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Experience Psychology Chapter 3 Flashcards

experience psychology chapter 3

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314831426sensationthe process of receiving stimulus energies from the external environment and transforming those energies into neural energy0
314831427perceptionthe process of organizing and interpreting sensory information so that it makes sense1
314831428bottom-up processingthe operation in sensation and perception in which sensory receptors register information about the external environment and sent it up to the brain for interpretation--automatic2
314831429top-down processingthe operation in sensation and perception, launched by cognitive processing at the brain's higher levels that allows the organism to sense what is happening and to apply that framework to inforamtion from the world3
314831430sensory receptorsspecialized cells that detect stimulus information and transmit it to sensory (afferent) nerves and the brain4
314831431absolute thresholdthe minimum amount of stimulus energy that a person can detect5
314831432noiseirrelevant and competing stimuli--not only sounds but also any distracting stimuli for our senses6
314831433subliminal perceptionthe detection of information below the level of conscious awareness7
314831434difference thresholdthe degree of difference that must exist between two stimuli before the difference is detected8
314831435Weber's lawthe principle that two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount) to be perceived as different9
314831436selective attentionthe act of focusing on a specific aspect of experience while ignoring others10
314831437perceptual seta predisposition or readiness to perceive something in a particular way11
314831438sensory adaptationa change in teh responsiveness of the sensory system based on the average level of surrounding stimualtion12
314831439lighta form of electromagnetic energy that can be described in terms of wavelengths13
314831440huethe wavelenght of light that is reflected from a stimulus14
314831441corneathe structure that contacts the environment and focuses light15
314831442iristhe structure that gives the eye color, controls the amount of light, and responds to arousal16
314831443lensthe structure that changes to allow shaper focus17
314831444retinathe structure where the photorecpetors, which change light to neural activity, are located18
314831445foveathe structure with the highest density of photoreceptors that we place an image on when we focus19
314831446rodsthe photoreceptors that process light and dark, movement, and night vision20
314831447conesthe photoreceptors that break light into perceptual color21
314831448optic nervethe structue at teh back of the eye, made up of axons of the ganglion cells, that carries visual information to the brain for further processing22
314831449blind-spotthe place on the retina that contains neither rods nor cones; is the place on the retina where the optic nerve leaves the eye on its way to the brain23
314831450feature detectorsneurons in the brain's visual system that respond to particular features of a stimulus24
314831451paralllel processingthe simultaneous distribution of information across different neural pathways25
314831452bindingin the sense of vision, the bringing together and integration of what is processed by different neural pathways or cells26
314831453trichromatic theorytheory stating that color perception is produced by three types of cone receptors in the retina that are particularily sensitive to different, but overlapping, ranges of wavelengths27
314831454opponent-process theorytheory stating that cells in the visual system respond to complementary pairs of red-green and blue-yellow colors; a given cell might be excited by red and inhibited by green, whereas another cell might be excited by yellow and inhibited by blue28
314831455figure-ground relationshipthe principle by which we organize the perceptual field into stimuli that stand out (figure) and those that are left over (ground)29
314831456gestalt psychologya school of thought interested in how people naturally organize their perceptions according to certain patterns30
314831457depth perceptionthe ability to perceive objects three-dimensionally31
314831458binocular cuesdepth cues that depend on the combination of the images in teh left and right eyes and on the way the two eyes work together32
314831459disparitydifference between the images in the two eyes is the binocular cue the brain uses to determine the depth, or distance of an object33
314831460convergencea binocular cue to depth and distance in which teh muscle movements in our two eyes provide inforamtion about how deep and/or far away something is34
314831461monocular cuespowerful depth cues available from the image in one eye, either the right or left35
314831462familiar sizethe cue is based on what we have learned from experience about the standard sizes of objects.36
314831463height in field of viewall other things being equal, objects positioned higher in a picture are seen as farther away37
314831464linear perspective and relative sizeobjects that are farther away take up less space on teh retina38
314831465overlapwe percieve an object that partially conceals or overlaps another object as closer39
314831466shadingthe cue involves changes in perception due to the position of the light and the position of the viewer40
314831467texture gradienttexture becomes denser and finer the farther away it is from the viewer41
314831468apparent movementthe perception that a stationary object is moving42
314831469perceptual constancythe recognition that objects are constant and unchanging even though sensory input about them is changing43
314831470pitchthe perceptual interpretation of the frequency of a sound44
314831471loudnessthe perception of the sound wave's amplitude45
314831472outer earthe outermost part of the ear; consisting of the pinna and the external auditory canal46
314831473middle earthe part of the ear that channels sounds through the eardrum, hammer, anvil, and stirrup to the inner ear47
314831474inner earthe part of the ear that includes the oval window, cochlea, and basilar membrane and whose funstion is to cnvert sound waves into neural impulses and send them to the brain48
314831475place theorytheory on how the inner ear registers the frequency of sound; stating that each frequency produces vibrations at a particular spot on the basilar membrane49
314831476frequency theorytheory on how the inner ear registers the frequency of sound, stating that the perception of a sound's frequency depends on how often the auditory nerve fires50
314831477volley principlemodification of frequency theory stating that a cluster of nerve cells can fire neural impulses in rpaid successions. producing a volley of impulses51
314831478auditory nervethe nerve structure that receives information about sound from the hair cells of the inner ear and carries these neural impulses to the brain's auditory areas52

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