psych unit 3 flashcards

sensation

turning stimuli into neural signals

perception

organizing and interpreting our sensations

bottom-up processing

beginning with sense receptors and working up to the mind

top-down processing

beginning with the mind and working down to the sense receptors

psychophysics

the study of the relationship between physical stimuli and our psychological experience with them

absolute threshold

minimus stimulation that produces a response exactly 50% of the time

signal detection theory

assumes there is no such thing as an absolute threshold; how and when we detect a signal amidst background noise

subliminal

stimuli below the absolute threshold

priming

when recent experience with a stimulus affects later experience with a similar stimulus

difference threshold

minimum difference between two stimuli for detection 50% of the time

Weber’s law

two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage to be perceived as different

sensory adaptation

a decrease in sensitivity as a result of constant stimulation

transduction

the transformation of stimulus energy into neural impulses

wavelength

the distance from each wave’s peak

hue

the dimension of color as determined by the wavelength

intensity

amount of energy in a wave; determined by amplitude (wave height)

pupil

part of the eye that draws in light

iris

part of the eye that contracts and opens to protect the pupil; muscle

lens

part of the eye that flips image & focuses the light on the retina

accommodation

the process of the lens changing shape to help focus different distances

retina

grabs and sends visual signals

acuity

the sharpness of perception

nearsightedness

when it’s easier to see nearby objects than far away objects

farsightedness

when it’s easier to see objects far away than it is to see close objects

rods

part of the retina that helps with night vision

cones

part of retina that helps with colors

optic nerve

the part of the eye that sends the visual message from the retina to the thalamus (→ visual cortex)

blind spot

the part of the eye where the optic nerve is and the retina has to stop

fovea

the part of the retina the the lens’s image is focused on

feature detectors

the nerves in the visual cortex that respond to edges, angles, and movement

parallel processing

simultaneously processing different aspects of the same stimulus

young-helmholz (trichromatic) theory

theory that the retina contains receptors sensitive to red, green, and blue

opponent-process theory

theory that the eye processes four primary colors (+ the absence and combination of all) in the form of pairs: red + green, blue + yellow, and black + white

color constancy

an objects’ color stays the same under different lighting

audition

hearing

frequency

aka pitch; shorter wavelength = higher; longer wavelength = lower

pitch

another word for frequency

middle ear

area between eardrum and cochlea; 3 bones (hammer → anvil → stirrup) that concentrate vibrations to the cochlea

cochlea

coiled, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear; hairs inside transform vibrations into sigals

inner ear

part of the ear containing the cochlea and semicircular canals

place theory

frequencies stimulate cochlea in specific places to result in a specific pitch

frequency theory

the rate of the nerve impulses traveling matches the tone’s frequency

conduction hearing loss

hearing loss caused by damage to the parts of the ear

sensorineural hearing loss

hearing loss caused by damage to specifically the cochlea’s receptor cells of auditory nerve

cochlear implant

electronic devices in the cochlea designed to help the person hear

gate-control theory

theory that the spine has specific “gates” that block or let through pain

sensory interaction

when one sense affects another, different sense

kinesthesis

the sense of our body’s position and movement

vestibular sense

monitors the head’s position

selective attention

we can only pay attention to one aspect of an object or sense at a time

in-attentional blindness

inability to see an object or person in our midst (simmons & chabris experiment)

visual capture

when competing with other senses, vision always wins (“seeing is believing”)

gestalt

think that, to organize the senses, you must look at the whole picture

figure-ground

organizing vision into objects that stand out from the ground

grouping

organizing the figure into groups based off of proximity, similarity, continuity, or connectedness

depth perception

the ability to judge distances

visual cliff

Gibson and Walk’s experiment to prove depth perception in infants

binocular cues

cues requiring information from both eyes

retinal disparity

a binocular cue; the way that images between your two eyes differ

convergence

a binocular cue; when an object comes closer to your face, your eyes move inward (cross-eyed)

monocular cues

cues requiring information from one eye

phi phenomenom

when lights flash at a specific speed, they give an illusion of motion

perceptual constancy

perceiving objects as unchanging, even as they visually seem to be

perceptual adaptation

visual ability to adjust to an artificially displaced visual field

perceptual set

a mental predisposition to see one thing and not another

human factors psychology

the study of the roles of natural perceptions in relation to operating systems

extrasensory perception (ESP)

perception without sensory input; branch of paranormal phenomena; telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition are all types of this

parapsychology

another word for ESP