1.
Absolute threshold: the weakest level of a stimulus that can be correctly detected at least 50% of the time
2.
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.
3.
Amplitude: describes the height of a sound wave and is associated with loudness.
4.
Attention: the set of processes from which you choose among the various stimuli bombarding your senses at any instant
5.
Binocular cues: clues about distance requiring two eyes. They include retinal disparity and convergence
6.
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
7.
Blind spot: where the optic nerve connects to the retina- there are no rods or cones here
8.
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
9.
Brightness constancy: we perceive objects as being a constant color even as light reflecting off the objects changes.
10.
Ciliary muscles: muscles which control the lens
11.
Cochlea: the place in the ear where mechanical energy is converted into electrical impulses.
12.
Conduction deafness: a loss of hearing that results when the eardrum is punctured or any of the ossicles lose their ability to vibrate.
13.
Cones: provide detail and color vision; concentrated in the center of the retina
14.
Cornea: refracts light and creates an upside down image on the back of the eye (the retina)
15.
Cutaneous senses: pressure, warmth, cold and pain.
16.
Depth perception: the ability to judge the distance of objects
17.
Difference threshold: minimum difference between any two stimuli that a person can detect 50% of the time
18.
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.
19.
ESP: the controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input
20.
Feature detectors: neurons in the brain which respond only to specific feature of visual stimuli, such as shape, angle or movement
21.
Fovea: the central focal point in the retina, around which the eye's cones cluster
22.
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.)
23.
Ganglion cells: bipolar cells connect to these cells, which begin to form the optic nerve
24.
Gustation: taste
25.
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.
26.
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.
27.
Interpersonally distressed patients: patients who feel they have little social support and report that significant others don't take their pain seriously.
28.
Interposition or overlap: a closer object cuts off the view of part or all of a more distant one (monocular cue)
29.
Iris: located behind the cornea, it contains muscles which open or close the pupil to allow in more or less light
30.
Just noticeable difference: experience of the difference threshold
31.
Linear perspective: parallel lines seem to converge in the distance (monocular cue)
32.
Monocular cues: clues about distance based on the image of one eye
33.
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.
34.
Olfaction: smell
35.
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.
36.
Optic nerve: transmits impulses to the brain
37.
Optical illusions: discrepancies between the appearance of a visual stimulus and its physical reality.
38.
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.
39.
Pain treatment programs: 1) drugs
2) injection therapies (nerve blocks, like epidurals)
3) physical therapy and exercise
4) behavioral techniques
40.
Papillae: bumps on the tongue where taste buds reside.
41.
Parallel processing: many feature detectors can process information simultaneously so that you can make sense out of what you are looking at
42.
Perception: the process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting sensations, enabling you to recognize meaningful objects and events.
43.
Perceptual constancy: perceiving an object as unchanging even when the immediate sensation of the object changes.
44.
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.
45.
Priming: the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory or response
46.
Relative brightness: the closer of two identical objects reflects more light to your eyes (monocular cue)
47.
Relative clarity: objects that are closer appear sharper than more distant ones (monocular cue)
48.
Relative height or elevation: the lowest objects in our field of vision generally seem the closest (monocular cue)
49.
Relative size: the closer of two same-size objects casts a larger image on your retina than the farther one (monocular cue)
50.
Retina: located in the back of the eye, it is filled with light sensing never cells, called rods and cones
51.
Rods: provide peripheral vision, detect motion, and help us see in low light
52.
Rods and Cones: photoreceptors that convert light energy to electrochemical neural impulses
53.
Schemas: concepts that organize and interpret information
54.
Selective attention: focused awareness of only a limited aspect of all you are capable of experiencing
55.
Sensation: the process by which you detect physical energy from your environment and encode it as neural signals
56.
Sensory adaptation: temporary decrease in sensitivity to a stimulus that occurs when stimulation is unchanging
57.
Shape constancy: objects viewed from different angles produce different shapes on our retinas, but we know the shape remains constant.
58.
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.
59.
Sound localization: the process by which you can determine the location of sound.
60.
Stimulus: a change in the environment that can be detected by sensory receptors
61.
Subliminal stimulation: receiving messages below one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness
62.
Texture gradient: closer objects have coarser, more distinct texture than far away objects (monocular cue)
63.
Top-down processing: information processing guided by your preexisting knowledge or expectations to construct perceptions; is concept-driven
64.
Transduction: transformation of stimulus energy to the electrochemical energy of neural impulses
65.
Types of receptors: sweet, salty, bitter, sour and umami.
66.
Visual capture: vision usually dominates when there is a conflict among senses
67.
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.
68.
Weber's law: difference thresholds increase in proportion to the size of the stimulus
