AP Psych - Terms for Chapter 6 Quiz (Sensation and Perception)
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68 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 Sensation | the process by which you detect physical energy from your environment and encode it as neural signals |
| Stimulus | a change in the environment that can be detected by sensory receptors |
| Absolute threshold | the weakest level of a stimulus that can be correctly detected at least 50% of the time |
| Difference threshold | minimum difference between any two stimuli that a person can detect 50% of the time |
| Just noticeable difference | experience of the difference threshold |
| Weber's law | difference thresholds increase in proportion to the size of the stimulus |
| Subliminal stimulation | receiving messages below one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness |
| Transduction | transformation of stimulus energy to the electrochemical energy of neural impulses |
| Perception | the process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting sensations, enabling you to recognize meaningful objects and events. |
| Sensory adaptation | temporary decrease in sensitivity to a stimulus that occurs when stimulation is unchanging |
| Attention | the set of processes from which you choose among the various stimuli bombarding your senses at any instant |
| Selective attention | focused awareness of only a limited aspect of all you are capable of experiencing |
| Bottom-up processing | information processing that begins with sensory receptors and works up to the brains integration of sensory information to construct perceptions; is data driven |
| Top-down processing | information processing guided by your preexisting knowledge or expectations to construct perceptions; is concept-driven |
| Perceptual constancy | perceiving an object as unchanging even when the immediate sensation of the object changes. |
| Size constancy | objects closer to our eyes will produce bigger images on our retinas, but we take distance into account in the estimations of size. We keep a constant size in mind for an object. |
| Shape constancy | objects viewed from different angles produce different shapes on our retinas, but we know the shape remains constant. |
| Brightness constancy | we perceive objects as being a constant color even as light reflecting off the objects changes. |
| Visual capture | vision usually dominates when there is a conflict among senses |
| Depth perception | the ability to judge the distance of objects |
| Monocular cues | clues about distance based on the image of one eye |
| Interposition or overlap | a closer object cuts off the view of part or all of a more distant one (monocular cue) |
| Relative size | the closer of two same-size objects casts a larger image on your retina than the farther one (monocular cue) |
| Relative clarity | objects that are closer appear sharper than more distant ones (monocular cue) |
| Texture gradient | closer objects have coarser, more distinct texture than far away objects (monocular cue) |
| Relative height or elevation | the lowest objects in our field of vision generally seem the closest (monocular cue) |
| Linear perspective | parallel lines seem to converge in the distance (monocular cue) |
| Relative brightness | the closer of two identical objects reflects more light to your eyes (monocular cue) |
| Binocular cues | clues about distance requiring two eyes. They include retinal disparity and convergence |
| Optical illusions | discrepancies between the appearance of a visual stimulus and its physical reality. |
| Schemas | concepts that organize and interpret information |
| ESP | the controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input |
| Priming | the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory or response |
| Wavelength | the distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next. Electromagnetic wavelengths vary from the short blips of cosmic rays to the long pulses of radio transmission. |
| Hue | the dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light; what we know as the color names blue, green, and so forth. |
| 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. |
| Rods and Cones | photoreceptors that convert light energy to electrochemical neural impulses |
| Cornea | refracts light and creates an upside down image on the back of the eye (the retina) |
| Iris | located behind the cornea, it contains muscles which open or close the pupil to allow in more or less light |
| Ciliary muscles | muscles which control the lens |
| Retina | located in the back of the eye, it is filled with light sensing never cells, called rods and cones |
| Rods | provide peripheral vision, detect motion, and help us see in low light |
| Cones | provide detail and color vision; concentrated in the center of the retina |
| Bipolar cells | activated by a neural impulse through the rods and cones, these cells help to determine either vision in low light or visual acuity |
| Ganglion cells | bipolar cells connect to these cells, which begin to form the optic nerve |
| Optic nerve | transmits impulses to the brain |
| Blind spot | where the optic nerve connects to the retina- there are no rods or cones here |
| Feature detectors | neurons in the brain which respond only to specific feature of visual stimuli, such as shape, angle or movement |
| Parallel processing | many feature detectors can process information simultaneously so that you can make sense out of what you are looking at |
| Fovea | the central focal point in the retina, around which the eye's cones cluster |
| Amplitude | describes the height of a sound wave and is associated with loudness. |
| Frequency | describes the number of waves per second and is a function of the pitch of the sound (aka the highness or lowness of the sound.) |
| Ossicles (hammer, anvil and stirrup) | the smallest bones in your body,which work to magnify the eardrum's vibrations and to transmit them to the inner ear. |
| Cochlea | the place in the ear where mechanical energy is converted into electrical impulses. |
| Sound localization | the process by which you can determine the location of sound. |
| Place theory | the position on the basilar membrane where waves strike is dependent on the frequency of the tone. This is how we determine the pitch of a sound. |
| Conduction deafness | a loss of hearing that results when the eardrum is punctured or any of the ossicles lose their ability to vibrate. |
| Nerve deafness | results from damage to the cochlea, hair cells, or auditory neurons. The damage can be a result of disease, aging, or continued exposure to loud noise. |
| Gustation | taste |
| Olfaction | smell |
| Olfactory receptors | type of chemoreceptor with a bulb on one end and cilia on the other. The cilia are specialized to respond to particular chemicals. The bulb has axons feeding into it. From this bulb, signals travel to other parts of the brain including parts involved with memory and emotion. |
| Papillae | bumps on the tongue where taste buds reside. |
| Types of receptors | sweet, salty, bitter, sour and umami. |
| Dysfunctional patients | patients who report high levels of pain and psychological distress and believe they have little control over their lives and are extremely inactive. |
| Interpersonally distressed patients | patients who feel they have little social support and report that significant others don't take their pain seriously. |
| Adaptive copers | patients who report far less pain and social distress than people in the other two groups and continue to function at a relatively high level. |
| Pain treatment programs | 1) drugs 2) injection therapies (nerve blocks, like epidurals) 3) physical therapy and exercise 4) behavioral techniques |
| Cutaneous senses | pressure, warmth, cold and pain. |
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