Chapter 3- Sensation and Perception Flashcards
(43 cards)
What is sensation?
The process through which the senese pickup visual, auditory, and other sensory stimuli and transmit them to the brain.
What is perception?
The process by which sensory information is actively organized and interpreted.
What is the absolute threshold?
The minimum amount of sensory stimulation that can be detected 50% of the time. It marks the difference between not being able to perceive a stimulus and being just barely able to perceive it.
What is the difference threshold?
A measure of the smallest increase or decrease in a physical stimulus that is required to produce a difference in sensation that is noticeable 50% of the time.
What is the definition for “just noticeable difference (JND)”?
The smallest change in sensation that a person is able to detect 50% of the time.
What is Weber’s Law?
The law stating that just noticeable difference (JND) for all the senses depends on a proportion or percentage of change in a stimulus rather than on a fixed amount of change.
What are sensory receptors?
Highly specialized cells in the sense organs that detect and respond to one type of sensory stimuli- light, sound, or odor, for example- and convert the stimuli into neural impulses.
What is transduction?
The process through which sensory receptors convert the sensory stimulation into neural impulses.
What is sensory adaptation?
The process in which sensory receptors grow accustomed to constant, unchanging levels of stimuli over time.
What are pheromones?
Chemicals excreted by humans and other animals that can have a powerful effect on the behavior of other members of the same species.
What is the gate-control theory?
The theory that an area in the spinal cord acts as a gate that either blocks or transmits pain messages to the brain.
What are endorphins?
The body’s own natural painkillers, which block pain and produce a feeling of well-being. They are released when you feel injured, when you experience stress, extreme pain, laugh, cry, or exercise.
What are the Gestalt Principles of perceptual organization?
- Figure-ground, 2. Similarity, 3. Proximity, 4. Continuity, 5. Closure
What does Gestalt refer to?
A word with no exact English equivalent, but roughly refers to the whole form, pattern, or configuration that a person perceives.
What is figure-ground?
A Gestalt principle of perceptual organization. Some objects (or the figure) often seems to stand out from the background (or the ground).
What is similarity?
A Gestalt principle in perceptual organization. Objects that have similar characteristics are perceived as a unit.
What is proximity?
A Gestalt principle of perceptual organization. Objects that are close together in space or time are usually perceived as belonging together.
What is continuity?
A Gestalt principle of perceptual organization. We tend to perceive figures or objects as belonging together if they appear to form a continuous pattern.
What is closure.
A Gestalt principle of perceptual organization. WE perceive figures with gaps in them to be complete.
What is perceptual constancy?
The phenomenon that allows us to perceive objects as maintaining stable properties, such as size, shape, and brightness, despite differences in distance, viewing angle, and lighting.
What is size constancy?
The phenomenon that as objects move further away, you continue to perceive them as being about the same size. You do not make a literal interpretation about the size of an object from its retinal image.
What is shape constancy?
The tendency to perceive objects as having stable or unchanging shape, regardless of changes in the retinal image resulting from differences in viewing angle.
What is brightness constancy?
We normally see objects as maintaining a constant level of brightness, regardless of differences in lighting conditions.
What is depth perception?
The ability to perceive the visual world in three dimensions and to judge distance accurately.
