AP Psychology Review - Sensation and Perception
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70 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 detection thresholds | the act of sensing a stimulus |
| discrimination thresholds | the minimal amount of change in a stimulus that can be detected |
| absolute threshold | the lowest level of stimulation that a person can detect |
| signal detection theory (SDT) | takes into consideration that there are four possible outcomes in a detection experiment - hit, miss, false alarm, and correct rejection |
| just noticeable difference (JND) | the minimal amount of distance that can be detected |
| Weber's Law | the observation that JND is a proportion of the stimulus intensity |
| subliminal perception | a form of preconscious processing that occurs when we are presented with stimulus so rapidly that we are not consciously aware of them |
| receptor cells | specialized cells of sensory organs that are designed to detect certain kinds of energy |
| receptive field | the area from which our receptor cells receive input |
| transduction | conversion of input into an electrochemical form of communication used by the nervous system |
| contralateral shift | when much of the sensory input from one side of the body travels to the opposite side of the brain |
| distal stimulus | an object as it exists in the environment |
| proximal stimulus | the image of an object on the retina |
| cornea | a protective layer on the outside of the eye |
| lens | just underneath the cornea; changes curvature to accommodate distance |
| 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 |
| pupil | The adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters |
| cones | cells concentrated in the center of the retina that are sensitive to bright light and color |
| rods | located on the periphery of the retina; sensitive to low light |
| fovea | the center of the retina; contains the cone cells |
| retina | the back of the eye; covered with receptor cells (rods and cones) |
| optic nerves | nerves that carry visual information from the eyes to the brain |
| optic chiasma | sends half of the visual information from each eye to the same side of the brain and half to the opposite side |
| Young-Helmholtz theory | theory stating that the cones in the retina are stimulated by red, blue and green light; color vision comes from mixing the colors much like a TV does |
| opponent process theory | theory that states that cells within the thalamus respond to opponent pairs of receptor cells - black/white, red/green and blue/yellow |
| auditory input | input that enters the ear in the form of sound waves |
| tympanic membrane | first part of the ear to vibrate with auditory input; abuts the ossicles |
| cochlea | contains receptor cells located in structures known as the basilar membrane and the organ of Corti |
| ossicles | vibrated by the tympanic membrane; |
| malleus | hammer; first of the three auditory ossicles of the middle ear |
| incus | anvil; middle of the three auditory ossicles of the middle ear |
| stapes | the last of the three ossicles; vibrates against the oval window, which in turn, vibrates the cochlea |
| auditory canal | where sound enters the ear |
| auditory nerve | nerve that transmits sound information to the brain |
| basilar membrane | A structure that runs the length of the cochlea in the inner ear and holds the auditory receptors called hair cells |
| organ of Corti | sensitive auditory receptor area found in the cochlea of the inner ear |
| olfaction | sense of smell; chemical sense |
| gustation | sense of taste; chemical sense |
| cutaneous receptors | nerve receptors in the skin that respond to pressure, temperature, or pain |
| tactile receptors | nerve receptors that monitors touch, pressure, and vibrations |
| vestibular sense | involves the sense of balance |
| kinesthesis | found in joints and ligaments; transmits information about the location and position of the limbs and body parts |
| adaption | unconscious, temporary change in response to environmental stimuli |
| habituation | the process by which we become used to a stimulus, and notice it less and less over time |
| dishabituation | occurs when a change in an unnoticed stimulus causes us to notice it again |
| selective attention | the process by which we try to attend to one thing while ignoring another; "cocktail party phenomenon" |
| filter theories | propose that stimuli must pass through some sort of screen or filter before entering the consciousness |
| divided attention | trying to attend to more than one stimulus at a time |
| bottom-up processing | achieves recognition of a stimulus by breaking it down into its component parts |
| top-down processing | relies on prior knowledge; quicker than bottom-up processing, but relies on the brain |
| visual perception | perception by means of the eyes |
| relative size | refers to the idea that objects farther away project a smaller image on the retina |
| texture gradient | patterns on an object appear to grow more dense the further the object moves away |
| monocular depth cues | stimuli that only need one eye to see; two-dementional |
| linear perspective | monocular cue based on the perception that parallel lines seem to draw closer together as the lines move farther into the distance |
| vanishing point | the point where two lines become indistinguishable from a single line |
| aerial perspective | a perceptual cue that is based on the observation that dust or fog obscures objects that are far away more so than it obscures objects nearby |
| relative clarity | a perceptual cue that refers to why less distinct, fuzzy images appear to be further away than sharp, clear images |
| motion parallax | the difference in the apparent motion of objects at different distances while the observer is in motion |
| binocular depth cues | rely on both eyes when viewing an image |
| retinal convergence | depth cue that results from the fact that eyes must turn inward to view nearby objects |
| stereopsis | refers to the three-dimensional image of the world resulting from binocular depth cues |
| binocular disparity | the closer an image is, the less similar the information arriving in each eye will be |
| visual cliff | developed by Eleanor Gibson and Richard Walk; glass tabletop that appeared to be clear on one side with a checkerboard pattern on the other; infants were placed on one side of the tabletop to see if they would cross from one side to another; they did not, proving that depth perception is, to a degree, innate |
| Gestalt approach | Approach to perception that emphasizes that humans perceive objects as well-organized, whole structures rather than as separated, isolated parts. |
| law of Pragnanz | idea that we tend to see objects in their simplest forms |
| constancy | we know that an object remains the same size, shape, brightness, weight or volume even if it does not appear to |
| apparent motion | apparent movement of blinking lights on a roadside arrow; |
| sensation | the relationship between physical stimulation and its psychological effects |
| perception | how we recognize, interpret and organize our sensations |
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