Psychology Senses and Perception Vocab

Sensation

The process of sensing external stimuli through the senses (e.g., eyes, ears, skin).

Perception

How the brain interprets sensory information to make sense of the world.

Absolute Threshold

The smallest amount of stimulus needed to be detected at least 50% of the time.

Accommodation

The eye's ability to change its lens shape to focus on objects at different distances.

Acuity

The sharpness or clarity of vision.

Audition

The sense of hearing.

Amacrine Cells

Cells in the retina that help process visual information.

Ambiguity

When something can be interpreted in more than one way.

Attention

The process of focusing on certain stimuli while ignoring others.

Auditory Cortex

The part of the brain that processes sound.

Auditory Nerve

The nerve that carries sound signals from the ear to the brain.

Basilar Membrane

A structure inside the cochlea that helps detect sound vibrations.

Binocular Cue

Visual depth cues that require both eyes, like judging distance.

Bipolar Cells

Cells in the retina that transmit signals from photoreceptors (like rods and cones) to ganglion cells.

Blind Spot

The part of the retina where there are no photoreceptors, so no vision occurs.

Bottom

up Processing

Brightness

The perceived intensity of light in a visual stimulus.

Cochlea

A spiral

Cochlear Implant

A device that helps people with hearing loss by directly stimulating the auditory nerve.

Color Constancy

The brain's ability to perceive consistent colors despite changes in lighting.

Complementary Colors

Colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel and, when combined, produce white or gray.

Cones

photoreceptors that are cone shaped and work the best in light

Convergence

how the brain combines different sensory information

Cutaneous Senses

tactile, thermal, pain, and itch sensing submodalites

Dark Adaptation

the transition of retina from a light environment to a dark one

Depth Perception

the ability to see object in the third dimension

Dichotic Listening

listening to different sounds presented to each ear simultaneously

Difference Threshold

the amount that 2 sounds need to differ in order for a difference to be noticed

Distal Stimuli

an object or event that is perceived

ESP

extrasensory perception, paranormal psychology such as telepathy

Farsightedness

Being able to see better far and not having a good sense of sight close up

Feature Detectors

detect things like edges, lines, angles, and movement

Figure/Ground

the ability to perceive an object of focus or background and to know the difference between

Fovea

a small depression within the retina where visual activity is the highest

Frequency Theory

a sound heard is replicated and matched by neural impulses that are transmitted to the brain

Ganglion Cells

projection neurons of the vertebrae retina

Gate

Control Theory

Gestalt psychology

contributes to the modern study of perception

Goal Directed Selection

the idea that evolution is is not random and that is proceeds with a goal in mind

Grouping

the observation that humans naturally perceive objects as organized patterns and objects

Ground

the object that is being perceived is known and all others are background or ground

Hearing Loss (Conduction)

happens when sounds cannot pass through the middle or the end of the ear

(Sensorineural)

Type of hearing loss that occurs when theirs damage to hair cells in the inner ear

Horizontal Cells

Interneurons of the distal vertebrate retina.

Hue

Quality of color determined by wavelength and amplitude

Identification and recognition

Through this people can identify the world around them

Inner Ear

Contains hearing and balance apparatus (three parts)

Intensity

The strength of an emotion, thought, or behavior.

Inattentional blindness

When you go through a red light while driving because your attention is focused on texting.

Illusion

When objects or an image differ from how they appear.

Iris

is 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

a transparent structure that sits behind the pupil and can adjust its shape to bend light for proper focus.

Just Noticeable Difference (JND)

minimum amount of change in a stimulus that a person can detect 50% of the time.

Kinesthetic Sense

Ability to perceive body position, movement, and coordination through sensory input from muscles, tendons, and joints.

Lightness Constancy

tendency to perceive the color or light of an object despite any changes in lighting or illumination.

Loudness

perceived intensity or strength of a sound which is determined by the amplitude of the sound waves.

Middle Ear

Part of the ear that contains the ossicles which amplify and transmit sound vibrations from eardrum to the inner ear.

Monocular cue

depth perception cue that can be perceived with one eye, such as linear perspective.

Nearsightedness

Visual condition where close objects are seen clearly, but distant objects are blurry due to light focusing on the retina.

Neurotransmitters

chemical messengers that transmit signals across synapses between neurons, influencing various functions like mood and behavior.

Olfactory Bulb

responsible for processing smells and receiving signals from olfactory receptors in the nasal cavity.

Opponent

Processes theory- color perception is controlled by opposing pairs of colors with the activation of one color in pair inhibiting the perception of the other.

Optic nerve

bundle of nerve fibers that transmit visual information from the retina in the eye to the brain for processing.

Pain

unpleasant sensation or emotional experience associated with potential tissue damage.

Parallel Processing

cognitive ability to simultaneously process multiple streams of information, such as different aspects of a visual scene, allowing for rapid and efficient perception and interpretation.

Parapsychology

the study of paranormal elements of psychology.

Perception

Pure recognition and interpretation of sensory information

Perceptual

The tendency of animals and humans to see familiar objects as having standard shape, size, color, or location regardless of changes in the angle of perspective, distance, or lighting.

Perceptual Organization

The processes structuring visual information into coherent units

Perceptual Set

A predisposition to perceive things in a certain way

Pheromones

Substances which are secreted to the outside by an individual and received by a second individual of the same species, in which they release a specific reaction.

Phi Phenomenon

An optical illusion that causes one to see several still images in a series as moving.

Photoreceptors

Specialized and light

Pitch

The perceptual correlate of waveform periodicity, or repetition rate.

Place Theory

Proposes an explanation of how human beings perceive pitch

Proximal Stimulus

The pattern of energy impinging on the observer's sensory receptors

Psychometric Function

Relates an observer's performance to an independent variable, usually some physical quantity of a stimulus in a psychophysical task.

Psychophysics

Study of quantitative relations between psychological events and physical events or, more specifically, between sensations and the stimuli that produce them.

Relative Motion Parallax

A monocular depth cue that causes objects that are closer to you to appear to move faster than objects that are further away.

Response Bias

People's tendency to respond to tests or assessment items based on some factor other than the content.

Retina

The area in back of the eye that contains your rods and cones.

Psychophysics

Study of quantitative relations between psychological events and physical events or, more specifically, between sensations and the stimuli that produce them.

Retinal Disparity

A binocular cue used to perceive depth between two near objects.

Receptive Field

region in the sensory periphery within which stimuli can influence the electrical activity of sensory cells.

Rods

Specialized photoreceptors that work well in low light conditions.

Saturation

When a substance which has been combining with another substance (a solution) has reached the point where there is no space for any more.

Sensation

The process of the sensory organs transforming physical energy into neurological impulses the brain interprets as the five senses of vision, smell, taste, touch, and hearing.

Sensory Adaptation

process by which our brain cells become less sensitive to constant stimuli

Sensory Receptors

specialized organs which detect stimuli

Shape Constancy

when familiar objects have the correct shape no matter the angle

Signal Detection Theory (SDT)

we detect stimulus depending on its strength and our mental state (how much we are paying attention)

Size Constancy

when familiar objects have the correct size no matter the angle its being observed from

Sound Location

the ability to detect where sound is coming from based on intensity and timing

Stimulus

Driven Capture when some stimulus capture our attention automatically

Subliminal

Stimuli that are too weak to consciously be perceived

Timbre

the quality and texture of sound

Top-Down processing

When we use our previous knowledge to interpret what we see and make use of sensory information already gathered, like if we see a chair we stubbed our toe on we will avoid it

Transduction

Transformation of one type of energy into another, Sound into electrical for example

Trichromatic Theory

(Also Known as the Young