Unit 3

Question 1

Define sensation

Answer 1

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

Question 2

Define perception

Answer 2

The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

Question 3

Define button-up processing

Answer 3

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

Question 4

Define top-down processing

Answer 4

Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, like when we construct perceptions with our experience and expectations

Question 5

Define selective attention

Answer 5

The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

Question 6

Define inattentional blindness

Answer 6

Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

Question 7

Define change blindness

Answer 7

Failing to notice changes in the environment

Question 8

Define transduction

Answer 8

Conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, we transform stimulus energies (sights, sounds, smells) into neural impulses our brains can interpret

Question 9

Define psychophysics

Answer 9

Study of relationships between physical characteristics of stimuli, such as intensity, and our psychological experience of them

Question 10

Define absolute threshold

Answer 10

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

Question 11

Define signal detection theory

Answer 11

Theory predicting how and when we detect faint stimuli amid background stimulation

Assumes that there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness

Question 12

Define subliminal

Answer 12

Below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness

Question 13

Define priming

Answer 13

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

Question 14

Define difference threshold

Answer 14

The minimum difference between 2 stimuli required for detection 50% of the time

Experienced as a “just noticeable difference”

Question 15

Define Weber’s Law

Answer 15

Principle that, to be perceived as different, 2 stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage rather than a constant minimum amount

Question 16

Define sensory adaptation

Answer 16

Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

Question 17

Define perceptual set

Answer 17

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

Question 18

Define extrasensory perception

Answer 18

The controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input

Telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition

Question 19

Define parapsychology

Answer 19

Study of paranormal phenomena including ESP and psychokinesis

Question 20

Define wavelength

Answer 20

Distance from peak of 1 light or sound wave to the peak of the next

Question 21

Define hue

Answer 21

The dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light

Blue, green, etc.

Question 22

Define intensity

Answer 22

The amount of energy in a light or sound wave, which we perceive as brightness or loudness, as determined by the wave’s amplitude

Question 23

Define pupil

Answer 23

The adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters

Question 24

Define iris

Answer 24

A ring of muscle tissue that forms the color portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening

Question 25

Define lens

Answer 25

The transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina

Question 26

Define retina

Answer 26

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

Question 27

Define accommodation

Answer 27

The process by which the eye’s lens changes shape to focus near or far objects in the retina

Question 28

Define rods

Answer 28

Retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray Necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don’t respond

Question 29

Define cones

Answer 29

Retinal receptors that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or well-lit conditions Detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations

Question 30

Define optic nerve

Answer 30

The nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain

Question 31

Define blind spot

Answer 31

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

Question 32

Define fovea

Answer 32

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

Question 33

Define feature detectors

Answer 33

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

Question 34

Define parallel processing

Answer 34

The processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously The brain’s natural mode of information processing for functions like vision Contrast with the step-by-step/serial processing of most computers

Question 35

Define Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory

Answer 35

The theory that the retina contains 3 different color receptors: One most sensitive to red, one to green, and one to blue When stimulated in combination, can produce the perception of any color

Question 36

Define opponent-process theory

Answer 36

The theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision

Question 37

Define gestalt

Answer 37

An organized whole Gestalt psychologists emphasize our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes

Question 38

Define figure-ground

Answer 38

The organization of the visual field into objects that stand out from their surroundings

Question 39

Define grouping

Answer 39

The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups

Question 40

Define depth perception

Answer 40

The ability to see objects in 3D although images that strike the retina are 2D; allows us to judge distance

Question 41

Define visual cliff

Answer 41

A laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals

Question 42

Define binocular cues

Answer 42

Depth cues, such as retinal disparity, that depend on the use of 2 eyes

Question 43

Define retinal disparity

Answer 43

A binocular cue for perceiving depth: by comparing images from the retinas in the 2 eyes, the brain computes distance The greater the disparity between the 2 images, the closer the object

Question 44

Define monocular cues

Answer 44

Depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either eye alone

Question 45

Define phi phenomenon

Answer 45

An illusion of movement created when 2 or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession

Question 46

Define perceptual constancy

Answer 46

Perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change

Question 47

Define color constancy

Answer 47

Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object

Question 48

Define perceptual adaptation

Answer 48

In vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field

Question 49

Define audition

Answer 49

The sense or act of hearing

Question 50

Define frequency

Answer 50

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

Question 51

Define middle ear

Answer 51

The chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing 3 tiny bones: hammer, anvil, stirrup that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea’s oval window

Question 52

Define pitch

Answer 52

A tone’s experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequency

Question 53

Define cochlea

Answer 53

A coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear; sound waves traveling through the cochlea fluid triggers nerve impulses

Question 54

Define inner ear

Answer 54

The innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs

Question 55

Define sensorineural hearing loss

Answer 55

Hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea’s receptor cells or to the auditory nerves

Question 56

Define conduction hearing loss

Answer 56

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

Question 57

Define cochlear implant

Answer 57

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

Question 58

Define place theory

Answer 58

In hearing, the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea’s membrane is stimulated

Question 59

Define frequency theory

Answer 59

In hearing, theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, enabling us to sense its pitch

Question 60

Define gate/control theory

Answer 60

Theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological gate that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain Gate is opened by the activity of pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers and is closed by activity in larger fibers or by information coming from the brain

Question 61

Define kinesthesia

Answer 61

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

Question 62

Define vestibular sense

Answer 62

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

Question 63

Define sensory interaction

Answer 63

The principle that 1 sense may influence another, like when the smell of food influences its taste

Question 64

Define embodied cognition

Answer 64

Influence of bodily sensations, gestures, and other states on cognition preferences and judgments