PSYCH 101
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Created by:
matokun on December 6, 2011
Subjects:
SENSATION, PERCEPTION AND LANGUAGE
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69 terms
Terms | Definitions |
|---|---|
 what is sensation | detection of elementary properties of a stimulus |
| what is perception | detection of more complex properties of a stimulus, including location and nature. Involves learning |
| transduction | conversion of physical stimuli in to changes in activity of receptor cells of sensory organs |
| receptor cell | a neuron that directly responds to a physical stimulus such as light, vibrations or aromatic molecules |
| anatomical coding | a means by which the nervous system represents info. Different features are coded by activity of different neurons |
| temporal coding | a means by which the nervous system represents info. Different features are coded by pattern of activity of neurons |
| psychophysics | branch f psychology that measures quantitative relation between physical stimuli and perceptual experience |
| just-noticeable difference (JND) | smallest difference between 2 similar stimuli that can be distinguished |
| weber fraction | ratio between JND and magnitude of stimulus |
| threshold | point at which stimulus, or a change in the value of a stimulus can just be detected |
| difference threshold | Another name of JND |
| absolute threshold | minimum value of stimulus that can be dectected |
| signal detection theory | mathematical theory of the detection of stimuli. Involves discriminating a signal from a noise that is embedded which takes into account participants willingness to report detect in signal |
| ROC curve | a graph of hits and false alarms of participants under different motivational conditions |
| lens | transparent organ situated behind the iris of the eye, helps focus image on the retina |
| accommodation | changes in the thickness of the lens of the eye that focus images of near or distant objects of the retina |
| retina | tissue at the back inside surface of the eye that contains the photoreceptors and associated neurons |
| photoreceptors | receptive cell for vision in the retina; a rod or a cone |
| optic disc | circular structure located at the exit point from the retina of the axons of the ganglion cells that form the optic nerve |
| bipolar cells | neuron in the retina that receives information from photoreceptors and passes it on to ganglion cells. Axons proceed through the optic nerve to the brain |
| ganglion cell | neuron in the retina that receives info from photoreceptors by means of bipolar cells and from which axons proceed through optic nerves to the brain |
| rod | photoreceptor that is very sensitive to light but cannot detect changes in hue |
| cone | photoreceptors that is responsiblee for acute daytime vision and color perceptions |
| fovea | small pit near center of retina containing densely packed cones; responsible for most acute and detailed vision |
| photopigment | complex molecule found in photoreceptors. When struck by light, it splits and stimulates membrane of the photoreceptors in which it resides |
| rhodopsin | photopigment contained by rods |
| dark adaptation | process by which the eye becomes capable of distinguishing dimly illuminated objects after going into a bright to dark area. |
| vergence movement | co-operative movement of the eyes. Ensures image of an object falls identical portions of both retinas |
| saccadic movement | rapid eye movement of the eyes that is used in scanning a visual scene, as opposed to the smooth pursuit movement used to follow moving object |
| pursuit movement | movement that the eyes make to maintain an image f a moving image upon the fovea |
| hue | perceptual dimension in color, mostly related to wavelength of a pure light |
| brightness | perceptual dimension of color, most closely related to the intensity or degree of radiant energy emitted by visual stimulus |
| saturation | associated with purity of color |
| color mixing | perception of 2 or more lights of different wavelengths seen together as light of intermediate wave length |
| trichromatic theory | theory that color vision is accomplished by 3 types of photoreceptors, each of which is maximally sensitive to a different wavelength of light |
| opponent process | representations of colors by the rate of firing 2 types of neurons: red/green and yellow/blue |
| negative afterimage | image seen after a portion of the retina is exposed to an intense visual stimulus; a negative after image consists of colors complementary to those of the physical stimulus |
| protanopia | form of hereditary anomalous color vision caused by defective "red" cones in the retina |
| deuteranopia | form of heredity anomalous color vision, caused by defective green cones in the retina |
| tritanopia | form of heredity anomalous color vision, caused by defective blue cones in the retina |
| hertz (Hz) | measure of frequency of vibration of sound |
| ossicle | one of the 3 bones of the middle ear that transmit acoustical vibrations from the eardrum to the membrane behind the oval window of the cochlea |
| cochlea | a snail shaped chamber set in bone in the inner ear where auditory transduction takes place |
| oval window | opening in bone surrounding the cochlea. The stirrup presses a membrane behind the oval window and transmit sounds vibrations into the fluid within the cochlea |
| basilar membrane | 1 of 2 membranes that divide cochlea into three compartments |
| round window | opening in bone surrounding cochlea. movement of membrane behind opening allows vibrations to be transmitted through oval window into cochlea |
| auditory hair cell | sensory neuron of the auditory system |
| cilium | hair like appendages of a cell, involved in movement or in transducing sensory info |
| tectorial membrane | located above the basilar membrane; serves as a shelf against which the cilia of the auditory hair cells move |
| harmonic | component of complex tone |
| fundamental frequency | lowest, and usually most intense frequency of a complex sound. Basic pitch |
| timbre | perceptual dimension of sound, determined by complexity of sound |
| chemosense | detect the presence of particular molecules present in environment |
| gustation | sense of taste |
| papilla | small bump on tongue that contains taste buds |
| taste bud | small organ on tongue that contains group of gustatory receptor cells |
| olfaction | sense of smell |
| pheromones | chemical signals, usually detected by smell or taste, that regulate reproductive and social behavior between animals |
| olfactory mucosa | mucous membrane lining on top of the nasal. Contains cilia of olfactory receptors |
| olfactory bulbs | stalk like structures located at the base of the brain that contain neural circuits that perform the first analysis of olfactory info |
| somatosense | bodily sensations |
| free nerve ending | dendrite of somatosensory neurons |
| pacinian corpuscle | specialized somatosensory nerve ending. Detects mechanical stimuli |
| two-point discrimination | minimum distance between 2 small points that can defected as separate stimuli when pressed against a part of skin |
| phantom limb | sensation that appear to originate in a limb that has been amputated |
| muscle spindle | muscle fiber that functions as a stretch receptor, detects muscle length |
| vestibular apparatus | receptive organs of the inner ear that contribute to balance and perception of head movement |
| semicircular canal | respond to rotational movements of the head |
| vestibular sac | detect changes in tilt of the head |
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