Unit 1.6A-2.1: Psychology - AP

Sensation

processing by which our senses and nervous system receive information from our environment

Perception

the process of interpreting sensory information so we can make it meaningful

Bottom-Up Processing

understanding of information begins from sensory information and works up to higher level processing in brain

Top-Down Processing

understanding if sensory information is guided by the brain's expectations and experiences

Prosopagnosia

the inability to recognize faces, aka face blindness

Selective Attention

the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

Cocktail Party Effect

your ability to attend to only one voice among many, while also being able to detect your own name in an unattended voice

Inattentional Blindness

failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

Change Blindness

failing to notice changes in the environment

Choice Blindness

where people are unable to recall choices they just made

Transduction

transforming of stimulus energy, such as sights, sounds, and smells, into neural impulses our brain can interpret

Psychophysics

the study of relationships between the physical characteristics of a stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them

Absolute Threshold

the minimum amount of stimulation needed to detect a particular light, sound, odor, taste, or pressure 50% of the time

Signal Detection Theory

a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence or a faint stimulus amid background stimulation

Priming

the often unconscious activation of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response

Difference Threshold

aka Just Noticeable Difference is the minimum difference a person needs in order to notice two stimuli are not the same 50% of the time

Weber's law

the difference between two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage

Sensory Adaptation

diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

Perceptual Set

a set of mental tendencies/assumptions that greatly affect what we perceive Schemas: concepts or mental molds into which we pour our experiences which help us interpret unfamiliar information

Gestalt

an organized whole (eg necker cube)

Figure-ground

the organization of the visual field into figures that stand out from surroundings

Closure

we fill in gaps to form a whole

Proximity

we group nearby figures together instead of seeing them as different pieces, we see a whole

Continuity

we see smooth, continuous patterns

Depth Perception

the ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance

Visual Cliff

a lab device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals

Binocular Cues

depth cues, such as retinal disparity that depend on the two eyes

Retinal Disparity

a binocular cue for perceiving depth, by comparing images from the retinas in the two eyes the brain computes distance (the greater the disparity, the closer the object)

Monocular Cues

depth cues such as linear perspective and interposition that only need one eye to determine relative size, interposition, linear perspective, relative height, and relative motion

Stroboscopic Movement

the brain perceives continuous movement in a rapid series of slightly varying image

Phi Phenomenon

a succession of lights that creates the illusion of movement when blinked on and off quickly

Perceptual Constancies

perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal image changes

Perceptual Adaptation

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

Wavelength

the distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next

Intensity

the amount of energy in light waves

Hue

the color we experience

Cornea

protects the eye and bends light to provide focus

Pupil

small adjustable opening in center of eye

Iris

a ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil which dilates or constricts in response to light

Lens

changes shape to help focus images on the retina

Accomodation

process by which lens changes shape

Retina

an inner surface of the eye that contains the rods and cones and layers of neurons that begin processing visual information

Rods

retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral vision and twilight vision

Cones

retinal receptor cells concentrated near center of retina and detect color and details

Fovea

central focal point in retina where cones are clustered

Bipolar Cells

triggered by light and transmit message to ganglion cells

Ganglion Cells

nerves that twine together and form the optic nerve

Optic Nerve

carries neural impulses from eye to brain

Blind Spot

there are no receptor cells here due to optic nerve

Feature Detectors

nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of a stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement (SAM)

Parallel Processing

the processing of many aspects simultaneously

Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory

the retina controls three different color receptors - red, green, and blue (when stimulated in combination, it can make any color)

Opponent-Process Theory

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

Afterimage

after tiring your neural response to one color, when you shift your eyes, the opposing colors is fired in its place

Audition

the sense of hearing

Amplitude

determines the loudness of sound

Frequency

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

Pitch

a tone's experienced highness or lowness; depends an frequency

Decibels

the measurement of sound

Outer Ear

the pinna (part of your ear you can see) channels sound inward

Middle Ear

from eardrum and ends at cochlea, contains three tiny bones that vibrate and send vibration to inner ear

Eardrum

a tight membrane that vibrates with sound (hammer, anvil, stirrup)

Inner Ear

contains cochlea, basilar membrane, hair cells, and auditory name

Cochlea

coiled, bony, fluid-filled in the inner ear; sound wares move the fluid to trigger a neural message

Basilar Membrane

covered in protruding hair cells

Hair Cells

16,000 of them; the louder the sound, the more hair cells activated

Auditory Nerve

collection of nerves that sends a message to thalamus

Sensorineural Hearing lobe

damage to the hair cells by age, sound, or disease; can result in nerve deafness

Conduction Hearing Loss

damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to cochlea

Cochlear

implant used for nerve deafness which converts sounds into electrical signals and stimulates the auditory nerve

Place Theory

says the pitch we hear depends on the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated

Frequency Theory

says the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory next matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch

Volley Principle

neural cells alternate firing so that they can achieve sending a signal above 1000 waves per second

Nociceptors

sensory receptors that detect harmful temperatures, pressures, or chemicals

Gate Control Theory

the spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain; the gate is opened by the activity of pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers or by information coming from the brain

Phantom-Limb Sensations

the brain misinterpreting the spontaneous CNS activity that occurs without normal sensory input

Tinnitus

a phantom ringing in the ears sensation experienced by those with hearing loss

Olfaction

the sense of smell

Kinesthesia

tells us where our body parts are and how they are moving in relation to our body

Vestibular Sense

monitors your head's position and sense of equilibrium

Semicircular Canals

3D pretzel-shaped canals in your ear

Vestibular Sacs

connect the canals within the cochlea and contain gel-like fluid that moves when your head rotates or tilts

Sensory Interaction

the principle that one sensation may influence another

McGurk Effect

seeing a speaker say one syllable, while we hear another and the brain perceives it as a third syllable that blends the two

Synesthesia

when one or more sensations produces another

Embodied Cognition

the influence of our senses, gestures, and other states on our cognitive decisions and preferences

Gustation

Sense of taste