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AP Psychology: Sensation and Perception Flashcards

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5529433676Absolute thresholdthe lowest level of a stimulus —light, sound, touch, etc.—that an organism could detect.0
5529433677Accommodationinvolves altering one's existing schemas, or ideas, as a result of new information or new experiences.1
5529433678Selective Attentionthe process by which a person can selectively pick out one message from a mixture of messages occurring simultaneously2
5529433679Parallel ProcessingThe ability for the brain to process many things at once.3
5529433680Kinesthesisbody sense that provides information about the position and movement of individuals parts of your body with receptor in muscles, tendons, and joints4
5529433681SensationA physical feeling or perception resulting from something that happens to or comes into contact with the body5
5529433682Figure-groundRecognizing objects through vision. Identifies a figure from a background.6
5529433683Sensory AdaptionThe process in which changes in the sensitivity of sensory receptors occur in relation to the stimulus7
5529433684Difference thresholdthe smallest amount by which two sensory stimuli can differ in order for an individual to perceive them as different.8
5529433685Sensory Interactionthis is the principle that one sense can influence another. Smell influences taste.9
5529433686signal detection theoryis a means to quantify the ability to discern between information-bearing patterns (called stimulus in humans, signal in machines) and random patterns that distract from the information (called noise, consisting of background stimuli and random activity of the detection ...10
5529433687Somatosensationthe skin: touch/pressure, warmth, cold, pain11
5529433688Grouping (gestalt 'laws')Set of principles. Accounts for the observation that humans perceive objects as organized patterns and objects naturally.12
5529433689Vestibular sensebody sense of equilibrium with hairlike receptors in semicircular canals and vestibular sac in the inner ear13
5529433690OlfactionThe sense of smell of with the receptors in the mucous membrane on the roof of the nasal cavity.14
5529433691Rodsare photoreceptor cells in the retina of the eye that can function in less intense light than the other type of visual photoreceptor, cone cells.15
5529433692Pitchthe quality of a sound governed by the rate of vibrations producing it; the degree of highness or lowness of a tone.16
5529433693Place Theoryis a theory of hearing which states that our perception of sound depends on where each component frequency produces vibrations along the basilar membrane.17
5529433694Sensorineural Hearing Lossis a type of hearing loss, or deafness, in which the root cause lies in the inner ear (cochlea and associated structures), vestibulocochlear nerve (cranial nerve VIII), or central auditory processing centers of the brain.18
5529433695Visual Cliff Experimentsto investigate depth perception in human and animal species.19
5529433696HueA color or shade20
5529433697Primingis an implicit memory effect in which exposure to one stimulus influences the response to another stimulus.21
5529433698Binocular cuesvisual information that are taken by two eyes that allow us a sense of depth perception, or stereopsis.22
5529433700Foveaa small depression in the retina of the eye where visual acuity is highest. The center of the field of vision is focused in this region, where retinal cones are particularly concentrated.23
5529433701Wavelengththe distance between successive crests of a wave, especially points in a sound wave or electromagnetic wave.24
5529433702Stroboscopic Effectvisual phenomenon that makes moving objects appear still when viewed in discrete series of short or instantaneous as distinct from a continuous view.25
5529433703divided attentionPaying attention to 2 things at once so more tasks can be performed at the same time.26
5529433704top down processingwe form our perceptions starting with a larger object, concept, or idea before working our way toward more detailed information.27
5529433705Subliminalexisting or operating below the threshold of consciousness28
5529433706Frequencythe number of complete waves that pass a given point in space every second29
5529433708conesA type of specialized light-sensitive cell (photoreceptor) in the retina of the eye that provides color vision and sharp central vision.30
5529433709Gustationthe chemical sense of taste with receptors cells in the taste bud in fungiform papillae on the tongue, on the roof of the mouth, and in the throat.31
5529433710Gate-control theorypain is experienced only if the pain messages can pass through a gate in the spinal cord on their route to the brain. The gate is opened by small nerve fiber that carry pain signals and closed by neural activity of larger nerve fibers, which conduct most other sensory signals, or by information coming from the brain32
5529433711Perceptual Constancyanimals and humans to see familiar objects that have standard shape, size, color, or location no matter the changes in the angle of perceptive, distance, or lighting.33
5529433712AmplitudeThe maximum extent of a vibration or oscillation, measured from the position of equilibrium34
5529433713Extrasensory PerceptionThe faculty of perceiving things by means other than the known senses35
5529433715Gestaltan organized whole that is perceived as more than the sum of its parts.36
5529433717Weber's Lawsdifference threshold increase in proportion to the size of the stimulus37
5529433718Inattentional blindnessalso known as perceptual blindness, is a psychological lack of attention and is not associated with any vision defects or deficits.38
5529433720Photoreceptorsmodified neurons that convert light energy to electrochemical neural impulses39
5529433721Acuityability to detect fine details; sharpness of vision. Can be affected by small distortions in the shape of the eye40
5529433722Proximal Stimulusphysical stimulation that is available to be measured by an observer's sensory apparatus.41
5529433723Perceptual Adaptationthe ability of the body to adapt to an environment by tuning out distractions.42
5529433724Phi Phenomenonthe optical illusion of perceiving a series of still images43
5529433725bottom-up processingas an approach wherein there is a progression from the individual elements to the whole.44
5529433726Opponent-process theoryproposed mechanism for color vision with opposing retinal process for red-green, yellow-blue, white-black. Some retinal cells are stimulated by one of a pair in inhibited by the other45
5529433727Attentionthe set of process from which you choose among the various stimuli bombarding your senses at any instant, allowing some to be further processed by your senses and brain46
5529433728illusiona perception, as of visual stimuli that represents what is perceived in a way different from the way it is in reality.47
5529433730Auditionthe sense of hearing. The loudness of a sound is determined by the amplitude or height of the sound wave48
5529433731Cocktail Party Effectis the phenomenon of being able to focus one's auditory attention on a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli, much the same way that a partygoer can focus on a single conversation in a noisy room.49
5529433732Change Blindnessis a surprising perceptual phenomenon that occurs when a change in a visual stimulus is introduced and the observer does not notice it.50
5529433733intensityIntensity refers to light and sound waves, and is defined as the amount of energy in a light or sound wave.51
5529433734Conduction Hearing Lossoccurs when there is a problem conducting sound waves anywhere along the route through the outer ear, tympanic membrane (eardrum), or middle ear (ossicles).52

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