Chapter 4 Ap Psychology

Front 1

Perception

Back 1

The selection, organization, and interpretation of sensory

Front 2

Psychophysics

Back 2

The study of how physical stimuli ate translated into psychological experiences.

Front 3

Threshold

Back 3

Dividing point between energy levels that do and do not have detectable effects.

Front 4

Absolute Threshold

Back 4

For a specific type of sensory input is the minimum stimulus energy/intensity that an organism can detect.

Front 5

Sensation

Back 5

The stimulation of sense organs.

Front 6

Just Noticeable Difference (JND)

Back 6

The smallest difference in stimulus intensity that a specific sense can detect.

Front 7

Weber's Law

Back 7

States that the size of a JND is a constant proportion of the size of the initial stimulus.

Front 8

Signal Detection Theory

Back 8

Proposes that the detection of stimuli involves decision processes as well as sensory processes, which are both influenced by a variety of factors besides stimulus intensity.

Front 9

Subliminal Perception

Back 9

The registration of sensory input without conscious awareness.

Front 10

Sensory Adaptation

Back 10

A gradual decline in sensitivity to prolonged stimulus.

Front 11

Light

Back 11

A form of electromagnetic radiation that travels as a wave, moving at the speed of light.

Front 12

Retina

Back 12

A natural tissue that channels light.

Front 13

Cornea

Back 13

Transparent "window" at the front of the eyeball.

Front 14

Lens

Back 14

Transparent eye structure that focuses the light rays falling on the retina.

Front 15

Nearsightedness

Back 15

Close objects are seen clearly but distant objects are seen.

*eyeball is too long.

Front 16

Farsightedness

Back 16

Distant objects are seen clearly but close objects appear blurry.

*eyeball is too short.

Front 17

Pupil

Back 17

The opening in the center of the iris that permits light to pass into the rear chamber of the true.

Front 18

Iris

Back 18

Regulates the amount of light entering the eye.

*shows as the eye color.

Front 19

Optic disk

Back 19

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

Front 20

Rods

Back 20

Elongated receptor cells in the retina.

*humans have 100-125 million.
*play a key role in night vision and peripheral vision.

Front 21

Cones

Back 21

Stubbier receptor cells in the retina.

*humans have 5-6.4 million.
*plays a key role in daytime and color vision.

Front 22

Fovea

Back 22

A tiny pot in the center of the retina that contains only cones. Visual accuracy is greatest at this point.

Front 23

Dark Adaptation

Back 23

The process in which the eye becomes more sensitive to light in low illumination.

Front 24

Light Adaptation

Back 24

The process whereby the eye becomes less sensitive to light in high illumination.

Front 25

The Receptive Field of a Visual Cell

Back 25

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

Front 26

Lateral Antagonism

Back 26

Occurs when neural activity in a call opposes activity in surrounding cells.

Front 27

Simple Cell

Back 27

Cells that correspond to correct width, angle and receptive fields.

Front 28

Complex Cell

Back 28

Cells that correspond to correct width and angle, yet it can deal with any formation of the receptive fields.

Front 29

Optic Chaism

Back 29

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 30

Parallel Processing

Back 30

Which involves simultaneously extracting different kinds of information from the same input.

*Magnocellular=information regarding brightness.
*Parvocellular=information regarding color.

Front 31

Feature Detectors

Back 31

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

Front 32

Subtractive Color Mixing

Back 32

Works by removing some wavelengths of light, leaving less.

Front 33

Additive Color Mixing

Back 33

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

Front 34

Trichromatic Theory of Color Vision

Back 34

Holds that the human eye has three types of receptors with differing sensitivities to different wavelengths.

*First stated by Thomas Young and later modified by Hermann von Helmholtz.

Front 35

Color Blindness

Back 35

Encompasses a variety of deficiencies in the ability to distinguish among colors.

*Dichromatic=2, not 3.

Front 36

Complimentary Colors

Back 36

Pairs of colors that produce gray tones when mixed together.

Front 37

Afterimage

Back 37

A visual image that persists after a stimulus is removed.

