Terms : Hide Images
| 229905799 | Absolute Threshold | this is the minimum amount of a stimulus that we detect 50% of the time | |
| 229905800 | Sensation | the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment | |
| 229905801 | Perception | the process of organizing and interpreting sensoryinformation, enabling us to recongize meaningful objects and events | |
| 229905802 | Top down processing | information processing guided by higher level mental processes, as in when we perceive optical illusions (perception) | |
| 229905803 | Bottom up processing | analysis that begins with sensory receptors and worlds up to the brain's integration of sensory information (sensation) | |
| 229905804 | Psychophysics | Started by Gustav Fechner, this field studied the relationship between the physical characteristics of stimuli and our psychological experience of them | |
| 229905805 | Gustav Fechner | The founder of psychophysics | |
| 229905806 | Signal detection theory | This theory focuses on how we detect a faint stimulus (signal) amidst background stimulation (noise) and is dependent on our experiences, level of fatigue, motivation, and expectation. It assumes there is no absolute threshold. | |
| 229905807 | Difference threshold | This the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time. It is also called the just noticeable difference | |
| 229905808 | Weber's Law | This states that to perceive a difference between two stimuli, they must differ by a constant minimun percentage (rather than a constant amont). | |
| 229905809 | Ernst Weber | Created a law that states in order perceive a difference between two stimuli, they must differ by a constant minimun percentage (rather than a constant amont). | |
| 229905810 | Subliminal | This means below one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness | |
| 229905811 | Priming | the activiation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response | |
| 229905812 | Backmasking | a recording technique in which a sound or message is recorded backward onto a track | |
| 229905813 | Habituation | this is defined as decreasing responsiveness to a repeated stimulus, for instance, you don't think about the shoes on your feet unti you read this | |
| 229905814 | Sensory Adaptation | this is defined as diminished sensitivity to a stimulus as a consequence of constant stimulation like when you get used to a smell after a few minutes | |
| 229905815 | Just Noticable Difference | This the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time. It is also called the difference threshold | |
| 229905816 | Hit | In signal detection theory, this refers to the response to a stimulus, when the stimulus is actually present. Your phone rings, you answer it | |
| 229905817 | Miss | In signal detection theory, this refers to the lack of a response to a stimulus when the stimulus is actually present. Your phone rings but you don't hear the call. | |
| 229905818 | False Alarm | In signal detection theory, this refers to the respone to a stimulus that is not present. For instance, if you are waiting for a call, you think you hear your phone ring so you pick it up, but it didn't actually ring. | |
| 229905819 | Correct Rejection | In signal detection theory this refers to the lack f response to a lack of a stimulus. No one calls, you don't check your phone or think you hear it ringing. | |
| 229905820 | Transduction | This is the process in which one energy form is turned into another. Vision, audition, olfaction, and gustation start as one stimulus energy and are changed into neural impulses our brain can understand | |
| 229905821 | Iris | The colored part of the eye that is a ring of muscle that helps contract the pupil | |
| 229905822 | Pupil | The adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light waves enter | |
| 229905823 | Blindspot | The spot in which the optic nerve and leaves the eye. | |
| 229905824 | Lens | The transparent structure behind the pupilthat changes shape to help focus on images on the retina | |
| 229905825 | Cornea | The outer covering of the eye that cover the lens and pupil | |
| 229905826 | Retina | This is where transduction occurs in the eye where photoreceptors, rods and cones are located | |
| 229905827 | Fovea | This is the central part of the retina where cones are dominant, and is where vision is centralized and sharpest | |
| 229905828 | Optic Nerve | The nerve that carries neural impulses to the visual cortex | |
| 229905829 | Optic Chiasm | The spot in the brain where the optic nerves from the left and right eye cross into the opposite brain hemisphere | |
| 229905830 | Visual Cortex | Part of the occipital lobe where sight is processed | |
| 229905831 | Accomodation | The len's ability to adjust to different light waves entering the eye to focus | |
| 229905832 | Cones | Photoreceptors found in the fovea that allow color vision | |
| 229905833 | Rods | Photoreceptors found on the periphery of the retina that allow for black, white, peripheral, and night vision. | |
| 229905834 | Ganglion Cells | The last chain of photoreceptors in the eye that carry neural impulses to the optic nerve. | |
| 229905835 | Bipolar Cells | These photoreceptors receive neural messages from the rods and the cones and relay the message to the ganglion cells | |
| 229905836 | Feature Detectors | neurons in the brain that respond to specific features of a stimulus like shape, angles, or movement | |
| 229905837 | Hubel and Wiesel | Nobel prize winning neurologists that discovered feature detectors | |
| 229905838 | Photoreceptors | Neurons in the eye that transduce light waves into neural messages and process color and back and white vision. Cones, rods, bipolar, and ganglion cells | |
