of colors by superimposing lights, putting more light in the mixture than exists in any one light by itself.

Front 3

Afterimage

Back 3

A visual image that persists after a stimulus is removed.

Front 4

Auditory localization

Back 4

Locating the source of a sound in space.

Front 5

Basilar membrane

Back 5

A structure that runs the length of the cochlea in the inner ear and holds the auditory receptors, called hair cells.

Front 6

Binocular depth cues

Back 6

Clues about distance based on the differing views of the two eyes.

Front 7

Bottom-up processing

Back 7

In form perception, progression from individual elements to the whole.

Front 8

Cochlea

Back 8

The fluid-filled, coiled tunnel in the inner ear that contains the receptors for hearing.

Front 9

Color blindness

Back 9

Deficiency in the ability to distinguish among colors.

Front 10

Comparitors

Back 10

People, objects, events, and other standards that are used as a baseline for comparisons in making judgments.

Front 11

Complementary colors

Back 11

Pairs of colors that produce gray tones when added together.

Front 12

Cones

Back 12

Specialized visual receptors that play a key role in daylight vision and color vision.

Front 13

Convergence

Back 13

A cue to depth that involves sensing the eyes converging toward each other as they focus on closer objects.

Front 14

Dark adaptation

Back 14

The process in which the eyes become more sensitive to light in low illumination.

Front 15

Depth perception

Back 15

Interpretation of visual cues that indicate how near or far away objects are.

Front 16

Distal stimuli

Back 16

Stimuli that lie in the distance (that is, in the world outside the body).

Front 17

Door-in-the-face technique

Back 17

Making a large request that is likely to be turned down as a way to increase the chances that people will agree to a smaller request later

Front 18

Farsightedness

Back 18

A vision deficiency in which distant objects are seen clearly but close objects appear blurry.

Front 19

Feature analysis

Back 19

The process of detecting specific elements in visual input and assembling them into a more complex form.

Front 20

Feature detectors

Back 20

Neurons that respond selectively to very specific features of more complex stimuli.

Front 21

Fechner's law

Back 21

A psychophysical law stating that larger and larger increases in stimulus intensity are required to produce perceptible increments in the magnitude of sensation.

Front 22

Fovea

Back 22

A tiny spot in the center of the retina that contains only cones; visual acuity is greatest at this spot.

Front 23

Frequency theory

Back 23

The theory that perception of pitch corresponds to the rate, or frequency, at which the entire basilar membrane vibrates.

Front 24

Gate-control theory

Back 24

The idea that incoming pain sensations must pass through a “gate“ in the spinal cord that can be closed, thus blocking pain signals.

Front 25

Gustatory system

Back 25

The sensory system for taste.

Front 26

Impossible figures

Back 26

Objects that can be represented in two-dimensional pictures but cannot exist in three-dimensional space.

Front 27

Just noticeable difference (JND)

Back 27

The smallest difference in the amount of stimulation that a specific sense can detect.

Front 28

Kinesthetic system

Back 28

The sensory system that monitors the positions of the various parts of one's body.

Front 29

Lateral antagonism

Back 29

A process in the retina that occurs when neural activity in a cell opposes activity in surrounding cells.

Front 30

Lens

Back 30

The transparent eye structure that focuses the light rays falling on the retina.

Front 31

Light adaptation

Back 31

The process whereby the eyes become less sensitive to light in high illumination.

Front 32

Monocular depth cues

Back 32

Clues about distance based on the image from either eye alone.

Front 33

Motion parallax

Back 33

Cue to depth that involves images of objects at different distances moving across the retina at different rates.

Front 34

Nearsightedness

Back 34

A vision deficiency in which close objects are seen clearly but distant objects appear blurry.

Front 35

Olfactory system

Back 35

The sensory system for smell.

Front 36

Opponent process theory

Back 36

The theory that color perception depends on receptors that make antagonistic responses to three pairs of colors.

Front 37

Optic chiasm

Back 37

The point at which the optic nerves from the inside half of each eye cross over and then project to the opposite half of the brain.

Front 38

Optic disk

Back 38

A hole in the retina where the optic nerve fibers exit the eye.

Front 39

Optical illusion

Back 39

An apparently inexplicable discrepancy between the appearance of a visual stimulus and its physical reality.

Front 40

Parallel processing

Back 40

Simultaneously extracting different kinds of information from the same input.

Front 41

Perception

Back 41

The selection, organization, and interpretation of sensory input.

Front 42

Perceptual constancy

Back 42

A tendency to experience a stable perception in the face of continually changing sensory input.

Front 43

Perceptual hypothesis

Back 43

An inference about which distal stimuli could be responsible for the proximal stimuli sensed.

Front 44

Perceptual set

Back 44

A readiness to perceive a stimulus in a particular way.

Front 45

Pictorial depth cues

Back 45

Clues about distance that can be given in a flat picture.

Front 46

Place theory

Back 46

The idea that perception of pitch corresponds to the vibration of different portions, or places, along the basilar membrane.

Front 47

Proximal stimuli

Back 47

The stimulus energies that impinge directly on sensory receptors.

Front 48

Psychophysics

Back 48

The study of how physical stimuli are translated into psychological experience.

Front 49

Pupil

Back 49

The opening in the center of the iris that helps regulate the amount of light passing into the rear chamber of the eye.

Front 50

Receptive field of a visual cell

Back 50

The retinal area that, when stimulated, affects the firing of that cell.

Front 51

Retina

Back 51

The neural tissue lining the inside back surface of the eye; it absorbs light, processes images, and sends visual information to the brain.

Front 52

Retinal disparity

Back 52

A cue to the depth based on the fact that objects within 25 feet project images to slightly different locations on the left and right retinas, so the right and left eyes see slightly different views of the object.

Front 53

Reversible figure

Back 53

A drawing that is compatible with two different interpretations that can shift back and forth.

Front 54

Rods

Back 54

Specialized visual receptors that play a key role in night vision and peripheral vision.

Front 55

Sensation

Back 55

The stimulation of sense organs.

Front 56

Sensory adaptation

Back 56

A gradual decline in sensitivity to prolonged stimulation.

Front 57

Signal-detection theory

Back 57

A psychophysiological theory proposing that the detection of stimuli involves decision processes as well as sensory processes, which are influenced by a variety of factors besides the physical intensity of a stimulus.

Front 58

Subjective contours

Back 58

The perception of contrours where none actually exist.

Front 59

Subliminal perception

Back 59

The registration of sensory input without conscious awareness.

Front 60

Subtractive color mixing

Back 60

Formation of colors by removing some wavelengths of light, leaving less light than was originally there.

Front 61

Threshold

Back 61

A dividing point between energy levels that do and do not have a detectable effect.

Front 62

Top-down processing

Back 62

In form perception, a progression from the whole to the elements.

Front 63

Trichromatic theory

Back 63

The theory of color vision holding that the human eye has three types of receptors with differing sensitivities to different wavelengths.

Front 64

Vestibular system

Back 64

The sensory system that responds to gravity and keeps people informed of their body's location in space.

Front 65

Visual agnosia

Back 65

An inability to recognize objects.

Front 66

Volley principle

Back 66

The theory holding that groups of auditory nerve fibers fire neural impulses in rapid succession, creating volleys of impulses.

Front 67

Weber's law

Back 67

The theory stating that the size of a just noticeable difference is a constant proportion of the size of the initial stimulus.

Front 68

Phi phenomenon

Back 68

The illusion of movement created by presenting visual stimuli in rapid succession.