Sensation and Perception

Question 1

Reception

Answer 1

Occurs when receptors for a particular sense detect a stimulus

Question 2

Receptive Field

Answer 2

Part of the world that triggers a particular neuron

Question 3

Sensory Transduction

Answer 3

Process in which physical sensation is changed into electrical messages

Question 4

Nativist Theory

Answer 4

Perception and cognition are largely innate

Question 5

Structuralist Theory

Answer 5

Perception is the sum total of sensory input.

Question 6

Gestalt Psychology

Answer 6

People tend to see the world as organized wholes; understood through top-down processing

Question 7

Cornea

Answer 7

Clear protective coating on outside of eye

Question 8

Lens

Answer 8

Behind the cornea; bends in order to focus an image on the retina

Question 9

Retina

Answer 9

Recieves light images from lens

Question 10

Receptor Cells

Answer 10

Rods and cones; responsible for sensory transduction

Question 11

Rods

Answer 11

Sensitive to dim light, used for night vision

Question 12

Cones

Answer 12

Concentrated in center of retina; sensitive to color and daylight vision

Question 13

Opponent-color Theory

Answer 13

Two types of color-sensitive cells exist: blue/yellow and red/green. When one color of the pair is stimulated, the other is inhibited

Question 14

Tri-color theory

Answer 14

Three types of receptors in retina: cones for red, blue, green

Question 15

Lateral Inhibition

Answer 15

Allows eye to see contrast and prevents repetitive info from being sent. Once one receptor cell is stimulated, nearby ones are inhibited

Question 16

Binocular Disparity

Answer 16

Our eyes view objects from 2 slightly different angles, allowing us to create a 3D picture

Question 17

Apparent size

Answer 17

Gives clues about how far away an object is if we know how big it should be

Question 18

Interposition

Answer 18

Overlap of objects; shows which are closer

Question 19

Linear Perspective

Answer 19

Gained by features we are familiar with, such as two seemingly parallel lines converging

Question 20

Texture Gradient

Answer 20

How we see texture/detail differently from different distances

Question 21

Motion Parallax

Answer 21

How movement is percieved through displacement of objects over time

Question 22

Dark Adaptation

Answer 22

Result of regeneration of retinal pigment

Question 23

Pragnanz

Answer 23

Gestalt idea that experience will be organized as meaningful, symmetrical, and simple whenever possible

Question 24

Autokinetic Effect

Answer 24

A single point of light viewed in darkness will appear to shake

Question 25

Purkinje Shift

Answer 25

Perceived color brightness changes with level of illumination in room

Question 26

Prosopagnosia

Answer 26

Inability to recognize faces

Question 27

Absolute Threshold

Answer 27

Minimum amount of stimuli that can be detected 50% of time

Question 28

Differential Threshold

Answer 28

Just noticable difference; minimum difference that must occur between to stimuli for them to be perceived as having different intensities

Question 29

Terminal threshold

Answer 29

Upper limit above which the stimuli can no longer be perceived

Question 30

Theory of Signal Detection

Answer 30

Subjects detect stimuli not only because they can but also because they want to

Question 31

Response Bias

Answer 31

Individuals are partly motivated by rewards and costs in detections

Question 32

Place-resonance theory

Answer 32

Different parts of the basilar membrane respond to different frequencies

Question 33

Sound Localization

Answer 33

Degree to which one ear hears a sound prior to and more intensely than the other can give info about the origin of the sound

Question 34

Free nerve endings

Answer 34

Detect pain and temperature changes

Question 35

Physiological zero

Answer 35

Temperature that is detected as neither warm nor cold

Question 36

Control Theory of Pain

Answer 36

Looks at pain as process rather than sensation governed in one part of brain

Question 37

Orienting Reflex

Answer 37

Tendency to turn toward an object that has touched you

Question 38

Simulations

Answer 38

Use perceptual cues to make artificial situations seem real

Question 39

Kinesthetic sense

Answer 39

Info from receptors in joints and muscles that tells us about the positioning of our own body

Question 40

Osmoreceptors

Answer 40

deal with thirst