Ch. 5

Question 1

The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment

Answer 1

Sensation

Question 2

The process by which our brain organizes and interprets sensory information, transforming it into meaningful objects and events

Answer 2

Perception

Question 3

Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information

Answer 3

Bottom-up processing

Question 4

Information 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

Changing one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies, such as sights, sounds, and smells, into neural impulses our brain can interpret

Answer 5

Transduction

Question 6

The minimum stimulus energy needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time

Answer 6

Absolute threshold

Question 7

Below a person’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness

Answer 7

Subliminal

Question 8

The minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time

Answer 8

Difference threshold

Question 9

Activating, often unconsciously, associations in our mind, thus setting us up to perceive, remember, or respond to objects or events in certain ways

Answer 9

Priming

Question 10

The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage

Answer 10

Weber’s law

Question 11

Reduced sensitivity in response to constant stimulation

Answer 11

Sensory adaptation

Question 12

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

Answer 12

Perceptual set

Question 13

The distance from the peak of one light wave or sound wave to the peak of the next

Answer 13

Wavelength

Question 14

The dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light; what we know as color names (blue, green, etc)

Answer 14

Hue

Question 15

The amount of energy in a light wave or sound wave, which influences what we perceive as brightness or loudness. Determined by the wave’s amplitude (height)

Answer 15

Intensity

Question 16

The light-sensitive inner surface of the eye; contains the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information

Answer 16

Retina

Question 17

Retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray, and are sensitive to movement

Answer 17

Rods

Question 18

Retinal receptors that are concentrated near the center of the retina; in daylight or well-lit conditions, they detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations

Answer 18

Cones

Question 19

The nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain

Answer 19

Optic nerve

Question 20

The point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye; this part of the retina has no receptor cells

Answer 20

Blind spot

Question 21

The theory that the retina contains three different types of color receptors- one most sensitive to red, one to green, and one to blue

Answer 21

Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory

Question 22

The theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision

Answer 22

Opponent-process theory

Question 23

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

Answer 23

Feature detectors

Question 24

Processing many aspects of a problem or scene at the same time; the brain’s natural mode of information processing for many functions, including vision

Answer 24

Parallel processing

Question 25

An organized whole

Answer 25

Gestalt

Question 26

The organization of the visual field into objects that stand out from their surroundings

Answer 26

Figure-ground

Question 27

The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into meaningful groups

Answer 27

Grouping

Question 28

The ability to see objects in three dimensions, although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance

Answer 28

Depth perception

Question 29

A laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals

Answer 29

Visual cliff

Question 30

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

Answer 30

Binocular cue

Question 31

A binocular cue for perceiving depth. By comparing images from the two eyes, the brain computes distance- the greater the disparity between the two images, the closer the object

Answer 31

Retinal disparity

Question 32

A depth cue, such as interposition or linear perspective, available to either eye alone

Answer 32

Monocular cue

Question 33

Perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent color, brightness, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change

Answer 33

Perceptual constancy

Question 34

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

Answer 34

Color constancy

Question 35

The ability to adjust to changed sensory input, including an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field

Answer 35

Perceptual adaptation

Question 36

The sense or act of hearing

Answer 36

Audition

Question 37

The number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time

Answer 37

Frequency

Question 38

A tone’s experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequency

Answer 38

Pitch

Question 39

The chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing three tiny bones that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea’s oval window

Answer 39

Middle ear

Question 40

A coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear; sound waves traveling through the cochlear fluid trigger nerve impulses

Answer 40

Cochlea

Question 41

The innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs

Answer 41

Inner ear

Question 42

Hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea’s receptor cells or to the auditory nerves; the most common form of hearing loss, also called nerve deafness

Answer 42

Sensorineural hearing loss

Question 43

A less common form of hearing loss, caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea

Answer 43

Conduction hearing loss

Question 44

A device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into the cochlea

Answer 44

Cochlear implant

Question 45

A social interaction in which one person suggests to another person that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will spontaneously occur

Answer 45

Hypnosis

Question 46

A suggestion, made during a hypnosis session, to be carried out after the subject is no longer hypnotized; used by some clinicians to help control undesired symptoms and behaviors

Answer 46

Posthypnotic suggestion

Question 47

The system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts

Answer 47

Kinesthesia

Question 48

The sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance

Answer 48

Vestibular sense

Question 49

The principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences its taste

Answer 49

Sensory interaction

Question 50

The influence of bodily sensations, gestures, and other states on cognitive preferences and judgments

Answer 50

Embodied cognition

Question 51

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

Answer 51

Extrasensory perception (ESP)