Psychology Chapter 5

Front 1

stimuli

Back 1

a thing or event that evokes a specific functional reaction in an organ or tissue
(pg 139)

Front 2

Neurochemistry

Back 2

is the specific study of neurochemicals that influence neuron function.
(pg 139)

Front 3

Sensation

Back 3

The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment
(pg 139)

Front 4

bottom-up processing

Back 4

analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information
(pg 139)

Front 5

Perception

Back 5

How we select, organize and interpret our sensations
(pg 139)

Front 6

top-down processing

Back 6

information processing guided by higher-level mental processes as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations
(relating stored knowledge to the sensory input)
(pg 139)

Front 7

Prosopagnosia

Back 7

the lose of the ability to recognize people
(pg 139)

Front 8

Psychophysics

Back 8

the study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli and our psychological experience of them
(pg 140)

Front 9

absolute thresholds

Back 9

the minimum stimulation necessary to detect a particular light. sound pressure taste or odor 50% of the time
(the red dot demonstration in class)

Front 10

subliminal

Back 10

below one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness
(pg 140)

Front 11

adaption

Back 11

our diminshing sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus
(pg. 142)

Front 12

wavelength

Back 12

the distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next
(pg. 145)

Front 13

hue

Back 13

the color we experience (ex blue or red)

Front 14

Intensity

Back 14

the amount of energy in the wavelength or a sound wave that determines the brightness or loudness. as determined by the wave's amplitude
(pg. 145)

Front 15

cornea

Back 15

bends the light to provide focus and protects the eye
(pg. 144)

Front 16

pupil

Back 16

a colored muscle that adjusts in size to regulate the amount of light reaching the retina.
(pg. 144)

Front 17

iris

Back 17

adjustable small opening (pupil) in the center.
(pg. 144)

Front 18

lens

Back 18

focuses incoming light rays into an image on the retina
(pg. 145)

Front 19

retina

Back 19

a multilayered tissue on the eyeball's sensitive inner surface, sensitive to light and that trigger nerve impulses
(pg 145)

Front 20

accommodation

Back 20

the lens focusing the rays by changing its curvature

Front 21

rods

Back 21

retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision , when cones don't respond
(pg. 145)

Front 22

cones

Back 22

retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and the function in daylight or in well-lit conditions. The cones detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations
(pg. 145

Front 23

optic nerve

Back 23

carries information to your brain
(pg. 146)

Front 24

blind spot

Back 24

when the optic nerve leaves the eye... so no receptor cells are located there
(pg 146)

Front 25

fovea

Back 25

the central focal point in the retina around which the eye's cones cluster
(pg. 147)

Front 26

feature detector

Back 26

neurons that receive information from individual ganglion cells in the retina
(pg. 147)

Front 27

parallel processing

Back 27

the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions
(pg. 149)

Front 28

blindsight

Back 28

a localized area of blindness in part of their field of vision
(pg. 149)

Front 29

Young- helmholtz trichromatic theory

Back 29

the theory that the retina contains three different color receptor- sensitive to blue green and red- which when stimulatied in combination can produce the perception of any color
(pg. 151)

Front 30

Opponent process theory

Back 30

the theory that opposing retinal processese (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision. For example, some cells are stimulate by green and inhibited by red; other are stimulated by red and inhibited by green

Front 31

audition

Back 31

hearing
(pg. 151)

Front 32

frequency

Back 32

the number of complete wavelength that pass a point in a given time
(pg. 153)

Front 33

amplitude

Back 33

strength of the sound waves
(pg. 152)

Front 34

pitch

Back 34

a tone's experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequency
(pg. 153)

Front 35

decibels

Back 35

how we measure sound
(pg. 152)

Front 36

middle ear

Back 36

tramits the eardrum's vibrations through a piston made of three tiny bones to the cochlea
(pg. 153)

Front 37

cochlea

Back 37

a snail- shaped tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses
(pg. 159)

Front 38

inner ear

Back 38

the innermost part of the ear containing the cochlea semiciruclar canals and vestibular sacs
(pg. 153)

Front 39

four distinct skin senses

Back 39

cold, pain, pressure warmth
(pg. 155)

Front 40

gate control theory

Back 40

the 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 by the activity in larger fibers orby information coming from the brain
(pg. 157)

Front 41

gesalt

Back 41

an organized whole
(pg 163)

Front 42

grouping

Back 42

the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups
(pg. 163)

Front 43

vestibular sense

Back 43

the sense of body movement and position including the sense of balance
(pg. 162)

Front 44

proximity

Back 44

grouping nearby figures together
(pg. 164)

Front 45

similarity

Back 45

grouping similar figures together
(pg. 163)

Front 46

continuity

Back 46

perceiving smooth continuous patterns rather that discontinuous ones
(pg. 164)

Front 47

connectedness

Back 47

perceiving something as a single unit
(pg. 164)

Front 48

closure

Back 48

filling in gaps to create a a complete whole object
(pg. 164)

Front 49

depth perception

Back 49

seeing objects in three dimensions enabling us to estimate the distance objects are from us

Front 50

visual cliff

Back 50

a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infant and young animals
(pg. 165)

Front 51

binocular cues

Back 51

depth cues, such as retinal disparity, that depend on the use of eyes
(pg. 165)

Front 52

retinal disparity

Back 52

a binocular cue for perceiving depth by comparing images from the two eyeballs the brain computes distance- the greater the disparity between the two images the closer the object
(pg. 165)

Front 53

shape constancy

Back 53

perceiving the form of familiar objects as constant even while our retinal images of them change
(pg. 168)

Front 54

color constancy

Back 54

perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object
(pg. 167)

Front 55

perceptual constancy

Back 55

perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent lightness. color, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change
(pg 167)

Front 56

size constancy

Back 56

perceiving object as having a constant size
(pg. 168)

Front 57

lightness constancy

Back 57

perceiving an object as having a constant lightness even while its illumination varies
(pg. 169)

Front 58

relative luminance

Back 58

amount of lights an object reflects relative to it surroundings
(pg. 169)