| 229905839 | foveal vision | This is the part of our vision that is the sharpest. It occurs in the central part of the retina where cones are predominant. | |
| 229905840 | near sighted | This is a medical condition in which a person can see objects close up more clearly than far away objects which are blurred. It is often caused by an eye that is too long. | |
| 229905841 | far sighted | This is a medical condition in which a person can see objects far away more clearly than close up objects which are blurred. This is caused by an eye that is too short. | |
| 229905842 | astigmatism | This is the lens inability to focus on an object due to a change in the curvature of the cornea or the lens. | |
| 229905843 | blight sight | a phenomenon in which people who are perceptually blind in a certain area of their visual field demonstrate some response to visual stimuli | |
| 229905844 | parallel processing | the brains ability to process many stimuli simultaneously | |
| 229905845 | Tri-chromatic color theory | this states that the cones of the eye contain three different color receptors, red, green, and blue, which when stimulated can produce any color. | |
| 229905846 | monochromatic | this is when there is colorblindness to one color | |
| 229905847 | dichromatic | this is when there is colorblindess to two colors, most commonly red/green | |
| 229905848 | Opponent processing theory | this theory states that opposing retinal colors, red/green, blue/yellow, and black/white enable color vision. this occurs in the bipolar and ganglion cells. | |
| 229905849 | After-image | a visual image that persists in opposing colors after the stimulus that caused it is no longer operative, proving opponent processing theory | |
| 229905850 | audition | hearing | |
| 229905851 | amplitude | this refers to the height of a sound wave | |
| 229905852 | frequency | this refers to the number of sound waves that pass a certain point per second | |
| 229905853 | pinna | this is the outer, fatty/cartilage portion of the ear | |
| 229905854 | auditory canal | this is the part of the ear that carries sound waves to the eardrum | |
| 229905855 | tympanic membrane | this is another name for the eardrum | |
| 229905856 | ossicles | these are the three tiny bones inside the inner ear called the hammer, anvil, and stirrup | |
| 229905857 | hammer, anvil, and stirrup | the ossicles | |
| 229905858 | oval window | this is the part of the cochlea that the stirrup bumps up against to transfer sound waves | |
| 229905859 | cochlea | this is the snail shaped, fluid filled canal in the ear where transduction of sound waves to neural impulses occurs | |
| 229905860 | semi circular canals | this is part of the ear that regulates balance, or the vestibular sense | |
| 229905861 | basilar membrane | these are the tiny hair cells inside the ear that turn sound waves into neural impulses | |
| 229905862 | doppler effect | this is defined as a change in the observed frequency of a sound wave occurring when the source and observer are in motion relative to each other. It is commonly heard when a vehicle sounding a siren or horn approaches, passes, and recedes from an observer. | |
| 229905863 | auditory nerve | this sends neural impulses from the cochlea to the auditory cortex in the temporal lobe | |
| 229905864 | tinnitus | this means ear ringing | |
| 229905865 | auditory cortex | this is located in the left and right temporal lobes and is where audition is processed | |
| 229905866 | place theory | this theory states that the perception of pitch results from the ability of sounds of different pitch to stimulate different areas of the cochlea | |
| 229905867 | frequency theory | this theory states that the perception of pitch depends on the frequency of the nerve impulses induced by sounds of different pitch | |
| 229905868 | sound localization | this refers to a listener's ability to identify the location or origin of a detected sound in direction and distance, typically by turning their head so sound waves have a shorter distance to travel | |
| 229905869 | sensorineural | this type of hearing loss is caused by damage to the basilar membrane in the cochlea | |
| 229905870 | conduction | this type of hearing loss is caused by damage to the tympanic membrane | |
| 229905871 | cochlear implant | this is a hearing aid that is put in the cochlea to convert sounds into electrical signals | |
| 229905872 | somatosensation | this sensation includes touch, pressure, pain, and temperature | |
| 229905873 | sensory cortex | this is part of the parietal lobe that processes somatosensation | |
| 229905874 | kinesthesis | this is the sense of wear our body parts are located | |
| 229905875 | vestibular sense | this is our sense of balance, it is regulated in the inner ear | |
| 229905876 | gate control theory | this theory on pain states that the spinal chord acts as a door that allows or blocks pain signals | |
| 229905877 | gustation | this is the sense of taste | |
| 229905878 | spicy | this is not a taste but a chemical response to temperature | |
| 229905879 | sweet, salty, bitter, umami, sour | these are the five chemical tastes that our taste buds pick up | |
| 229905880 | umami | this is a meat flavored, savory taste | |
| 229905881 | supertasters | these people have more tastebuds on their tongue and don't like many foods as a result | |
| 229905882 | synaesthesia | this is a blending of senses when a person experiences something like hearing music and seeing colors at the same time | |
| 229905883 | olfaction | this is the sense of smell | |
