AP Psych Sensation and Perception

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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