1.
absolute threshold: minimal amount of energy required to produce any sensation, 50 percent of the time
2.
Accommodation: Process by which the eye lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina
3.
audtition: The sense of hearing.
4.
basilar membrane: A membrane inside the cochlea which vibrates in response to sound and whose vibrations lead to activity in the auditory pathways.
5.
binocular cues: visual messages/cues that require two eyes (retinal disparity, convergence)
6.
blind spot: 
place on the retina out where the optic nerve leaves the eye, no receptors (rods/cones) are located here
7.
bottom-up processing: Starts with basic sensory information; transduction
8.
change blindness: failing to notice changes in the environment.
9.
cochlea: A coiled, bony, fluid-filled tude in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses.
10.
cochlea: snail-shaped structure in the inner ear; contains fluid that vibrate; attach the oval window and basilar membrane
11.
cochlear implant: a device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve by electrodes threaded into the cochlea
12.
Color constancy: Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wave-lengths reflected by the object
13.
conduction hearing loss: Hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea.
14.
cones: 
visual receptor cells; located in retina; works best in bright light; responsible for viewing color; greatest density in the fovea
15.
convergence: 
binoculars cue; visual depth cue; muscles controlling eye movement as the eyes turned inward to view a nearby stimulus
16.
David Hubel - Torsten Wiesel: discovered feature detector groups of neurons in the visual cortex that respond to different types of visual images
17.
Depth perception: Ability to see objects in three dimension although the image that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance
18.
difference threshold: Just Noticeable Difference (JND); the smallest change in stimulation that you can detect 50% of the time; differs from one person to the other (and from moment to moment); tells us the flexibility of sensory systems
19.
Extrasensory perception (ESP): Controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input; telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition
20.
feature detectors: nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement.
21.
fovea: The central focal point in the retina, around which the eye's cones cluster.
22.
frequency: The number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time (for example, per second).
23.
Frequency theory: In hearing, the theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch.
24.
Gate-control theory: The spinal cord contains a "gate" that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain. It's opened by the activity of pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers and is closed by activity in large fibers or information coming from the brain.
25.
habituation: decreasing responsiveness with repeated stimulation. As infants gain familiarity with repeated exposure to a visual stimulus, their interest wanes and they look away sooner
26.
Herman von Helmholtz: Theorist who both aided in the development of the trichromatic theory of color perception and Place theory of pitch perception.
27.
hue: 
color, or aspects of colors
28.
inattentional blindness: 
failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere
29.
inner ear: The innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs.
30.
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.
31.
Iris: the color part of the eye; made of muscle that contracts/relaxes to control the size of the people allowing light to enter the eye
32.
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.
33.
kinesthesis: sense of muscle movement, posture, and strain on muscles/joints; provides information on speed and direction of movement; works with vestibular sense
34.
Lens: 
transparent part of the eye behind the iris; focuses light on the retina (accommodation); change shape to focus on objects;-if object is closed, muscles attach to the land contract to make lens around,-if object is far away, the muscles pull to flatten the lens
35.
middle ear: The chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing three tiny bones (Hammer, Anvil, and Stirrup) that concentrate the vibrations (conduction) of the eardrum on the cochlea's oval window.
36.
monocular cues: depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either eye alone.
37.
olfaction sense: sense of smell
38.
opponent process theory: The theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green Christmas, yellow-blue Michigan, white-black) enable color vision.
39.
opponent-process theory: created by Edward Hering; alternative theory used to explain after images; suggest that the retina contains three pairs color receptors or cones-yellow-blue, red-green, black-white; pairs work in opposition (thalamus)
40.
optic nerve: bundle of axons from ganglion cells that carries messages from the eye to the brain
41.
parallel processing: The processing of several aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions, including vision, hearing
42.
Parapsychology: Study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis
43.
perception: the mental process of sorting, identifying, and arranging raw sensory data into meaningful patterns
44.
perceptual accommodation: in perception, the ability to adjust to an idea or mind set
45.
Perceptual adaptation: In vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field
46.
perceptual consistancy: perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent shapes, size, lightness, and color) even as illumination and retinal images change.
47.
Perceptual set: A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another
48.
Phi phenomenon: Illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession
49.
pitch: auditory experience corresponding to the frequency of sound vibrations, resulting in a higher or lower tone
50.
Place theory: In hearing, the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated.
51.
place theory: brain determines pitch by the place on the basilar membrane, works best for high pitch
52.
priming: the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response.
53.
psychophysics: The study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them.
54.
pupil: small opening in the center of the iris
55.
retina: the light-sensitive inner lining of the back of the eyeball; contains receptor cells (rods/cones)
56.
retinal disparity: binocular distance cue; based on the overlay of two retinal fields when both eyes focus on one object
57.
rods: visual receptor cell; located in retina; respond to varying degrees of light and dark; responsible for night vision and peripheral vision
58.
selective attention: The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus, like the cocktail effect (notice your name in a crowd)
59.
sensation: the raw data of experience; sensory stimulation; example are eyes only register light energy and ears only register wave energy
60.
sensorineural hearing loss: Hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea's receptor cells or to the auditory nerves; also called nerve deafness.
61.
sensory adaptation: Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.
62.
Sensory interaction: The principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences its taste.
63.
signal detection theory: States that circumstances, experiences, expectations affect our thresholds
64.
size constancy: the perception of an object as the same size regardless of the distance from which it is viewed; example someone height
65.
subliminal perception: Sensory information that is detected without our conscious knowledge
66.
taste buds: groups of cells located on the tongue that enable one to recognize different tastes (sweet, sour, bitter, salt)
67.
top-down processing: Constructing perceptions based on our experiences and expectations
68.
transduction: Conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies into neural impulses.
69.
vestibular sense: The sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance.
70.
Visual cliff: Laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals
71.
wavelength: The distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next. Electromagnetic wavelengths vary from longer/red, shorter/blue
72.
Weber's law: Ernst Weber; the principle that accounts for how one notices the difference threshold for any change must be proportional
73.
Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory: created by Hermann von Helmholtz; theory of color vision based on additive color mixing; suggest that the retina contains three types of color receptors, cones: red, green, blue
