Chapter 6

Question 1

Threshold

Answer 1

the point above which a stimulus is perceived and below which is not perceived. The threshold determines when we first become aware of the stimulus.

Question 2

Absolute Threshold

Answer 2

the minimum amount of stimulus energy that a person can detect 50% of the time.

Question 3

Subliminal Stimulus

Answer 3

an amount of stimulus energy that is below a person’s absolute threshold and consequently the person is not consciously aware of the stimulus

Question 4

Just Noticeable Difference (JND or Difference Threshold)

Answer 4

the smallest increase or decrease in the intensity of a stimulus that a person is able to detect 50% of the time.

Question 5

Weber’s Law

Answer 5

the increase in intensity of a stimulus needed to produce a just noticeable difference grows in proportion to the intensity of the initial stimulus

Question 6

Sensation

Answer 6

our first awareness of some outside stimulus. An outside stimulus activates sensory receptors which in turn produce electrical signals that are transformed by the brain into meaningless bits of information.

Question 7

Perception

Answer 7

the experience we have after our brain assembles and combines hundreds of individual, meaningless sensations into a meaningful pattern or image. However, our perceptions are rarely exact replicas of the original stimuli. Rather, our perceptions are usually changed, biased, colored, or distorted by our unique set of experiences.

Question 8

Transduction

Answer 8

the light waves are absorbed by photo receptors. The electrical signals are changed into impulses that travel to the brain.

Question 9

Primary Areas of the Brain

Answer 9

Occipital Lobe
Temporal Lobe
Parietal Lobe
Frontal Lobe

Question 10

Association Areas of the Brain

Answer 10

They change meaningless bits into meaningful images, called perceptions.

Question 11

Top-Down Processing

Answer 11

Perception is guided by previous knowledge, experience, beliefs, or expectations to recognize the whole pattern

Question 12

Bottom-Up Processing

Answer 12

Perception begins with bits and pieces of information that, when combined, lead to the recognition of a whole pattern

Question 13

Gestalt Psychologists

Answer 13

They believed that our brains follow a set of rules that specify how individuals elements are to be organized into a meaningful pattern or perception.

Question 14

Rules of Organization

Answer 14

They were identified by Gestalt psychologists. They specify how our brains combine and organize individual pieces or elements into a meaningful perception.

Question 15

Figure-Ground Rule

Answer 15

in organizing stimuli, we tend to automatically distinguish between a figure and a ground: The figure, with more detail, stands out against the background, which has less detail.

Question 16

Closure Rule

Answer 16

in organizing stimuli, we tend to fill in any missing parts of a figure and see the figure as a complete.

Question 17

Proximity Rule

Answer 17

in organizing stimuli, we group together objects that are physically close to one another.

Question 18

Similarity Rule

Answer 18

in organizing stimuli, we group together elements that appear similar.

Question 19

Simplicity Rule

Answer 19

stimuli are organized the simplest way possible

Question 20

Continuity Rule

Answer 20

in organizing stimuli, we tend to favor smooth or continuous paths when interpreting a series of points or lines.

Question 21

Perceptual Constancy

Answer 21

refers to our tendency to perceive sizes, shapes, brightness, and colors as remaining the same even though their physical characteristics are constantly changing.

Question 22

Size Constancy

Answer 22

Our tendency to perceive objects as remaining the same size even when their images on the retina are continually growing and shrinking

Question 23

Shape Constancy

Answer 23

Our tendency to perceive an object as retaining its same shape even though when you view it from different angles, its shape is continually changing its image on the retina

Question 24

Brightness Constancy

Answer 24

Our tendency to perceive brightness as remaining the same in changing illumination

Question 25

Color Constancy

Answer 25

Our tendency to perceive colors as remaining stable despite differences in lighting

Question 26

Depth Perception

Answer 26

the ability of your eye and brain to add a third dimension, depth, to all visual perceptions, even though images projected on the retinal are in only two dimensions, height and width

Question 27

Binocular Depth Cues

Answer 27

they depend on the movement of both eyes

Question 28

Convergence

Answer 28

a binocular cue for depth perception based on signals sent from muscles that turn the eyes. To focus on near or approaching object, these muscles turn the eyes inward, toward the nose. The brain uses the signals sent by these muscles to determine the distance of the object

Question 29

Retinal Disparity

Answer 29

a binocular depth cue that depends on the distance between the eyes. Because of their different positions, each eye receives a slightly different image. The difference between the right and left eyes’ images is the retinal disparity. The brain interprets a large retinal disparity to mean a close object and a small retinal disparity to mean a distant object.

