AP psych unit 5 (sensation and perception Flashcards

15385794	sensation	process where we must detect physical energy from the environment and encode it as neural signals	0
15385795	perception	process where we must select, organize, and interpret our sensations	1
15385796	bottom-up processing	sensory analysis that starts at sensory receptors and works up to the brains sensory information	2
15385797	top-down processing	information processing guided by the upper-level mental processes, as we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations	3
15385798	psychophysics	study of relationships between physical characteristics of stimuli	4
15385799	absolute threshold	minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time	5
15385800	difference threshold	the minimum difference between 2 stimuli, required for detection 50% of the time. we experience the difference threshold as a noticeable difference	6
15385801	signal detection theory	predicts when we will detect weak signals, measured as our ratio of "hits" to "false alarms"	7
15386509	subliminal stimulation	below ones absolute threshold for conscious awareness (stimuli detectable less than 50% of the time)	8
15386510	priming	the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing ones perception, memory, or response	9
15386511	Weber's law	principle that, to be perceived as different, 2 stimuli must differ by a constant minimum %	10
15386512	sensory adaptation	diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation	11
15386513	sensory transduction	process where our sensory systems encode stimulus energy as neural messages	12
15386514	cornea	potects eye and bends light to provide focus	13
15386515	pupil	the small adjustable opening in the center of the eye	14
15386516	iris	colored muscle tissue surrounding the pupil, controls the size of pupil opening	15
15386517	lens	transparent structure behind the pupil, changes shape to help focus images on the retina	16
15390161	retina	the eyeballs light-sensitive inner surface where the rays focus is a multilayered tissue	17
15390162	rods	retinal receptors that detect black, white, and grey	18
15390163	cones	retinal receptor cells that function well in daylight and well lit situations	19
15390164	fovea	the central focal point in the retina, around which the eye's cones cluster	20
15390165	optic nerve	nerve that carries neural impulses form the eye to the brain	21
15390166	feature detectors	nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus	22
15390167	trichromatic theory	the theory that the retina has 3 types of color receptors, each especially sensitive to one of three colors (red, green, and blue)	23
15390168	subtractive color mixing	subtracts wavelength from the reflected light (making black)	24
15390169	additive color mixing	process adds wavelength and increases light (makes white)	25
15390170	opponent- process theory	theory that opposing retinal processes enable color vision (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black)	26
15390171	blind spot	point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye creating a "blind spot" because no receptor cells are located there	27
15390172	parallel processing	processing several things at once	28
15390173	frequency	the number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time	29
15390174	pitch	a tones experienced highness/lowness, depends on frequency	30
15390175	decibels	a unit of measurement of loudness	31
15390176	middle ear	chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing 3 tiny bones that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea's oval window	32
15390177	inner ear	the innermost part of the ear	33
15390178	cochlea	a coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses	34
15390179	place theory	the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated	35
15390180	frequency theory	the theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone (enabling us to sense its pitch)	36
15390181	conduction-hearing loss	hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea	37
15390182	sensorineural-hearing loss	hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea's receptor cells or to the auditory nerves	38
15390183	cochlear implant	a device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into the cochlea	39
15390184	phantom limb sensations	sensations that indicate that with pain the brain can misinterpret the spontaneous CNS activity	40
15390185	gate-control theory	the theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" that blocks pain signals and allows them to pass on to the brain	41
15390186	sensory interaction	principle that one sense may influence another	42
15390187	sweet, sour, salty, bitter	what are the four basic taste sensations??	43
15861899	transduction	conversion of one form of energy into another	44
15861900	bipolar/ganglion cells	cells that form an optic nerve	45
15861901	afterimages	if you stare at a color for a while, when you look at white paper you ses its opponent color	46
15861902	color constancy	perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color	47
15861903	audition	the act/sense of hearing	48
15861904	oval window	the membrane of the cochlea (vibrates, which jostles fluid in the basilar membrane)	49
15861905	umami	flavor enhancer	50
15861906	olfactory receptor cells	receptor cells at top of nasal cavity (pick up smell)	51
15861907	kinesthesis	system for sense of position of body (when can see body)	52
15869621	gestalt	an organized whole that we perceive of many individual pieces	53
15869622	inattentional blindness	failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere (also called change blindness) ie. the giving directions/door situation	54
15870722	figure-ground	organization of visual field into objects (figures) and their surroundings (ground)	55
15870723	selective attention	focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus (can only attend one voice at a time)	56
15870724	depth perception	ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are 2D	57
15870725	Ponzo illusion	if two bricks of equal size were on a railroad track, the brick further away from you would appear larger, although logically it should appear smaller (cross between relative size and linear perspective)	58
15870726	phi phenomenon	illusion of movement created when two or more lights blink on and off in quick succession (brain plays tricks)	59
15870727	binocular cues	depth cues that depend on the use of 2 eyes	60
15870728	monocular cues	depth cues that depend on the use of 1 eye	61
15870729	visual cliff	laboratory device for testing depth perception of infants (glass table that appears to dip down)	62
15870730	convergence	why your eyes converge inward when looking at an object (cross-eyedness)	63
15870731	retinal disparity	why your eyes create a "floating finger sausage" as you look further away from your fingers	64
15870732	perceptual set	mental predisposition (illusions of man/saxophone, old/young woman, etc.)	65
15870733	perceptual adaptation	ability to adjust to artificially displaced visual field (when blinded, the football player in the movie learned to throw differently)	66
15870734	relative size	when see 2 similar objects, the smaller one seems farther away	67
15870735	interposition	when blocked by another object, an object seems farther away (horse photo)	68
15870736	relative clarity	hazy objects seem further away	69
15870737	texture gradient	gradual change from coarse to fine	70
15870738	relative height	higher object in field of vision = further away (airplane seems further away than a stop sign, even if they're both a mile away)	71
15870739	relative motion	as we move, stable objects appear to move too (when in car)	72
15870740	linear perspective	parallel lines converge with distance (think railroad tracks)	73
15870741	light & shadow	nearby objects reflect more light to eyes	74
15870742	proximity	nearby figures grouped together	75
15870743	similarity	similar figures grouped together	76
15870744	visual capture	tendency for vision to dominate other senses	77
15870745	continuity	perceive smooth, continuous patterns instead of separate parts connected	78
15870746	connectedness	when something is linked, perceive it as a single unit or whole	79
15870747	closure	our brain fills in gaps to create a whole object (invisible triangle)	80
15870748	accomodation	process by which eye's lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on retina	81
15870749	prosopagnosia	can see faces but can't recognize them (no top-down processing)	82
16217336	ESP	controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input	83
16217337	parapsychology	study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis	84
16217338	telepathy	mind-to-mind communication	85
16217339	clairvoyance	perceiving remote events	86
16217340	precognition	perceiving future events	87
16217341	psychokinesis	"mind over matter" (control with mind)	88