AP Psych Sensation and Perception

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Sensation

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the detection of physical energy emitted or reflected by physical objects

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Perception

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processes that organize sensory impulses into meaningful patterns

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50 Terms

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Sensation

the detection of physical energy emitted or reflected by physical objects

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Perception

processes that organize sensory impulses into meaningful patterns

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Doctrine of specific nerve energies

signals received by the sense organs stimulate different nerve pathways, which terminate in different areas of the brain

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Synesthesia

occurs when stimulation of one sense evokes sensations in another

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Psychophysics

how the physical properties of stimuli are related to our psychological experience of them

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Absolute threshold

the smallest amount of energy a person can detect reliably (50 percent of the time)

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Difference threshold

the smallest difference in stimulation that a person can detect reliably (50 percent of the time); also called just noticeable difference (jnd)

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Signal detection theory

Accounts for response bias (tendency to say yes or no to a signal)

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Sensory Adaptation

Decline in sensory responsiveness occurs when a stimulus is unchanging; nerve cells temporarily stop responding

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"Cocktail party phenomenon"

we routinely block out unimportant sensations

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Selective attention

protects us from being overwhelmed with sensations

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Hue

color that is related to wavelength

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Brightness

intensity, corresponds to amplitude of the wave

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Saturation

colorfulness and complexity of the range of wavelengths

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Physical properties of light

wavelength, intensity, complexity

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Cornea

front part of the eye; protects the eye and bends light rays toward lens

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Lens

located behind the cornea; focuses light by changing curvature

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Iris

muscles that control the amount of light that gets into the eye

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Pupil

round opening surrounded by iris; widens and dilates to let light in

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Retina

located in the back of the eye, contains visual receptors

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Rods

sensitive to light, not to color

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Cones

see color, but need more light to respond

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Fovea

center of retina, sharpest vision, contains only cones

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Dark adaptation

time it takes to adjust to dim illumination; reflects mainly increase in sensitivity of rods

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ganglion cells

axons converge to form optic nerve, that carries information out of the eye to the brain

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Optic nerve

leaves the eye at optic disc; no rods or cones; blind spot on retina

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Trichromatic (Young‐Helmholtz) theory

This approach applies to the first level of processing (in the retina); Retina contains three types of cones: one responds to blue, another to green, another to red; these combine to make all colors c. People with color deficiencies lack particular types of cones

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Opponent‐process theory

Second stage of color processing in the ganglion cells of the retina and neurons in the thalamus and visual cortex (opponent process cells); They turn off to one wavelength in a pair and on to the other

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Visual perception

the mind interprets the retinal image and constructs the world using information from other senses

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Form perception

how people organize the visual world into meaningful patterns

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perceptual units

figure/ground distinction, proximity, closure, similarity, and continuity

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Depth and distance perception

object's location inferred from distance or depth cues

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Binocular cues

dependent on information from both eyes

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Retinal disparity

disparity in the lateral separation between two objects as seen by the two eyes is used to infer depth or distance

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Monocular cues

cues that do not depend on using both eyes include interposition and linear perspective

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Perceptual constancy

our perception of objects is unchanging though the sensory patterns they produce are constantly shifting

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Visual constancies

shape, location, size, brightness, and color; when seeing is believing

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Visual illusions

When seeing is misleading; visual constancies may occasionally fool us, resulting in

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Loudness

intensity of a wave's pressure; decibels

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Pitch

frequency (and intensity) of wave; hertz

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Timbre

complexity of wave; the distinguishing quality of a sound

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white noise

occurs when all frequencies of the sound spectrum are present

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the hammer, anvil, and stirrups

amplify sound waves

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cochlea

contains the receptor cells called cilia, or hair cells, that are embedded in the basilar membrane stretching across the _

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basilar membrane

the hair cells initiate a signal to the auditory nerve, which carries the message to the brain

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basilar membrane

influences the pattern and frequency of how the neurons fire, which determines what is heard

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Perception

is used to organize patterns of sounds to construct meaning

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Papillae

bumps on tongue, contain taste buds

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Taste receptors

are replaced every 10 days; number of taste buds and receptor cells declines with age

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salty, sour, bitter, sweet

four basic tastes