Sensation and Preception

Question 1

What is sensation?

Answer 1

the process of detecting external or internal stimuli, aka light, sound and heat

Question 2

What is perception?

Answer 2

process of organizing and interpreting sensory information

Question 3

What is psychophysics?

Answer 3

study of how physical stimuli relate to psychological experience

Question 4

What is sensory adaptations?

Answer 4

reduces sensitivity to a constant stimulus over time

• stop noticing your watch on your wrist after awhile

Question 5

What is subliminal perception?

Answer 5

perceiving stimuli below the level of conscious awareness

Question 6

What is proprioception?

Answer 6

Sense of body position

Question 7

What is the vestibular sense?

Answer 7

Sense of balance and spatial orientation

Question 8

What is thermoception?

Answer 8

Sense of temperature

Question 9

What is nociception?

Answer 9

Sense of pain

Question 10

What is interoception?

Answer 10

Sense of internal body states

Question 11

What is chronoperception?

Answer 11

preception of time

Question 12

What is the visual stimulus?

Answer 12

Light waves

Question 13

What is the cornea?

Answer 13

Clear front part of the eye that bends light

Question 14

What is the lens?

Answer 14

Focuses light onto the retina by changing shape

Question 15

What is the iris?

Answer 15

Colored part of the eye; controls pupil size

Question 16

What is the pupil?

Answer 16

The opening that lets light into the eye

Question 17

What is the retina?

Answer 17

The layer at the back of the eye that contains photoreceptors (rods & cones)

Question 18

What is the optic disk?

Answer 18

Blind spot where the optic nerve exits the eye

Question 19

What are rods?

Answer 19

Receptors for black and white vision, work well in dim light

Question 20

What are cones?

Answer 20

Receptors for colour vision, work best in bright light

Question 21

What are receptive fields?

Answer 21

Area of the retina where visual info is received.

Question 22

What is lateral antagonism?

Answer 22

When cells reduce activity in neighbouring cells to sharpen contrast

Question 23

What is the optic chiasm?

Answer 23

Point where optic nerves cross to opposite sides of the brain

Question 24

What is the main pathway of visual info?

Answer 24

Retina → Thalamus → Primary Visual Cortex

Question 25

What are the magnocellular and parvocellular pathways?

Answer 25

Magnocellular: Motion and depth. Parvocellular: Detail and color.

Question 26

What is the secondary visual pathway?

Answer 26

Retina → Superior colliculus → Thalamus → Cortex (involved in visual reflexes).

Question 27

What are feature detectors?

Answer 27

Neurons that respond to specific shapes, angles, or movements.

Question 28

What is the trichromatic theory?

Answer 28

We see colour using three types of cones (red, green, blue)

Question 29

What is the opponent-process theory?

Answer 29

Color is seen in opposing pairs: red-green, blue-yellow, black-white

Question 30

What is the current perspective on colour vision?

Answer 30

Both theories work together—trichromatic at the receptor level, opponent-process in the brain.

Question 31

What is white and black in terms of light?

Answer 31

White = all wavelengths of light. Black = absence of light.

Question 32

What is the auditory stimulus?

Answer 32

Sound waves (vibrations in the air)

Question 33

What are the parts of the ear?

Answer 33

Outer ear: Pinna, ear canal. Middle ear: Eardrum, ossicles (tiny bones). Inner ear: Cochlea (where transduction occurs).

Question 34

What is transduction of sound?

Answer 34

Turning sound waves into electrical signals in the cochlea.

Question 35

What are the main theories of hearing?

Answer 35

Place theory: Different pitches activate different spots on cochlea. Frequency theory: Pitch depends on the rate of nerve firing.

Question 36

What is olfaction?

Answer 36

Sense of smell

Question 37

What is gustation?

Answer 37

Sense of taste (sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami)

Question 38

What are proprioceptors?

Answer 38

Sensors in muscles and joints that inform about body position

Question 39

What senses are processed through the skin?

Answer 39

Pressure, temperature, and pain

Question 40

What are Pacinian corpuscles?

Answer 40

Receptors that detect pressure and vibration

Question 41

What is the gate control theory of pain?

Answer 41

Non-painful input can close the "gates" to painful input.

Question 42

What is perceptual organization?

Answer 42

How we group parts into whole forms

Question 43

What is figure-ground?

Answer 43

Differentiating an object (figure) from its background (ground)

Question 44

What are Gestalt grouping principles?

Answer 44

Rules like proximity, similarity, continuity, closure to organize perception

Question 45

What is bottom-up processing?

Answer 45

Using sensory input to build up to perception

Question 46

What is top-down processing?

Answer 46

Using past experiences and knowledge to interpret sensory info

Question 47

What is depth perception?

Answer 47

Ability to see in 3D and judge distance.

Question 48

What are monocular depth cues?

Answer 48

Cues using one eye (e.g., linear perspective, size, overlap)

Question 49

What are binocular depth cues?

Answer 49

Cues using both eyes (e.g., retinal disparity)

Question 50

What is a stereogram?

Answer 50

An image that uses binocular cues to create 3D perception

Question 51

What are distal and proximal stimuli?

Answer 51

Distal: The actual object. Proximal: The image on your retina.

Question 52

What is perceptual constancy?

Answer 52

Recognizing objects as constant despite changes in sensation

Question 53

What is shape constancy?

Answer 53

Knowing an object’s shape stays the same even if it looks different from different angles.