AP PSYCHOLOGY: Unit 3 Flashcards

Sensation

Process by which our sensory receptors recieve stimulus energies from the environment

Perception

Process by organizing and interpreting sensory information. Enabling us to recognize meaningful events/objects

Bottom-Up Processing

Begins with sensory receptors that send up to the brain

Top-Down Processing

Conducted by higher level mental processes, construct drawings on experiences and expectations

Selective Attention

Focusing on conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

Cocktail Party Effect

Example: Hearing your name at the other side of the room.

or when we hear there will be a pop quiz, you will immediately question if we have one

Inattentional Blindness

Failing to see visible objects when our attention is elsewhere

Example: When you're texting and driving. You're attention is only on the phone; thus, you get into a car crash.

Change Blindness

Failure to see changes in the environment

Example: Not noticing the change in desks in a classroom

Change Deafness

People ignore or tune you out because you have changed

Example: Daniella's father likes Marco Rubio. Daniella doesn't like Marco Rubio. Whenever Daniella makes a comment about Marco Rubio her father tunes her out.

Choice Blindness

Choosing to ignore something because you don't like it

Example: Son who tells parent he is gay. Parent will ignore that the son is gay and act like he isn't.

Psychophysics

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

Absolute Threshold

Minimum stimulation necessary to detect a particular stimuli 50% of the time

Signal-Detection Theory

When we detect the presence of a faint stimulus amid loud background noise w/out having to achieve threshold based on alertness experience

Subliminal

Below one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness

Priming

Predisposing one's perception, memory, or response

Difference Threshold
(nickname = noticeable difference)

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

Weber's Law

To be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by constant percentage

Sensory Adaptation

Diminished sensitivity as a result of constant stimulation

Transduction

Conversion of one form of energy into another, transforming of stimulus energies such a sights

Wavelength

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

Intensity

Hight of sound wave; amount of energy in a light or sound wave perceived as brightness or loudness

Hue

Dimension of color the wavelength produces

Pupil

Adjustable opening in the eye which light enters

Cornea

Transparent part of eye that protects it all

Iris

Ring of muscle tissue surrounding pupil (color portion) controls opening and closing

Lens

Transparent structure behind pupil that changes shape to help focus

Retina

Light-sensitive inner-surface of the eye, containing receptor rods and cones, first stage of visual processing

Rods

Help you see at night, black/white/grey, peripheral vision

Cones

Retinal receptor cells, work well in day-time, colors, details

(Retina) Optic Nerve

Nerve that carries neural impulses from eye to brain

Fovea

Central focal point in retina, where eye's cones cluster

Blind Spot

Point at which optic nerve leaves eye, no more receptor cells are located there

Feature Detectors

Cells in brain that detect structures of stimuli (shape,angle,movement)

Parallel Processing

Our brain is able to detect details consciously and unconsciously

Example: We see a flock of birds and are able to describe it

Young-Helmoholtz Trichromatic Theory

Theory that retina contains 3 color receptors (Red-Green-Blue) sensitive eyes

Monochromatic Vision

You only see one of the three colors

Dichromatic Vision

We can see two of these colors

Opponent Processing Theory

Colors cancel out

Red-Green
Blue-Yellow
Black-White

Audition

Sense of act or hearing

Amplitude is how

Tall the wave is, reason it's called amplitude is due to the loudness

Frequency

How often wavelength shows up

Pitch

Tone of sound you're listening to; highness or lowness

Sound waves travel down ______ to the _____

Auditory Canal, Eardrum

The ear drum is able to process sound how?

By hitting w/ vibrations

Middle Ear contains ____, ____, and ____

The functions of those three bones are to

Hammer, Anvil, Stirrup

Send vibrations

Vibrations from the ear drum go to the ____

Hammer

The hammer then transfers _____ to the ____

Vibrations, anvil

Anvil is connected to the ____

stirrup

Cochlea

Bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger neural impulses

Between the stirrup and cochlea there is a ____

Oval Window

Auditory Nerve

Sends neural impulses form ear to brain

Auditory Cortex

Our brain will process things we hear

Basilar Membranes Hair Cells

Help interpret loudness of sound & compressed sons (muffled noises)

Place Theory (Cochlea)

High pitched sounds

Frequency Theory (Auditory Nerve)

Low pitched sounds

Conduction Hearing Loss (Middle Ear)

Hearing aids amplify sound & start up mechanisms

Sensorineural Hearing Loss (Inner Ear)

Damage to receptor cells of cochlea

Cochlea Implant

Insides skull attached to cochlea; converts sound to neural impulses

Types of Touch

Pressure
Warmth
Cold Pain

Kinesthesis

System for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts, how we sense body parts moving

Vestibular Sense

Sense of body movement and position including sense of balance, controlled by the hair in your ears

Nociceptors

Responsible for telling your brain that something hurts

Gate Control Theory

Theory that spinal cord contains a "gate" that blocks pain signals or lets pass depending on how bad the pain is

Phantom Limb Sensations

When you get your leg amputated and your brain thinks the pain is still there

Tinnitus

Phantom sound

Example: When you think your phone is ringing or you get a text message sound.

Umami

Savory taste, proteins to grow and repair tissues

Sensory Interaction

Principle that one sense may influence another, interaction of smell and taste (McGurk Effect)

Example: "It smells just like it tastes" "It looks as good as it smells"

smell (olfaction)

Only sense that does NOT route through the thalamus 1st. Goes to temporal lobe and amygdala

*Olfactory Bulb

Part of nose that receives smell

Olfactory Nerve

Nerve that sends smell to brain

Our sense of smell is near the ____ System, which activates memories and emotions.

Limbic