AP psychology Sensation & Perception Flashcards

Sensation and Perception

6633607132	sensation	The process by which stimulation of a sensory receptor produces neural impulses that the brain interprets.	0
6633607133	perception	the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.	1
6633607134	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.	2
6633607135	sensory adaptation	reduced responsiveness caused by prolonged stimulation	3
6633607136	absolute threshold	minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time	4
6633607137	difference threshold	the smallest change in stimulation that a person can detect 50% of the time	5
6633607138	Weber's Law	the principle which states that the difference threshold is proportional to the intensity of the stimulus	6
6633607139	signal detection theory	a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus ("signal") amid background stimulation ("noise"). Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and detection depends partly on a person's experience, expectations, motivation, and level of fatigue.	7
6633607140	retina	the light-sensitive membrane covering the back wall of the eyeball	8
6633607141	photoreceptors	The light-sensitive cells in the retina- the rods and cones.	9
6633607142	rods	retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don't respond	10
6633607143	cones	retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions. They detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations.	11
6633607144	fovea	the central focal point in the retina, around which the eye's cones cluster	12
6633607145	optic nerve	the cranial nerve that serves the retina	13
6633607146	blind spot	the point where the optic nerve enters the retina (contains no rods or cones)	14
6633607147	brightness	A psychological sensation caused by the intensity of light waves.	15
6633607148	color	Also called hue, it is not a property of things in the external world. It is a psychological sensation created by the brain from information obtained by the eyes from light waves of visible light.	16
6633607149	visible spectrum	The tiny range of the electromagnetic spectrum that people can see.	17
6633607150	trichromatic theory	idea that color vision is based on our sensitivity to three different colors: blue, green, and red	18
6633607151	opponent process theory	the theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision. For example, some cells are stimulated by green and inhibited by red; others are stimulated by red and inhibited by green	19
6633607152	afterimages	sensations that linger after the stimulus is removed. Most visual afterimages are negative afterimages, which appear in reversed colors.	20
6633607153	color blindness	a variety of (usually genetic) disorders marked by inability to distinguish some or all colors	21
6633607154	electromagnetic spectrum	arrangement of electromagnetic radiation--including radio waves, visible light from the Sun, gamma rays, X rays, ultraviolet waves, infrared waves, and microwaves--according to their wavelengths	22
6633607155	frequency	the number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time (usually one second)	23
6633607156	amplitude	the height of a wave's crest (usually measured from crest to trough - top to bottom)	24
6633607157	Tympanic Membrane	the eardrum - a tightly stretched sheet of tissue that transfers vibrations to the bones of the inner ear.	25
6633607158	cochlea	a coiled, snail shaped, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses	26
6633607159	basilar membrane	A structure that runs the length of the cochlea in the inner ear and holds the auditory receptors, called hair cells.	27
6633607160	pitch	the property of sound that varies with variation in the frequency of vibration (how high or low the sound is)	28
6633607161	loudness	perception of sound intensity produced by amplitude of the wave	29
6633607162	timbre	The quality of a sound, as distinguished from intensity and pitch. It comes from the sound waves complexity.	30
6633607163	conduction deafness	hearing loss due to problems with the bones of the middle ear	31
6633607164	nerve deafness	hearing loss due to failure of the auditory nerve	32
6633607165	vestibular sense	the sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance. It is closely associated with the inner ear.	33
6633607166	kinesthetic sense	the sense of body position and movement of body parts relative to each other	34
6633607167	olfaction	the sense of smell	35
6633607168	pheremones	Chemical signals released by organisms to communicate with other members of their species. ________ are often used by animals as sexual attractants.	36
6633607169	gustation	The sense of taste.	37
6633607170	skin senses	sensory senses for processing touch, warmth, cold, texture, and pain	38
6633607171	Gate control theory	theory that spinal cord contains neurological gate that blocks pains signals or allows them to pass.	39
6633607172	placebo effect	a change in a participant's illness or behavior that results from a belief that the treatment will have an effect, rather than the actual treatment	40
6633607173	percept	The meaningful product of perception - often an image that has been associated with concepts, memories of events, emotions, and motives.	41
6633607174	feature detectors	nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement	42
6633607175	binding problem	question of how the visual, auditory, and other areas of the brain influence one another to produce a combined perception of a single object	43
6633607176	bottom up processing	analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information	44
6633607177	top down processing	information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations	45
6633607178	perceptual constancy	perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent lightness, color, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change	46
6633607179	illusion	a false perception	47
6633607180	ambiguous figures	images that are capable of more than one interpretation.	48
6633607181	gestalt psychology	a psychological approach that emphasizes that we often perceive the whole rather than the sum of the parts. Believed that much of perception is caused by innate characteristics of the brain.	49
6633607182	figure	the part of a pattern that commands attention	50
6633607183	ground	the part of a pattern that does not command attention - A.K.A. the background	51
6633607184	closure	a Gestalt principle of organization holding that there is an innate tendency to perceive incomplete objects as complete and to close or fill gaps and to perceive asymmetric stimuli as symmetric	52
6633607185	laws of perceptual grouping	The Gestalt principles of similarity, proximity, continuity, and common fate. These "laws" suggest how our brains prefer to group stimulus elements together to form a percept	53
6633607186	law of similarity	a Getalt principle of organization holding that (other things being equal) parts of a stimulus field that are similar to each other tend to be perceived as belonging together as a unit	54
6633607187	law of proximity	a Gestalt principle of organization holding that (other things being equal) objects or events that are near to one another (in space or time) are perceived as belonging together as a unit	55
6633607188	law of continuity	The Gestalt principle that we prefer perceptions of connected and continuous figures to disconnected and disjointed ones.	56
6633607189	law of common fate	the Gestalt principle that we tend to group similar objects together that share a common motion or destination	57
6633607190	law of Pragnanz	the Gestalt principle that the simplest organization requiring the least cognitive effort will emerge as the figure	58
6633607191	binocular cues	depth cues, such as retinal disparity and convergence, that depend on the use of two eyes	59
6633607192	monocular cues	depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either eye alone	60
6633607193	learning based inference	The view that perception is primarily shaped by learning (or experience), rather than by innate factors.	61
6633607194	perceptual set	A mental readiness to perceive a stimulus in a particular way in a given context	62