Chapter 5

Question 0

Perception

Answer 0

The precession of organizing and interpreting sensory info, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

Question 1

Sensation

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Bottom-Up Processing

Answer 2

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

Question 3

Top-Down Processing

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Prosopgnosia

Answer 4

Complete sensation but incomplete perception (failure of perception)

Question 5

Psychophysics

Answer 5

A study of the relationship between physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity and our psychological experience with them

Question 6

Absolute Threshold

Answer 6

The minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time

Question 7

Subliminal

Answer 7

Below one’s absolute threshold of conscious awareness

Question 8

Priming

Answer 8

The activation, often unconsciously of certain associations, thus predisposing one’s perception, memory or response

Question 9

Difference Threshold

Answer 9

Minimum difference between 2 stimuli required for detection 50% of the time (Just Noticeable Difference)

Question 10

Weber’s Law

Answer 10

Two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum % (rather then a constant amount) to be perceived as different

Question 11

Sensory Adaptation

Answer 11

Our diminishing sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus

Question 12

Transduction

Answer 12

The conversion of one form of energy to another (stimulus energies)

Question 13

Wavelength

Answer 13

The difference of one wave peak to the next

Question 14

Hue

Answer 14

The color we experience

Question 15

Intensity

Answer 15

The amount of energy in the waves determined by a wave’s amplitude or height

Question 16

Pupil

Answer 16

Adjustable opening to the eye

Question 17

Iris

Answer 17

Muscle that controls pupil

Question 18

Lens

Answer 18

Curved and flexible in order to focus the light (flips images upside down while your brain flips it back)

Question 19

Accommodation

Answer 19

The process by which the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layer of neurons that begin the processing of visual information

Question 20

Retina

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Acuity

Answer 21

The sharpness of vision

Question 22

Nearsightedness

Answer 22

Nearby objects are seen more clearly

Question 23

Farsightedness

Answer 23

Far objects are seen more clearly

Question 24

Cones

Answer 24

Retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions, the cones detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations

Question 26

Rods

Answer 26

Retinal receptors that detect black, white and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don't respond

Question 27

Optic Nerve

Answer 27

The nerve carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain

Question 28

Blind Spot

Answer 28

The point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a "blind" spot because no receptor cells are located there

Question 29

Fovea

Answer 29

The central focal point in the retina, around which the eye's cones cluster

Question 30

Feature Detectors

Answer 30

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

Question 31

Parallel Processing

Answer 31

The processing of several aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode of info processing for many functions, including vision

Question 32

Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic (Three-Color) Theory

Answer 32

The theory that the retina contains three different color receptors - one of the most sensitive to red, one to green, one to blue - which when stimulated in combination can produce the perception of any color

Question 33

Opponent-Process Theory

Answer 33

The theory that opposing retinal processes enable color vision

Question 34

Color Constancy

Answer 34

Color of an object remains the same under different illuminations

Question 35

Audition

Answer 35

The sense or act of hearing

Question 36

Frequency

Answer 36

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

Question 37

Pitch

Answer 37

A tone's experienced highness or low (depends on frequency)

Question 38

Middle Ear

Answer 38

Chamber between eardrum and cochlea (contains hammer, anvil, and stirrup) that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea's oval window

Question 39

Cochlea

Answer 39

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

Question 40

Inner Ear

Answer 40

Contains the cochlea, semicircular canal and vestibular sacs

Question 41

Place Theory

Answer 41

Suggests that sound frequencies stimulate the basilar membrane at specific places resulting in perceived pitch

Question 42

Frequency Theory

Answer 42

That the rate of nerve impulses, traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch

Question 43

Conduction Hearing Loss

Answer 43

Hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea

Question 44

Cochlear Implant

Answer 44

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

Question 45

Gate-Control Theory

Answer 45

Theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain. The "gate" is opened by the activity of pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers or by info coming from the brain

Question 46

Sensory Interaction

Answer 46

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

Question 47

Kinesthesis

Answer 47

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

Question 48

Vestibular Sense

Answer 48

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