Psychology 1.6

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering principles of sensation, visual and auditory sensory systems, chemical and bodily senses, and perceptual organization from Myers 4e textbook.

Effortful processing

A way of committing something to long-term memory through conscious effort and understanding – e.g. make connections, create examples, use mnemonic devices, draw a picture.

Sensation

The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment

Perception

The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

Psychophysics

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

Transduction

Conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transferring of physical energy, such as sights, sounds, and smells, intro neural impulses the brain can interpret

Sensory receptors

Sensory nerve endings that respond to stimuli

Absolute threshold

The minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time

Signal detection theory

A theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (the signal) amid background stimulation (noise). It assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person’s experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness

Subliminal

Below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness

Just-noticeable difference (difference threshold)

The minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time.

Weber’s law

The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant percentage (rather than a constant amount)

Sensory adaptation

Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

Sensory interaction

The principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences its taste

Synesthesia

A condition where your brain routes sensory information through multiple unrelated senses, causing you to experience more than one sense simultaneously

Wavelengths

The distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next

Hue

The dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light; what we knows as the color names blue, green and so forth

Intensity

The amount of energy in a light or sound wave, which we perceive as brightness or loudness, as determined by the wave’s amplitude

Cornea

The eye’s clear, protective outer layer, covering the pupil and iris

Pupil

The adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters

Iris

A ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening

Lens

The transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina

Retina

The light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of information

Optic nerve (visual nerve)

The nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain

Blind spot

The point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a gap in visual sensation because no receptor cells are located there

Accommodation

The process by which the eye’s lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina

Nearsightedness

A visual condition where a person can clearly see nearby objects but distant objects appear blurry

Farsightedness

A visual condition where a person can clearly see distant objects but nearby objects appear blurry

Fovea

The central focal point in the retina, around which the eye’s cones cluster

Photoreceptors

Specialized light-sensitive cells located in the retina of the eye that convert light into neural impulses, allowing us to see

Rods

Retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision (when cones don’t respond)

Cones

Retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions. They detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations.

Trichromatic theory of color (Young-Helmholtz theory)

The theory that the retina contains three different color receptors – one most sensitive to red, one to green, one to blue – which, when stimulated in combination, can produce the perception or any color

Opponent-process theory of color

The theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color visions. For example, some cells are stimulated by green and inhibited by red; others are stimulated by red and inhibited by green.

Afterimages

The visual illusions that occur when we continue to see an image even after it has been removed from our field of vision. They can be positive (retaining the original color) or negative (opponent colors).

Feature detectors

Nerve cells in the brain’s visual cortex that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement

Ganglion cells

The neurons located in the retina of the eye that receive visual information from bipolar cells (which in turn receive signals from rods and cones), and then transmit that information to the brain via the optic nerve

Monochromatism

A condition where a person only has one type of functioning cone cell, meaning they lack the ability to perceive color at all and only experience variations of light and dark

Dichromatism

A condition where a person has partial color blindness due to only having two types of cone cells in their eyes, leading to confusion between certain colors, instead of the typical three cone types that allow for normal color vision

Prosopagnosia

A neurological condition where a person is unable to recognize familiar faces, despite having normal vision

Blindsight

A phenomenon where a person with damage to their primary visual cortex can unconsciously perceive visual stimuli, meaning they can respond to visual information without consciously seeing it

Frequency

The number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time (for example, wavelengths per second)

Pitch

A tone's experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequency

Amplitude

The height of a soundwave, which directly correlates to how loud a sound is perceived

Middle Ear

The chamber between the eardrum and the cochlea containing three tiny bones (hammer, anvil, and stirrup) that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea’s oval window

Inner Ear

The innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs

Cochlea

A coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses

Place theory

In hearing, the theory that links the pitch we hear with the location within the cochlea that is stimulated by the soundwave

Frequency theory

In hearing, the theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch

Volley theory

In hearing, the theory that auditory nerve cells can work together to alternate when they fire signals to the brain, enabling the transmission of high pitch sound waves

Conduction deafness

Hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea

Sensorineural deafness

Hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea’s receptor cells or to the auditory nerve; also called nerve deafness

Cochlear implant

A device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into the cochlea

Sound localization

The use of our two ears in tandem to create a “three-dimensional” awareness of the location of a sound

Olfaction

Our sense of smell

Pheromones

Olfactory chemical messages secreted by other members within a species, often related to sexual attraction and mating

Gustation

Our sense of taste

Taste receptors

Specialized cells located primarily on the tongue, within structures called taste buds, that detect chemical molecules in food and send signals to the brain

Umami

A taste sensation that is often described as “savory” or “meaty,” which is triggered by a compound found in protein-rich foods

Oleogustus

A taste sensation from fatty foods

Supertaster

A person who experiences taste sensations at a higher intensity than the average person

Medium taster

A person with an average ability to taste

Nontaster

A person with significantly reduced taste perception

Gate control theory

The theory that the spinal cord contains neurological pathways that block pain signals or allow them to pass on to the brain. These pathways are opened by the activity of pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers and are closed by activity in larger fibers or by information coming from the brain.

Phantom limb sensation

When the brain perceives sensations like pain, pressure, or movement from a non-existent body part

Vestibular sense

Our balance sense; our sense of boy movement and position that enables our sense of balance

Semicircular canals

Small, fluid-filled tubes in the inner ear containing hair-like sensory receptors that send signals to our cerebellum related to body position and balance

Kinesthesis

Our movement sense; our system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts

Bottom-up processing

Information processing that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information

Top-down processing

Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing our our experience and expectations

Schema

A concept, developed through experience and learning, that helps to organize and interpret unfamiliar information

Perceptual set

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

Selective attention

Focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

Cocktail party effect

The ability to focus on a single conversation or sound in a noisy environment while filtering out other surrounding sounds

Inattentional blindness

Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

Change blindness

Failing to notice changes in the environment

Gestalt psychology

The human tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful, organized wholes

Closure

The tendency to perceive an incomplete figure as a whole

Figure and ground

The organization of the visual field into objects that stand out from their surrounding objects

Proximity

The tendency to organize objects close to each other into a perceptual group and interpret them as a single entity

Similarity

The tendency to organize objects with similar qualities into a perceptual group and interpret them as a whole

Binocular cues

Depth cues, such as retinal disparity, that depends on the use of two eyes

Convergence

A cue to nearby objects’ distance, enabled by the brain combining retinal images

Retinal disparity

A binocular cue for perceiving depth. By comparing images from each of the two eyes, the brain computes distance – the greater the difference between the two images, the closer the object.

Monocular cues

Depth cues, such as interposition or linear perspective, available to either eye alone

Relative clarity

The perceptual cue where objects that appear sharp and clear are perceived as closer than objects that appear hazy or blurry, which are seen as farther away

Relative size

A monocular depth cue where we perceive the distance of an object based on how its size compares to other objects of a known size in the same scene

Texture gradient

A visual cue that helps us perceive depth by noticing how the texture of a surface appears smoother as it gets further away, or more textured as it gets closer

Linear perspective

A monocular depth cue where parallel lines appear to converge at a point in the distance, creating the perception of depth

Interposition

A monocular depth cue where, if one objects partially blocks our view of another, we perceive it as closer

Perceptual constancies

Perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent color, brightness, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change

Apparent movement

The perception of an object having motion when it is actually still