4. Sensation And Perception

Question 1

Sensation

Answer 1

Stimulation of a sensory organ

Question 2

Perception

Answer 2

The organization, identification, and interpretation of a sensation in order to form a mental representation

Question 3

Transduction

Answer 3

What takes place when many sensors in the body convert physical signals from the environment into encoded neural signals sent to the CNs

Question 4

Psychphysics

Answer 4

Methods that measure the strength of a stimulus and the observer’s sensitivity to that stimulus

Question 5

Absolute threshold

Answer 5

The point where the increasing intensity of the stimulus enables an observer to detect it on 50% of the trials

Question 6

Just noticeable difference

Answer 6

The minimal change in a stimulus that can just barely be detected

Question 7

Weber’s law

Answer 7

The just noticeable difference of a stimulus is a constant proportion despite variations in intensity.

Question 8

Signal detection theory

Answer 8

The response to a stimulus depends on a person’s sensitivity to the stimulus in the presence of noise and on a person’s response criterion

Question 9

Sensory adaptation

Answer 9

Sensitivity to prolonged stimulation tends to decline over time as an organism adapts to current conditions

Question 10

Visual acuity

Answer 10

The ability to see fine detail

Question 11

Retina

Answer 11

Light-sensitive tissue on the back of the eye

Question 12

Accommodation

Answer 12

The process by which the eye maintains a clear image on the retina

Question 13

Myopia

Answer 13

Nearsightedness

Question 14

Hyperopia

Answer 14

Farsightedness

Question 15

Fovea

Answer 15

Area of the retina where vision is clearest

Question 16

Cones and rods

Answer 16

Colour and night vision

Question 17

Visual form agnosia

Answer 17

Inability to recognize objects by sight

Question 18

Binding problem

Answer 18

How features are linked together so that we see unified objects in our visual world rather than free-floating or miscombined features

Question 19

Illusory conjunction

Answer 19

A perceptual mistake where features from multiple objects are incorrectly combined

Question 20

Feature-integration theory

Answer 20

The idea that focused attention is not required to detect the individual features that comprise a stimulus, but is required to bind those individual features together

Question 21

Monocular depth cues

Answer 21

Aspects of a scene that yield information about depth when viewed with only one eye

Question 22

Binocular disparity

Answer 22

The difference in the retinal images of the two eyes that provides information about depth

Question 23

Apparent motion

Answer 23

The perception of movement as a result of alternating signals appearing in rapid succession in different locations.

Question 24

Change blindness

Answer 24

When people fail to detect changes to the visual details of a scene

Question 25

Inattentional blindness

Answer 25

A failure to perceive objects that are not the focus of attention

Question 26

Area A1

Answer 26

Contains the primary auditory cortex in the frontal lobe

Question 27

Place code

Answer 27

Process by which different frequencies stimulate neural signals at specific places along the basilar membrane, from which the brain determines pitch High frequencies

Question 28

Temporal code

Answer 28

The cochlea registers low frequencies via the firing of action potentials entering the auditory nerve

Question 29

Cochlear implant

Answer 29

Replaces function of hair cells

Question 30

Haptic perception

Answer 30

Exploration of our environment via touch

Question 31

Referred pain

Answer 31

Feeling of pain when sensory information from internal and external areas converge on the same nerve cells in the spinal cord

Question 32

Gate-control theory of pain

Answer 32

A theory of pain perception based on the idea that signals arriving from pain receptors in the body can be stopped by interneurons in the spinal cord via feedback from two directions

Question 33

Principles of perceptual organization

Answer 33

``` Closure Common fate Continuity Similiarity Simplicity Proximity ```