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54 Cards in this Set
- Front
- Back
the overall process of apprehending objects and events in the environment--to sense them, understand them, identify and label them, and prepare to react to them
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perception
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what you perceive
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percept
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process by which stimulation of sensory receptors--the structures in our eyes, ears, and so on--produces neural impulses that represent experiences inside or outside the body
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sensation
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the stage in which an internal representation of an object is formed and a percept of the external stimulus is developed
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perceptual organization
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assigns meaning to percepts
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identification and recognition
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the physical object in the world
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distal stimulus
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the optical image on the retina
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proximal stimulus
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a single image at the sensory level can result in multiple interpretations at the perceptual and identification levels
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ambiguity
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when your perceptual systems actually deceive you into experiencing a stimulus pattern in a manner that is demonstrably incorrect
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illusion
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study of the relationship between physical stimuli and the behavior or mental experiences the stimuli evoke
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psychophysics
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the minimum amount of physical energy needed to produce a sensory experience
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absolute threshold
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a graph that shows the percentage of detections at each stimuls intensity
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psychometric function
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the diminishing responsiveness of sensory systems to prolonged stimulus input
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sensory adaption
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the systematic tendency for an observer to favor responding in a particular way because of factors unrelated to the sensory features of the stimulus
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response bias
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a systematic approach to the problem of response bias
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signal detection theory (SDT)
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the smallest physical difference between two stimuli that can still be recognized as a difference
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difference threshold
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the point at which the stimuli are recognized as different half of the time
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just noticeable difference (JND)
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The JND between stimuli is a constant fraction of the intensity of the standard stimulus
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Weber's law
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the conversion of one form of physical energy, such as light, to another form, such as neural impulses is called
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transduction
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convert the physical for of the sensory signal into cellular signals that can be processed by the nervous system
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sensory receptors
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the process by which the ciliary muscles change the thickness of the lens of the eye to permit variable focusing on near and distant objects
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accommodation
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gradual improvement of the eyes sensitivity after a shift in illumination from light to near darkness
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dark adaptation
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small region near the center of the retina which contains nothing but densely packed cones
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fovea
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nerve cells that combine impulses from many receptors and send the results to ganglion cells
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bipolar cells
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integrates the impulses from one or more bipolar cells into a single firing rate
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ganglion cell
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integrate information across the retina
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horizontal and amacrine cells
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the ultimate destination of much visual information
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visual cortex
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how things look
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pattern recognition
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where things are
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place recognition
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area of a cell in the visual field from which receives stimulation
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receptive field
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dimension that captures the qualitative experience of the color of a light
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hue
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the psychological dimension that captures the purity and vividness of color sensations
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saturation
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the dimension of color experience that captures the intensity of light
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brightness
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wavelengeth that appear directly across from each other on the color circle
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complementary colors
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opposite of original color
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negative afterimage
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all color experiences arise from three underlying systems, each of which includes two opponent elements--red vs green, blue vs yellow, or back (no color) vs white (all colors)
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opponent-process theory
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highness or lowness of a sound determined by the sound's frequency
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pitch
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physical intensity of a sound
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loudness
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explains pitch by the rate of vibration of the basilar membrane
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frequency theory
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ability to determine the spatial origins of auditory events
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sound localization
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chemical substances used within a given species to signal sexual receptivity, danger, territorial boundaries, and food sources
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pheromones
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skin senses
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cutaneous senses
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sense that tells you how your body--expecially your head-- is oriented in the world with respect to gravity
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vestibular sense
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sense that provides constant sensory feedback about what the body is doing during motor activities
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kinesthetic sense
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the body's response to stimulation from harmful stimuli
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pain
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cells in the spinal cord act as neurological gates, interrupting and blocking some pain signals and letting others get through to the brain
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gate-control theory
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the distance from you to an object
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depth
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you see the world as invariant, constant, and stable despite changes in the stimulation of your sensory receptors
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perceptual constancy
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when an opaque object blocks out part of a second object
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interposition or occlusion
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your ability to perceive the true size of an object despite variations in the size of its retinal image
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size constancy
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you percieve an objects actual shape correctly even when the object is slanted away from you
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shape constancy
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your tendency to perceive the whiteness, grayness, or blackness of objects as constant across changing levels of illumination
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lightness constancy
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involves your past experiences, knowledge, motivations, and cultural background in perceiving the world
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top-down-processing
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a temporary readiness to perceive or react to a stimulus in a particular way
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set
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