AP Psychology, Chapter 6: Sensation and Perception Flashcards

251083432	Sensation	The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.	0
251083433	Perception*	The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, which enables us to recognize meaningful objects and events.	1
251083434	Bottom-Up Processing	Analysis that begins with the sense receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information.	2
251083435	Top-Down Processing	Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations.	3
251083436	Selective Attention	the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus	4
251083437	Inattentional Blindness	failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere (e.g. looking for glasses when they are on your head)	5
251083438	Change Blindness	failing to notice changes in the environment	6
251083439	Psychophysics	the study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them	7
251083440	Absolute Threshold*	the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time	8
251083441	Signal Detection Theory	predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise) Assumes that there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person's experience, expectation, motivation, and level of fatigue	9
251083442	Subliminal	below one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness	10
251083443	Priming	the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response	11
251083444	Difference Threshold*	the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time. We experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference. (Also called the just noticeable difference or JND.)	12
251083445	Weber's Law	to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount)	13
251083446	Sensory Adaptation*	diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation	14
251083447	Transduction*	conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies, such as sights, sounds, and smells, into neural impulses our brains can interpret.	15
251083448	Wavelength	the distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next, in the electromagnetic spectrum	16
251083449	Hue	the dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light	17
251083450	Intensity	the amount of energy in a light or sound wave, which we perceive as brightness or loudness, as determined by the wave's amplitude (height)	18
251083451	Pupil	the adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters	19
251083452	Lens	a transparent optical device used to converge or diverge transmitted light and to form images	20
251083453	Retina*	the light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information	21
251083454	Accommodation	the process where the lens focuses the rays by changing its curvature.	22
251083455	Rods	retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don't respond.	23
251083456	Cones	retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions. Detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations.	24
251083457	Optic Nerve*	the nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain.	25
251083458	Blind Spot	the point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a spot where there are no receptor cells located.	26
251083459	Fovea	the central focal point in the retina, around which the eye's cones cluster	27
251083460	Feature Detectors	nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement.	28
251083461	Parallel Processing	the processing of several aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions, including vision	29
251083462	Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory	The theory that the retina contains three different color receptors—one most sensitive to red, one to green, one to blue—which combined can produce the perception of any color.	30
251083463	Opponent-Process Theory*	the theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision. Explained by the concept of afterimages	31
251083464	Audition	the sense or act of hearing.	32
251083465	Frequency	the number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time (for example, per second)	33
251083466	Pitch	a tone's experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequency.	34
251083467	Middle Ear	transmits the eardrum's vibrations through a piston made of three tiny bones (hammer, anvil, and stirrup) to the cochlea	35
251083468	Cochlea*	a coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses	36
251083469	Inner Ear*	the innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs	37
251083470	Place Theory	in hearing, the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated. Best explains how we sense high pitches.	38
251083471	Frequency Theory	in hearing, the theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to its sense of pitch. Best explains how we sense low pitches.	39
251083472	Conduction Hearing Loss	hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea	40
251083473	Sensorineural Hearing Loss	hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea's receptor cells or to the auditory nerves; also called nerve deafness	41
251083474	Cochlear Implant	a device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into the cochlea	42
251083475	Kinesthesis	the system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts	43
251083476	Vestibular Sense	the sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance	44
251083477	Gate-Control Theory*	Melzack and Wall's theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" that blocks or allows pain signals to pass on to the brain.	45
251083478	Sensory Interaction	the principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences its taste	46
251083479	Gestalt*	an organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes	47
251083480	Figure-Ground	the organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground).	48
251083481	Grouping	the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups (proximity, similarity, continuity, connectedness, closure)	49
251083482	Depth Perception	the ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance	50
251083483	Visual Cliff	a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals	51
251083484	Binocular Cues*	depth cues, such as retinal disparity and convergence, that depend on the use of two eyes	52
251083485	Retinal Disparity	a binocular cue for perceiving depth; by comparing images from the two eyeballs, the brain computes distance - the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the close the object	53
251083486	Monocular Cues	depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either eye alone	54
251083487	Phi Phenomenon	an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession	55
251083488	Perceptual Constancy	perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent lightness, color, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change	56
251083489	Color Constancy	perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object	57
251083490	Perceptual Adaptation*	in vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field	58
251083491	Perceptual Set	a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another	59
251083492	Extrasensory Perception (ESP)	the controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input. Said to include telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition.	60
251083493	Parapsychology	the study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis	61