Chapter 5 Vocab

absolute threshold

Minimum amount of stimulus energy that must be present for the stimulus to be detected 50% of the time.

afterimage

Continuation of a visual sensation after removal of the stimulus.

amplitude

Height of a wave.

basilar membrane

Thin strip of tissue within the cochlea that contains the hair cells which serve as the sensory receptors for the auditory system.

binocular disparity

Slightly different view of the world that each eye receives.

blind spot

Point where we cannot respond to visual information in that portion of the visual field.

bottom-up processing

System in which perceptions are built from sensory input.

closure

Organizing our perceptions into complete objects rather than as a series of parts.

cochlea

Fluid-filled, snail-shaped structure that contains the sensory receptor cells of the auditory system.

cochlear implant

Electronic device that consists of a microphone, a speech processor, and an electrode array to directly stimulate the auditory nerve to transmit information to the brain.

conductive hearing loss

Failure in the vibration of the eardrum and/or movement of the ossicles.

cone

Specialized photoreceptor that works best in bright light conditions and detects color.

congenital deafness

Deafness from birth.

congenital insensitivity to pain (congenital analgesia)

Genetic disorder that results in the inability to experience pain.

cornea

Protects eye from outside—-1st thing to experince stimulus

deafness

Partial or complete inability to hear.

decibel (dB)

Logarithmic unit of sound intensity.

depth perception

Ability to perceive depth.

electromagnetic spectrum

All the electromagnetic radiation that occurs in our environment.

figure-ground relationship

Segmenting our visual world into figure and ground.

fovea

place where light is channeled to the back of the eye. Dense collection of cones. Detailed color vision

frequency

Number of waves that pass a given point in a given time period.

Gestalt psychology

Field of psychology based on the idea that the whole is different from the sum of its parts.

good continuation

We are more likely to perceive continuous, smooth flowing lines rather than jagged, broken lines.

hair cell

Auditory receptor cell of the inner ear.

hertz (Hz)

Cycles per second; measure of frequency.

inattentional blindness

Failure to notice something that is completely visible because of a lack of attention.

incus

Middle ear ossicle; also known as the anvil.

inflammatory pain

Signal that some type of tissue damage has occurred.

interaural level difference

Sound coming from one side of the body is more intense at the closest ear because of the attenuation of the sound wave as it passes through the head.

interaural timing difference

Small difference in the time at which a given sound wave arrives at each ear.

iris

Colored portion of the eye- prevents excess light from entering the eye

just noticeable difference

Difference in stimuli required to detect a difference between the stimuli.

kinesthesia

Perception of the body’s movement through space.

lens

Curved, transparent structure that provides additional focus for light entering the eye.

linear perspective

Perceive depth in an image when two parallel lines seem to converge.

malleus

Middle ear ossicle; also known as the hammer.

Meissner’s corpuscle

Touch receptor that responds to pressure and lower frequency vibrations.

Ménière's disease

Results in a degeneration of inner ear structures that can lead to hearing loss, tinnitus, vertigo, and an increase in pressure within the inner ear.

Merkel’s disk

Touch receptor that responds to light touch.

monaural cue

One-eared cue to localize sound.

monocular cue

Cue that requires only one eye.

olfactory bulb

Bulb-like structure at the tip of the frontal lobe, where the olfactory nerves begin.

olfactory receptor

Sensory cell for the olfactory system.

opponent-process theory of color perception

Color is coded in opponent pairs: black-white, yellow-blue, and red-green.

optic chiasm

X-shaped structure that sits just below the brain’s ventral surface; represents the merging of the optic nerves from the two eyes and the separation of information from the two sides of the visual field to the opposite side of the brain.

optic nerve

Carries visual information from the retina to the brain.

ossicles

Three tiny bones in the middle ear consisting of the malleus, incus, and stapes.

Pacinian corpuscle

Touch receptor that detects transient pressure and higher frequency vibrations.

pattern perception

Ability to discriminate among different figures and shapes.

peak

Highest point of a wave.

perception

Way that sensory information is interpreted and consciously experienced.

perceptual hypothesis

Educated guess used to interpret sensory information.

pheromone

Chemical message sent by another individual.

photoreceptor

Light-detecting cell.

pinna

Visible part of the ear that protrudes from the head.

pitch

Perception of a sound’s frequency.

place theory of pitch perception

Different portions of the basilar membrane are sensitive to sounds of different frequencies.

principle of closure

Organize perceptions into complete objects rather than as a series of parts.

proximity

Things that are close to one another tend to be grouped together.

pupil

Small opening in the eye through which light passes.

retina

Where rods are—— perehrial vision

rod

Specialized photoreceptor that works well in low light conditions.

Ruffini corpuscle

Touch receptor that detects stretch.

sensation

What happens when sensory information is detected by a sensory receptor.

sensorineural hearing loss

Failure to transmit neural signals from the cochlea to the brain.

sensory adaptation

Not perceiving stimuli that remain relatively constant over prolonged periods of time.

signal detection theory

Change in stimulus detection as a function of current mental state.

similarity

Things that are alike tend to be grouped together.

stapes

Middle ear ossicle; also known as the stirrup.

subliminal message

Message presented below the threshold of conscious awareness.

taste bud

Grouping of taste receptor cells with hair-like extensions that protrude into the central pore of the taste bud.

temporal theory of pitch perception

Sound’s frequency is coded by the activity level of a sensory neuron.

top-down processing

Interpretation of sensations is influenced by available knowledge, experiences, and thoughts.

transduction

Conversion from sensory stimulus energy to action potential.

trichromatic theory of color perception

Color vision is mediated by the activity across the three groups of cones.

trough

Lowest point of a wave.

tympanic membrane

Eardrum.

vertigo

Spinning sensation.

vestibular sense

Contributes to our ability to maintain balance and body posture.

visible spectrum

Portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that we can see.

wavelength

Length of a wave from one peak to the next peak.