Question 30

Monocular Depth Cues

Answer 30

produced by signals from a single eye. Monocular cues most commonly arise from the way objects are arranged in the environment.

Question 31

Relative Size

Answer 31

a monocular cue for depth that results when we expect two objects to be the same size and they are not. In that case, the larger of the two objects will appear closer and the smaller will appear farther away.

Question 32

Interposition

Answer 32

a monocular cue for depth perception that comes into play when objects overlap. The overlapping object appears closer, and the object that is overlapped appears farther away.

Question 33

Atmospheric Perspective

Answer 33

a monocular depth cue that is created by the presence of dust, smog, clouds, or water vapor. We perceive clearer objects as being nearer, and we perceive hazy or cloudy objects as being farther away.

Question 34

Light and Shadow

Answer 34

they make up monocular cues for depth perceptions: brightly lit objects appear closer while objects in shadows appear farther away.

Question 35

Motion Parallax

Answer 35

a monocular depth cue based on the speed of moving objects. We perceive objects that appear to be moving at high speed as closer to us than those moving more slowly or appearing stationary.

Question 36

Texture Gradient

Answer 36

a monocular depth cue in which areas with sharp, detailed texture are interpreted as being closer and those with less sharpness and poorer detail are perceived as more distant

Question 37

Cultural Influences

Answer 37

persuasive pressure that encourage members of a particular society or ethnic group to conform to shared behavior, values, and beliefs.

Question 38

Impossible Figure

Answer 38

a perceptual experience in which a drawing seems to defy basic geometric laws.

Question 39

Perceptual Sets

Answer 39

learned expectations that are based on our personal, social, or cultural experiences. These expectations automatically add information, meaning, or feelings to our perceptions and thus change or bias our perceptions.

Question 40

Self-Fulfilling Prophecies

Answer 40

having strong beliefs about changing some behavior and then acting, unknowingly, to change that behavior.

Question 41

Illusion

Answer 41

a perceptual experience in which you perceive an image as being so strangely distorted that, in reality, it cannot and does not exist. An illusion is created by manipulating the perceptual cues so that your brain can no longer correctly interpret space, size,and depth cues.

Question 42

Ames Room

Answer 42

The room is built at an angle to show that our perception of size can be distorted by chaning depth cues

Question 43

Extrasensory Perception (ESP)

Answer 43

a group of psychic experiences that involve perceiving or sending information outside normal sensory processes or channels

Question 44

Telepathy

Answer 44

the ability to transfer one’s thoughts to another or to read the thoughts of others

Question 45

Precognition

Answer 45

the ability to foretell events

Question 46

Clairvoyance

Answer 46

the ability to perceive events or objects that are out of sight

Question 47

Psychokinesis

Answer 47

the ability to exert mind over matter (ex: moving objects without touching them)

Question 48

Ganzfeld Procedure

Answer 48

a controlled method of eliminating trickery, error, and bias while testing telepathic communication between a sender and a receiver

Question 49

Prosopagnosia

Answer 49

a condition marked by a difficulty or inability to recognize faces

Question 50

Phi Movement

Answer 50

the illusion that lights that are actually stationary seem to be moving. The illusory movement, which today is called apparent motion, is created by flashing closely positioned stationary lights at regular intervals

Question 51

Real Motion

Answer 51

your perception of any stimulus or object that actually moves in space

Question 52

Apparent Motion

Answer 52

an illusion that a stimulus or object is moving in space when, in fact, the stimulus or object is stationary. The illusion of apparent motion is repeated by rapidly showing a series of stationary images, each of which has a slightly different position or posture than the one before.

Question 53

Virtual Reality

Answer 53

a perceptual experience of being inside an object, moving through an environment, or carrying out some action that is created or stimulated by computer