Sensation and Perception AP Flashcards

9796336667	Sensation	The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment	0
9796336668	Perception	The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events	1
9796345714	Bottom-Up Processing	Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information	2
9796345715	Top-Down Processing	Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations	3
9796358075	Selective Attention	The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus	4
9796360567	Inattentional Blindness	Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere	5
9796363513	Change Blindness	Failing to notice changes in the environment	6
9796366845	Psychophysics	The study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them	7
9796369851	Absolute Threshold	The minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus	8
9796391615	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 that detection depends partly on a person's experience, expectations, motivations, and alertness	9
9796408557	Subliminal	Below one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness	10
9796415564	Priming	The activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response	11
9796418431	Difference Threshold	The minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection	12
9796421653	Sensory Adaptation	Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation	13
9796435542	Transduction	Conversion of one form of energy into another; the transforming of stimulus energies, such as sights, sounds, and smells, into neural impulses our brains can interpret	14
9796438989	Wavelength	The distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next	15
9796450365	Hue	The dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light	16
9796462377	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	17
9796465639	Pupil	The adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters	18
9796484050	Iris	A ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening	19
9796489089	Lens	The transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina	20
9796489090	Retina	The light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information	21
9796495180	Accommodation	The process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina	22
9796499509	Rods	Retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision when cones don't response	23
9796515952	Cones	Retinal receptors that detect color and fine detail	24
9796532537	Optic Nerve	The nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain	25
9796540639	Blind Spot	The point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a "blind" spot because no receptor cells are located there	26
9796543442	Fovea	The central focal point in the retina, around which the eye's cones cluster	27
9796546958	Feature Detectors	Nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement	28
9796551276	Parallel Processing	The processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously	29
9796561925	Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory	Theory that the retina contains three different color receptors (red, green, blue), which can produce the perception of any color when stimulated in combination	30
9796571756	Opponent-Process Theory	The theory that the opposing retinal processes enable color vision (for example, some are stimulated by green and inhibited by red, black vs. white, etc.)	31
9796576178	Blindness	To lack complete ability to see	32
9796583560	Color Blindness	Inability to perceive certain colors	33
9796592589	Audition	The sense or act of hearing	34
9796600986	Frequency	The number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time	35
9796603956	Pitch	A tone's experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequency	36
9796607403	Middle Ear	The chamber between the eardrum and the cochlea containing three tiny bones (hammer, anvil, stirrup) that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea's oval window	37
9796610615	Cochlea	Coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses	38
9796613682	Inner Ear	The innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs	39
9796616535	Place Theory	The theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated	40
9796619086	Frequency Theory	The theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch	41
9796625182	Conduction Hearing Loss	Hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea	42
9796629052	Sensorineural Hearing Loss	Hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea's receptor cells or to the auditory nerves; AKA "nerve deafness"	43
9796635054	Cochlear Implant	A device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into the cochlea	44
9796638348	Cutaneous Receptors	Nerve receptors in the skin that respond to pressure, temperature, or pain	45
9796641025	Kinesthesis	The system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts	46
9796645195	Vestibular Sense	The sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance	47
9796649224	Gate-Control Theory	The theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological gate that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain	48
9796652332	Sensory Interaction	The principal that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences its taste	49
9796656380	Olfaction	Sense of smell	50
9796656381	Olfactory Bulbs	Units that receive odor molecules and communicate their nature to the brain	51
9796656382	Pheromones	Odor chemicals that communicate a message of smell to the brain	52
9796666786	Figure-Ground	Organization of the visual field into objects (figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground)	53
9796669584	Grouping	The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups	54
9796669585	Similarity	Grouping like objects together	55
9796671800	Proximity	Grouping objects together based on their location toward one another	56
9796671801	Closure	Filling in the gaps to account for what is missing	57
9796680685	Depth Perception	The ability to see objects in three dimensions even though objects strike the retina as two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance	58
9796684783	Binocular Cues	Depth cues, such a retinal disparity, that depend on the use of two eyes	59
9796687368	Retinal Disparity	A binocular cue for perceiving depth; the idea that each eye can see something differently; the greater the disparity (difference) the closer the object	60
9796691401	Visual Cliff	A lab device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals, devised by Eleanor Gibson and Richard Walk; helps to determine depth perception	61
9796694869	Perceptual Constancy	Perceiving objects as unchanging* even as illumination and retinal images change	62
9796698217	Size Constancy	The ability to retain the size of an object regardless of its location	63
9796698218	Color Constancy	The ability to perceive an object as the same color regardless of its environment	64
9796700493	Shape Constancy	The ability to perceive an object as having the same shape, no matter at what angle it is viewed	65
9796700494	Brightness Constancy	The ability to keep an object's brightness constant, regardless of environment	66
9796710566	Space Constancy	The ability to keep objects in the environment steady by perceiving either ourselves or outside objects as moving	67
9796720859	Perceptual Adaptation	In vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field	68
9796720860	Perceptual Set	A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another	69
9796723582	Extrasensory Perception	The controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input; includes telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition	70