GACS AP PSYCH CHP 3
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52 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Psychophysics | the study of the relationship between physical stimulation and subjective sensations |
| absolute threshold | The smallest amount of stimulation that can be detected |
| signal-detection theory | the theory that detecting a stimulus is jointly determined by the signal and the subject's response criterion. |
| just noticeable difference JND | The smallest amount of change in a stimulus that can be dectected. |
| Weber's Law | The principle that the just noticeable difference of a stimulus is a constant proportion despite variations in intensity. |
| cornea | the clear outer memebrane that bends light so that it is sharply focused in the eye. |
| iris | the ring of muscle tissue that gives eyes their color and controls the size of the pupil. |
| lens | a transparent structure in the eye that focuses light on the retina. |
| accommodation | the visual process by which lenses become rounded for viewing nearby objects and flatter for viewing remote objects. |
| retina | the rear multilayer part of the eye where rods and cones convert light into neural impulses. |
| rods | Rod-shaped photoreceptor cells in the retina that are highly sensitive to light |
| cones | Cone-shaped photorecptor cells in the retina that are sensitve to color. |
| fovea | the center of the retina, where cones are clustered. |
| dark adaptation | a process of adjustment by which the eyes become more sensitive to light in a dark environment |
| light adaptation | the process of adjustment by which the eyes become less sensitive to light in bright enviroments |
| optic nerve | the pathway that carries visual information from the eyeball to the brain |
| blind spot | a part of the retina through which the optic nerve passes. Lacking rods and cones, this spot is not responsive to light. |
| visual cortex | located in the back of the brain, it is the main information-processing center for visual information |
| feature detectors | neurons in the visual cortex that respond to specific aspects of a visual stimulus (such as lines and angles). |
| trichromatic theory | a theory of color vision stating that the retina contains three types of color receptors-- for red, blue, and green-- and that these combine to produce all other colors. |
| afterimage | a visual sensation that persists after prolonged exposure and removal of a stimulus. |
| opponent-process theory | the theory that color vison is derived from three pairs of opposing receptors. The opponent colors are blue, and yellow, red and green, and black and white. |
| audition | the sense of hearing |
| white noise | a hissing sound that results from a combination of all frequencies of the sound spectrum |
| auditory localization | The ability to judge the direction a sound is coming from. |
| conduction deafness | hearing loss caused by damage to the eardrum or bones in the middle ear. |
| nerve deafness | hearining loss caused by damage to the structures of the inner ear. |
| olfactory system | the structures responsible for the sense of smell |
| pheromones | chemicals secreted by animals that transmit signals-- usually to other animals of the same species. |
| gustatory system | the structures responsible for the sense of taste. |
| taste buds | Nets of taste-receptors cells. |
| gate-control theory | the theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological "Gate" that blocks pain signals from the brain when flooded by competing signals. |
| kinesthetic system | the structures distributed throughout the body that gives us a sense of position and movement of body parts. |
| vestibular system | the inner ear and brain structures that give us a sense of equilibrium. |
| synesthesia | a rare condition in which stimulation in one sensory modality triggers sensations in another sensory modality. |
| sensory adaptation | a decline in sensitivity to a stimulus as a result of constant exposure |
| reversible figure | a drawing that one can perceieve in different ways by reversing figure and ground. |
| Gestalt psychology | A school of though rooted in the idea that the whole (perception) is different from the sum of it parts (sensation). |
| size constancy | the tendency to view an object as constant in size despite changes in the size of the retinal image. |
| shape constancy | the tendency to see an object as retaining its form despite changes in orientations. |
| depth perception | the use of visual cues to estimate the depth and distance of objects. |
| convergence | a binocular cue for depth perception involving the turning inward of the eyes as an object gets closer. |
| binocular disparity | a binocular cue for depth perception whereby the closeran object is to a perceiver, the more different the image is in each retina. |
| monocular depth cues | distance cues, such as linear perspective, that enable us to perceive depth with one eye. |
| visual cliff | an apparatus used to test depth perception in infants and animals (Figure 3.27 makes me giggle) |
| perceptual set | the effects of prior experience and expectations interpretations sensory input. |
| perceptual illusions | patterns of sensory input that give rise to misperceptions. |
| Muller-Lyer Illusion | An illusion in which the perceived lenght of a line is altered by the position of other lines that enclose it. |
| Ponzo illusion | An illusion in which the perceived lenght of a line is affected by linear perspective cues. |
| Moon illusion | the tendency for people to see the moon as larger when it's low on the horizon than when it's overhead. |
| extrasensory perseption ESP | The alleged ability to percieve something without ordinary sensory information |
| parapsychology | The study of ESP and other claims that cannot be explained by existing princples of science |
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