AP Psychology Unit 1.6 Sensation Part A (Visual System)

Sensation

Sensation

the process of detecting information from the environment

Sensory transduction

whenever you are taking in an outside stimulus through one of your senses, you activate your sensory neurons which end up creating a sensation for you

absolute threshold

the smallest amount of stimulation needed for you to notice a sensation at least 50% of the time, this is in order for you to sense a sensation

Sensory adaptation

happens when a stimulus is continues, and doesn’t change

Habituation

when you are reputedly exposed to a stimulus and start to have a reduced response to the stimulus

Difference threshold

This is the minimum change between two stimulus that causes an individual to detect change

Weber-Fechner-Law

Is the idea that for us to notice a difference between two stimuli, the two stimuli must differ by a constant precent, not a constant amount

Sensory Interaction

whenever we experience something in life our senses take in a variety of information, when our sight, hearing, taste, touch and smell work together

Synesthesia

This is a neurological condition were one sense is experienced through another ex. someone might see colors when they hear music or taste flavors when they read words in a book

pupil

where the lenes focuses the light on to the retina at the back of the eye

retina

is made up of layers of light sensitive cells known as photoreceptors. These convert the light into neural impulses that allow the brain to process what the eye is seeing, when it captures light and visual information transduction occurs

Optic nerve

The Neural impulses travel through this from the eye

Blind spot

A small area in the retina were there are no photoreceptors, since there are no light detecting cells in this area it creates a small gap in our visual field

photoreceptors

specialized light-detecting cells on the retinas at the back of your eyes

Rods

A type of photoreceptor located in the periphery of the retina. They are visual receptors that allow you to see in dim light, but do not provide any color information.

Cones

A type of photoreceptor located in the foiba (a small depression at the back of the retina). They are what allow you to see fine details they allow you to have clear vision and help you see color.

Trichromatic theory

States that individuals are able to see colors because different wavelengths of light stimulate combinations of three color receptors. photoreceptors work in teams of three RED GREEN and BLUE

opponent processing theory

This theory states that information that is received from the cones is sent to ganglion cells this causes some neurons to become excited and others inhibited. this theory states that color vision is based on 3 color parings, red/green blue/yellow, and black/white.

Monochromatism

when an individual cannot see different colors, this occurs due to the absence or malfunction of cone cells in the retina resulting in the individual to see everything in different shades of one color

Trichromatism

if an individual is able to see all colors.

accommodation

refers to the eyes ability to change shape to focus light on to the retina allowing us to see objects clearly at different distance’s

Myopia

a condition when the lens focuses light Infront of the retina and distance objects appear blurry. also known as Near-sighted

Hyperopia

A condition when the lens focuses light behind the retina, close objects appear blurry , also known as far-sighted

Prosopagnosia

Als known as face blindness this condition from damage to the occipital and temporal lobe, people with this condition looses the ability to recognize faces

Blind sight

is a condition in which a person is unable to consciously see but can respond to visual stimuli. This occurs due to damage in the primary visual cortex, while other visual pathways remain intact.

Retinal Disparity

the slight difference in the images perceived by each eye due to their horizontal separation. This difference helps the brain gauge depth and distance, contributing to binocular vision.

Kinesthetic sense

the awareness of body position and movement, allowing individuals to perceive the location and motion of their limbs and body parts.