Color Theory

Question 1

Color

Answer 1

a mental construction based on the wavelength(s) that an object reflects (rather than absorbs)

Question 2

The Trichromatic Theory

Answer 2

(Young-Helmholtz) suggests that because we receive three colors (red, green, and blue), the cones “vary the ratio of each color to the other”, which determines the exact color we see

Question 3

Since there are fewer short-wavelength cones (blue)…

Answer 3

we see red, yellow, and green colors better; when all cones are equally active, we see white or grey

Question 4

Opponent-Process Theory

Answer 4

focuses on color perception in the brain rather than in the eyes. Color perception depends on the reception of pairs of antagonist colors. Each receptor can only work with one color at a time so the opponent color in the pair is blocked out; ex.: US flag afterimage

Question 5

Opponent color pairs

Answer 5

red-green, blue-yellow, and black-white (light-dark)

Question 6

afterimage

Answer 6

visual illusion in which retinal impressions persist after the removal of a stimulus, believed to be caused by the continued activation of the visual system

Question 7

Color Blindness

Answer 7

a genetic condition of a recessive trait caused by a deficiency of cones on the fovea that occurs in 1% of women and 8% of men; people can be lacking in one or two types of cones, or just have a low level of all three. Most can perceive some sort of color

Question 8

Perceptual Set

Answer 8

We tend to perceive our world in ways that align with our moods, experiences, and expectations, creating a perceptual set that may alter our interpretation of our environment

Question 9

The after-effect of a perceptual set

Answer 9

once we form the wrong impression of a situation it is difficult to correct it; this works with sight, taste, smell, and hearing through top-down processing

Question 10

Context effects

Answer 10

Experience, culture, and environmental factors can influence perception; our surroundings impact how an event is perceived and remembered

Question 11

Emotion and Motivation

Answer 11

• Emotional content and our emotional state also impact our perceptions
• Injuries hurt more when we are upset, and food tastes better when we are happy
• Motives can cause us to perceive a needed object as more or less attractive or accessible

Question 12

Synesthesia

Answer 12

• when your brain routes sensory information through multiple unrelated senses, causing you to experience more than one sense simultaneously
• Some examples include tasting words or linking colors to numbers and letters

Question 13

Prosopagnosia

Answer 13

face blindness

Question 14

Our senses

Answer 14

Sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch, balance (Vestibular), Kinesthesis (esia)

Question 15

Sensation

Answer 15

• The passive process of bringing information from the outside world into the body and to the brain
• As our sensory receptors and nervous system receive environmental energy, we do not have to be consciously engaging in the process

Question 16

Perception

Answer 16

• The active process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting the information brought to the brain by the senses
• allows us to make meaning of our environment

Question 17

Bottom-Up processing

Answer 17

Analysis of the stimulus begins with the sense receptors and works up to the level of the brain and mind

Question 18

Top-Down Processing

Answer 18

Information processing is guided by higher-level mental processes as we construct perceptions, drawing our “experience” and “expectations”

Question 19

Selective Attention

Answer 19

• The process of discriminating between what is and is not important is influenced by motivation, past experiences, culture, and biology
• perceptions about objects change from moment to moment

Question 20

The Cocktail Party Effect

Answer 20

• Our ability to tune into a single voice despite many conversations going on in a noisy room
• we can hear our name in a crowd, even when in a separate conversation
• more difficult for people who don’t hear out of both ears
• makes multitasking inefficient and dangerous

Question 21

Inattentional Blindness

Answer 21

• refers to the inability to see an object or a person in our midst
• Simmons & Chabris (1999) are known for studying intentional blindness

Question 22

Transduction

Answer 22

the transformation of stimulus energy into neural impulses

Question 23

Psychophysics

Answer 23

the study of the relationship between psychical characteristics of stimuli and our psychological experience with them

Question 24

Threshold

Answer 24

• a dividing line between what has detectable energy and what does not
• ex.- automatic light sensors, smoke alarms, weight changes

Question 25

Absolute Thresholds

Answer 25

• “Gustav Fechner” believed mental awareness might be measured by our ability to perceive a relative increase in physical energy
• The absolute threshold is the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time

Question 26

Subliminal Threshold

Answer 26

• Stimuli below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness is at the subliminal threshold
• Subliminal stimuli can be noticed unconsciously and can prime a response to a later event

Question 27

Difference Threshold

Answer 27

• The minimum amount of stimulus needed to produce a noticeable change
• the greater the intensity of a stimulus, the greater the change needed to be perceived
• ex.: Picking up a 5lb weight feels very different than a 10-pound weight

Question 28

Sensory Adaptation

Answer 28

• Over time we lose sensitivity to a stimulus from repeated exposure
• This does not work with vision because our eyes constantly move
• This allows us to be attentive to new potentially dangerous sensations