Chapter 4: Sensation and Perception

Question 1

synesthesia

Answer 1

the perceptual experience of one sense that is evoked by another sense

Question 2

sensation

Answer 2

simple stimulation of a sense

Question 3

perception

Answer 3

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

Question 4

transduction

Answer 4

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

Question 5

psychophysics

Answer 5

methods that measure the strength of a stimulus and te observer;s sensitivity to that stimulus

Question 6

absolute threshold

Answer 6

the minimal intensity needed to just barely detect a stimulus

Question 7

just noticeable difference (JND)

Answer 7

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

Question 8

Weber’s Law

Answer 8

the just noticeable difference of a stimulus is a constant proportion despite variation in intensity

Question 9

signal detection theory

Answer 9

an observation that the response to a stimulus depend both on a person’s sensitivity to the stimulus in the presence of noise and on a person’s response criterion

Question 10

sensory adaptation

Answer 10

sensitivity to prolonged stimulation tends to decline over time as an program adapts to current conditions

Question 11

visual acuity

Answer 11

ability to see fine detail

Question 12

retina

Answer 12

light-sensitive tissue lining the back of the eyeball

Question 13

accommodation

Answer 13

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

Question 14

cones

Answer 14

photoreceptors that detect color, operate under normal daylight conditions, and allow us to focus on fine detail

Question 15

rods

Answer 15

photoreceptors that become active under low-light conditions for night vision

Question 16

fovea

Answer 16

an area of the retina where vision is the clearest and there are no rods at all

Question 17

blind spot

Answer 17

a location in the visual field that produces no sensation on the retina because the corresponding are of the retina contains neither rods nor cones and therefore has no mechanism to sense light

Question 18

receptive field

Answer 18

the region of the sensory surface that when stimulated, causes a change in the firing rate of te neuron

Question 19

trichromatic color representation

Answer 19

the pattern of responding across the three types of cones that provides a unique code for each color

Question 20

color-opponent system

Answer 20

pairs of visual neurons that work in opposition

Question 21

area V1

Answer 21

the part of the occipital lobe that contains the primary visual cortex

Question 22

visual-form agnosia

Answer 22

the inability to recognize objects by sight

Question 23

binding problem

Answer 23

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

Question 24

illusory conjunction

Answer 24

a perceptual mistake where features from multiple objects are incorrectly combined

Question 25

feature integration theory

Answer 25

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

Question 26

perceptual constancy

Answer 26

a perceptual principle string that even as aspects of sensory signals change, perception remains consistent

Question 27

template

Answer 27

a mental representation that can be directly compared to a viewed shoe in the retinal image

Question 28

monocular depth cues

Answer 28

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

Question 29

binocular depth cues

Answer 29

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

Question 30

binocular disparity

Answer 30

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

Question 31

apparent motion

Answer 31

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

Question 32

change blindness

Answer 32

when people fail to detect changes to the visual details a scene

Question 33

inattentional blindness

Answer 33

a failure to perceive objects that are not the focus attention

Question 34

pitch

Answer 34

how high or low a sound is

Question 35

loudness

Answer 35

a sounds intensity

Question 36

timbre

Answer 36

a listener's experience of sound quality of resonance

Question 37

cochlea

Answer 37

a fluid-filled tube that is the organ

Question 38

basilar membrane

Answer 38

a structure in the inner ear that undulates when vibrations from the ossicles reach the cochlear fluid

Question 39

hair cells

Answer 39

specialized auditory receptor neurons embedded in the basilar membrane

Question 40

area A1

Answer 40

a portion of the temporal lobe that contains the primary auditory cortex

Question 41

place code

Answer 41

the cochlea encodes different frequencies oat different locations along the basilar membrane

Question 42

temporal code

Answer 42

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

Question 43

haptic perception

Answer 43

the active expiration of the environment by toughing and grasping objects with our hands

Question 44

referred pain

Answer 44

feeling of pain when sensory information from internal and external areas converges on te same nerve cells in the spinal cord

Question 45

gate-control theory

Answer 45

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

Question 46

vestibular system

Answer 46

the three fluid-filled semicircular canals and adjacent organs located next to the cochlea in each inner ear

Question 47

olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs)

Answer 47

receptor cells that initiate the sense of smell

Question 48

olfactory bulb

Answer 48

a brain structure located above the nasal cavity beneath the frontal lobes

Question 49

pheromones

Answer 49

biochemical odorants emitted by other members of its species that can affect an animals behavior or physiology

Question 50

taste buds

Answer 50

organ of taste transduction