Front 38

Opponent Process Theory of Color Vision

Back 38

Color perception depends on receptors that make antagonistic responses to three pairs of colors (Red vs. Green, Yellow vs. Blue, White vs. Black)

*Developed by Ewald Hering.

Front 39

Reversible Figure

Back 39

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

Front 40

Perceptual Set

Back 40

A readiness to perceive a stimulus in a particular way.

Front 41

Inattentional Blindness

Back 41

Involves the failure to see visible objects or events because one's attention is focused elsewhere.

Front 42

Feature Analysis

Back 42

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

Front 43

Bottom-Up Processing

Back 43

A progression from individual elements to the whole.

Front 44

Top-Down Processing

Back 44

A progression from the whole to the elements.

Front 45

Subjective Contours

Back 45

The perception of contours where none actually exist.

Front 46

The Phi Phenomenon

Back 46

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

*Movies, TV, animation, etc.

Front 47

Figure

Back 47

The thing being looked at.

Front 48

Ground

Back 48

The background against the figure.

Front 49

Proximity

Back 49

Things that are near one another seem to belong together.

Front 50

Distal Stimuli

Back 50

Stimuli that lie in the distance.

Front 51

Proximal Stimuli

Back 51

The stimulus energies that impinge directly on sensory receptors.

Front 52

Perceptual Hypothesis

Back 52

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

Front 53

Depth Perception

Back 53

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

Front 54

Binocular Depth Cues

Back 54

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

Front 55

Retinal Disparity

Back 55

Refers to the fact that objects within 25 feet away project images to slightly different locations on the right and left retinas.

Front 56

Convergence

Back 56

Sensing the eye converging toward each other as they focus on closer objects.

Front 57

Monocular Cues

Back 57

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

Front 58

Motion Parallex

Back 58

Involves images of objects at different distances moving across the retina at different rates.

Front 59

Pictorial Depth Cues

Back 59

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

Front 60

Perceptual Constancies

Back 60

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

Front 61

Visual Illusion

Back 61

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

Front 62

Impossible Figures

Back 62

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

Front 63

External Ear

Back 63

Depends on the vibration of air molecules.

*Consists mainly of the Pinna, a sound-collecting cone in the ear. Sound waves from the Pinna travel to the eardrum.

Front 64

Middle Ear

Back 64

Depends on the vibration of movable bones.

*Sounds waves travel from the eardrum to the three smallest bones in the body (Hammer, Anvil, Stirrup).

Front 65

Inner Ear

Back 65

Depends on waves in a fluid, which is then transferred as neural signals to the brain.

Front 66

Cochlea

Back 66

A fluid-filled, coiled tunnel that contains the receptors for hearing.

Front 67

Basilar Membrane

Back 67

Holds the auditory receptors (hair cells). The hair cells make the neurological impulses that are sent to the brain.

Front 68

Place Theory

Back 68

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

Front 69

Frequency Theory

Back 69

Holds that perception of pitch corresponds to the rate, or frequency, along the basilar membrane.

Front 70

Volley Principle

Back 70

Holds that groups of auditory nerve fibers fire neural impulses at rapid succession, creating volley impulses.

Front 71

Auditory Localization

Back 71

Locating the source of sound in space.

Front 72

Gustatory System

Back 72

The sensory system for taste.

Front 73

The Olfactory System

Back 73

The sensory system for smell.

Front 74

Pressure

Back 74

When a stimulus is applied continuously to a specific spot on the skin.

Front 75

Fast Pathway

Back 75

Registers localized pain and relays it to the cortex in a fraction of a second.

*Depends on thicker, myelinated nuerons called A-Delta Fibers.

Front 76

Slow Pathway

Back 76

Lags a second or two behind the fast system. It conveys less localized, longer-lasting aching or burning pain that comes after the initial injury.

*Depends on thin, unmyelinated neurons called C Fibers.

Front 77

Gate-Control Theory

Back 77

Holds that incoming pain sensations must pass through a "gate" in the spinal cord that can be closed, thus blocking ascending pain signals.

*Developed by Ronald Melzack and Patrick Wall.

Front 78

Kinesthetic System

Back 78

Monitors the positions of the various parts of the body.

Front 79

Vestibular System

Back 79

Responds to gravity and keeps you informed of your body's location in space.