Ch 5: Sensation & Perceptin

Question 1

The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment (reception) (bottom up)

Answer 1

Sensation

Question 2

The process by which our brain organizes and interprets sensory info, transforming it into meaningful objects (interpretation) (top down)

Answer 2

Perception

Question 3

Analysis that begins with sensory receptors and works up to the brains integration of sensory info

Answer 3

Bottom up processing

Question 4

Info processing guided by higher level mental processes as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations

Answer 4

Top down processing

Question 5

The process of converting one form of energy into another that our brain can use

Answer 5

Transduction

Question 6

The study of the relationship between physical stimulation and psychological experience

Answer 6

Psychophysics

Question 7

The level of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse

Answer 7

Threshold

Question 8

The minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus

Answer 8

Absolute threshold

Question 9

Absolute thresholds that vary with our psychological state (Ex: Mom hears the baby cry, Dad hears the dogs bark)

Answer 9

Signal Detection

Question 10

Below a person’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness

Answer 10

Subliminal

Question 11

The minimum difference between 2 stimuli that a person can detect 50% of the time

Answer 11

Difference threshold

Question 12

The idea that difference thresholds inc in proportion to the size of the stimulus

Answer 12

Weber’s Law

Question 13

Perception is influenced by our:

Answer 13

Experiences, beliefs, and expectations

Question 14

Activating often unconsciously associations in our mind this setting us up to remember or respond to objects or events in a certain way

Answer 14

Priming

Question 15

Reduced sensitivity in response to constant stimulation (no longer swelling a strong perfume after its been a while)

Answer 15

Sensory adaptation

Question 16

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another (top down) (Hearing “gear up” instead of “cheer up”)

Answer 16

Perceptual set

Question 17

Retinal receptors that detect black and white and gray and are sensitive to movement; located in the periphery; several funnel into a single bipolar cell

Answer 17

Rods

Question 18

Retinal receptors that are concentrated in the center of retina; detect fine detail and color; one transmits to a single bipolar cell

Answer 18

Cones

Question 19

The nerve cell that carries neural impulses from eye to brain

Answer 19

Optic nerve

Question 20

Point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye; this part of the receptor has no receptor cells

Answer 20

Blind spot

Question 21

The effect that objects in the peripheral retina disappear under conditions of steady unmoving stimulation but are revitalized by movement in the periphery

Answer 21

Troxler effect

Question 22

Theory that opposes n retinal processes (red-green) enable color vision

Answer 22

Opponent process theory

Question 23

Process by many aspects of a problem or scene at the same time; brains natural mode of information processing

Answer 23

Parallel processing

Question 24

An organized whole; the whole may exceed the sum of its parts

Answer 24

Gestalt

Question 25

A depth cue such as retinal disparity that depends on the use of two eyes

Answer 25

Binocular cues

Question 26

A depth cue (height, size, motion, light and shadow) that are available to either eye alone and allows one to determine how far away an object is

Answer 26

Monocular cue

Question 27

Top down process that perceived objects as unchanging (having consistent color, brightness, shape and size) even as illumination and retinal images change

Answer 27

Perceptual constancy

Question 28

Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the objects

Answer 28

Color constancy

Question 29

The ability to adjust changed sensory input Ex: getting adjusted to a new pair of glasses

Answer 29

Perceptual adaptation

Question 30

The system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts (touching nose with eyes closed) (sense receptors located in our joints, tendons and muscles)

Answer 30

Kinesthesia

Question 31

The sense of body movement and position including the sense of balance (receptors are located in our inner ear)

Answer 31

Vestibular sense

Question 32

The principle that one sense may influence another; smell of food influences taste

Answer 32

Sensory interaction

Question 33

Nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of a stimulus such as shape angle or movement

Answer 33

Feature detection

Question 34

Outer ear funnels sounds waves to the eardrum via the auditory canal; the bones of the middle ear (hammer, anvil, and stirrup) amplify and relay eardrums vibrations; the pressure changes in the cochlear fluid bends hairs on the surface; hair cell movements trigger implies a in the nerve cells

Answer 34

General processes of hearing

Question 35

Pressure, warmth, cold, pain

Answer 35

4 basic senses involved in touch

Question 36

Cold + warmth

Answer 36

Hot

Question 37

Cold + pressure

Answer 37

Wetness

Question 38

Asserts that non painful input closes the gates (at the spinal cord level) to painful input which prevents pain sensations from traveling to the central nervous system

Answer 38

Gate control theory of pain

Question 39

Contends that hypnosis is a form of social influence; people behave in ways appropriate for “good hypnotic subjects”

Answer 39

Social influence theory

Question 40

Proposes that hypnosis is a special dual processing state; a split between normal sensations and conscious awareness

Answer 40

Dissociation theory

Question 41

Sweet, salty, sour, bitter, umami

Answer 41

5 basic taste receptors/sensations

Question 42

Reflex movement evoked by vestibular stimulation; eyes compensating for our bodies moving

Answer 42

Nystagmus

Question 43

The claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input; includes telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition

Answer 43

Extrasensory perception