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Sensation the process by which you detect physical energy from your environment and encode it as neural signals Accomodation tendency of the eye to go in and out of focus; causes near/farsightedness. 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 half the time Signal Detection Theory maintains that minimum threshold varies with fatigue, attention, expectations, motivation, emotional distress, and from one person to another Difference Threshold minimum difference between any two stimuli that a person can detect 50% of the time Just Noticeable Difference (JND) experience of the difference threshold Weber's Law difference thresholds increase in proportion to the size of the stimulus 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 Cornea transparent, curved layer in the front of the eye that bends incoming light rays Iris colored muscle surrounding the pupil that regulates the size of the pupil opening Feature Detectors individual neurons in the primary visual cortex/occipital lobes that respond to specific features of visual stimulus Parallel Processing simultaneously analyzing different elements of sensory information such as color, brightness, and shape Trichromatic Theory proposed mechanism for color vision with cones that are differentially sensitive to different wavelengths of light Opponent-Process Theory proposed mechanism for color vision with opposing retinal processes for red-green, yellow-blue, white-black 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, allowing some to be further processed by your senses and brain Audition the sense of hearing Frequency the number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given amount of time Pitch the highness or lowness of a note Timbre the quality of a sound determined by the purity of a wavelength form Cochlea snail-shaped fluid-filled tube in the inner ear with hair cells on the basilar membrane that transduce mechanical energy of vibrating molecules to the electrochemical energy of neural impulses Auditory Nerve axons of neurons in the cochlea converge transmitting sound messages through the medulla, pons, and thalamus to the auditory cortex of the temporal lobes Place Theory the position on the basilar membrane at which waves reach their peak depends on the frequency of a tone Frequency Theory the rate of the neural impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, enabling you to sense its pitch Conduction Deafness loss of hearing that results when the eardrum is punctured or any of the ossicles lose their ability to vibrate Nerve (Sensorineural) Deafness loss of hearing that results from damage to the cochlea, hair cells, or auditory neurons Somatosensation skin sensations; touch/pressure, warmth, cold and pain Kinesthesis body sense that provides information about the the position and movements of individuals parts of your body with receptors in muscles, tendons and joints Vestibular Sense body sense of equilibrium with hairlike receptors in semicircular canals and vestibular sac in the inner ear Gustation the chemical sense of taste Olfaction the chemical sense of smell 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 brain's integration of sensory information to construct perceptions Top-Down Processing information processing guided by your preexisting knowledge or expectations to construct perceptions Perceptual Constancy perceiving an object as unchanging even when the immediate sensation of the object changes Depth Perception the ability to judge the distance of objects Monocular Cues clues about distance based on the image of one eye Binocular Cues clues about distance requiring two eyes Optical or Visual Illusions discrepancies between the appearance of a visual stimulus and its physical reality ESP (Extrasensory Perception) the controversial claim that perceptions can occur apart from sensory input