| 229905884 | olfactory bulb | this is where smell is processed in the brain | |
| 229905885 | sensory interdependency | this is the idea that our senses do not function without the assistance of one another, for instance taste and smell work together | |
| 229905886 | gestalt | this is a perceptual theory which states we take pieces and turn them into a whole | |
| 229905887 | figure ground | this is the idea that when we look at an image, we see the central image as seperate than the background | |
| 229905888 | grouping | this is a perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into like groups | |
| 229905889 | proximity | this is a perceptual grouping technique in which we perceive objects that are close to one another as being together | |
| 229905890 | similarity | this is a perceptual grouping technique in which we perceive objects that are like one another as being together like circles and triangles | |
| 229905891 | continuity | this is a perceptual grouping technique in which we perceive objects that are follow a line or pattern as being together | |
| 229905892 | interposition | this is a monocular depth cue in which we perceive an object that is in front of another as being closer | |
| 229905893 | connectedness | this is a perceptual grouping technique in which we perceive objects that are attached as being together | |
| 229905894 | closure | this is a perceptual grouping technique in which we perceive objects that are are not complete as being complete, we fill in gaps to complete them | |
| 229905895 | depth perception | this is our ability to see objects in three dimensions through binocular and monocular cues | |
| 229905896 | visual cliff | this experiment performed by Eleanor Gibson proved that depth perception is something that even infants have | |
| 229905897 | eleanor gibson | the psychologist that created the visual cliff | |
| 229905898 | relative luminance | this is a monocular cue which says that brighter objects appear closer than darker objects | |
| 229905899 | texture gradient | this is a monocular cue which says that when textures are closer together, the object appearrs closer | |
| 229905900 | binocular cues | these are depth cues that require both eyes to perceive depth through retinal disparty and convergence | |
| 229905901 | retinal disparity | this is a binocular cue which uses the different images that are created on both retinas to gage depth | |
| 229905902 | convergence | this is a binocular cue which uses the proximity of our eyes to determine depth. The closer together our eyes are the closer the object | |
| 229905903 | monocular cues | these are depth cues that can be deciphered with one eye, relative height, relative size, interposition, linear perspective,light and shadow, and relative motion. | |
| 229905904 | horizontal/vertical illusion | vertical dimensions appear longer than identical horizontal dimensions, as is seen by the St. Louis Arch | |
| 229905905 | ponzo illusion | this illusion uses linear perspective when the object in the back (monsters) appear larger than the object in the front, but are actually the same size | |
| 229905906 | stroboscopic movement | this occurs when a succession of still images is flashed creating the illusion of movement | |
| 229905907 | phi phenomenon | this is an illusion of movement caused when two or more adjacent lights blink off and on in quick succession like a marquee | |
| 229905908 | contextual set | our perception of an object can be influenced by its surrounding set | |
| 229905909 | size constancy | this allows us to perceive objects as having constant size even when our distance from them varies (like with a car that is far away) | |
| 229905910 | linear perspective | this is a monocular cue in which parallel lines, like railroad tracks, appear to converge in the distance and appear farther away | |
| 229905911 | ames illusion | this is also called the distorted room illusion | |
| 229905912 | telepathy | this is a form of ESP in which people can communicate mind to mind | |
| 229905913 | esp | this is a controversial claim that percpetion can occur apart from sensory input and includes telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition | |
| 229905914 | the amazing randi | this man has offered a million dollars for anyone who can take and beat his psychic challenge | |
| 229905915 | human factor psychology | this field of psychology explores how people and machines interect and how machines can be made more ergonomically correct or "user friendly" so people want to purchase them | |
| 229905916 | parapsychology | this is the study of paranormal phenomena including ESP | |
| 229905917 | clairvoyance | this is a form of ESP in which people can perceive remote events that they are nowhere near (someone is in danger, but you are a hundred miles away) | |
| 229905918 | precognition | this is a form of ESP in which people can predict the future | |
| 229905919 | psychokinesis | this is a form of ESP in which people can move objects with their mind | |
| 229905920 | PT Barnum effect | this is the tendency to accept certain vague or worthless information as true, like with horoscopes or tarrot cards | |
| 229905921 | mental set | this is also called perceptual set and refers to a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another | |
| 229905922 | perceptual adatpation | in vision, this is our ability to adjust to artificially displaced or inverted visual field (like with the drunk goggles) | |
| 230880797 | shape constancy | in perception we perceive the form of a familiar object as constant event when our retinal image of it changes (like a closed or open door) |
