| A | B |
|---|
| sensation | the operation or function of the senses; perception or awareness of stimuli through the senses. |
| perception | the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events. |
| bottom-up processing | analysis that begins with the sense receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information |
| top-down processing | information processing guided by higher level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations |
| psychophysics | the branch of psychology that deals with the relationships between physical stimuli and resulting sensations and mental states. |
| absolute threshold | the lowest level of stimulation that a person can detect |
| signal detection theory | a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus amid background stimulation |
| subliminal | existing or operating below the threshold of consciousness; being or employing stimuli insufficiently intense to produce a discrete sensation but often being or designed to be intense enough to influence the mental processes or the behavior of the individual |
| difference threshold/just noticeable difference (jnd) | the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time |
| Weber's Law | the smallest change in the intensity of a stimulus capable of being perceived is proportional to the intensity of the original stimulus |
| Weber's Law Percieved two lights difference in intensity | 8 percent |
| Weber's Law weight diference to notice | 2 percent |
| Weber's Law: two tones must differ in frequency | only .3 percent |
| sensory adaptation | diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation |
| sensory transduction | conversion of one form of energy into another. IE: transforming of stimulus energies into neural impulses |
| wavelength | the distance, measured in the direction of propagation of a wave, between two successive points in the wave that are characterized by the same phase of oscillation |
| hue | the property of light by which the color of an object is classified as red, blue, green, or yellow in reference to the spectrum. |
| intensity | the amount of energy in a light or sound wave. Perceived as brightness and loudness |
| pupil | the adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters |
| iris | a ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil, controls size of the pupil opening |
| lens | transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina |
| retina | light-sensative inner surface of the eye, contains receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information |
| acuity | the sharpness of vision |
| nearsightedness | condition in which nearby objects are seen more clearly than distant objects |
| accommodation | the process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina |
| blind spot | where the optic nerve leaves the eye there are no receptor cells. |
| farsightedness | faraway objects are seen more clearly than near objects |
| rods | retinal receptors that detect black white and gray, necessary for peripheral and twilight vision |
| cones | receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions. Give color sensation and fine detail |
| optic nerve | carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain |
| fovea | the central focal point in the retina |
| feature detector | neurons that receive information and respond to a scene's specific features |
| parallel processing | the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions including vision |
| 4 suggested steps of parallel processing | color, motion, form, depth |
| Three color theory: red, green, blue | Young-Helmholtz trichromatic |
| opponent-process theory | the theory that opposing retinal processes enable color vision |
| color constancy | perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illuminaiton alters the wavelengths reflected by the objects |
| audition | the sense of hearing |
| frequency | the number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time |
| pitch | a tone's highness or lowness depends on frequency |
| middle ear | the chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing three tiny bones concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum |
| inner ear | innermost part of the ear, contain cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs |
| cochlea | a coiled bony fluid filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses |
| place theory (hearing) | theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated |
| frequency theory (hearing) | the theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditroy nerve matches the frequency of tone |
| conduction hearing loss | hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea |
| sensorineural hearing loss | hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea's receptor cells or auditory nerves |
| gate-control theory | theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain |
| sensory interaction | principle that one sense may influence another (smell influences taste) |
| kinesthesis | sense of our body parts' position and movement |
| vestibular sense | monitors the head's position and movement |
