ap psych unit three

prosopagnosia.

inability to recognize faces.

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.

bottom-up processing.

analysis begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information.

top-down processing.

information processing is guided by higher-level mental processes, such as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations.

selective attention.

the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus.

inattentional blindness.

fails to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere.

change blindness.

failing to notice changes in the environment.

transduction.

conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies, such as sights, sounds, and smells, into neural impulses our brain can interpret.

psychophysics.

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

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 (signal) amid background stimulation (noise).

subliminal.

below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness.

priming.

the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one’s perception, memory, or response.

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 minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount).

sensory adaptation.

diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.

just noticeable difference.

the minimum level of stimulation that a person can detect 50% of the time.

vitreous humor.

allows light to reach the retina and maintain the shape of the eyeball.

cornea.

the transparent part of the eye that covers the iris and the pupil and allows light to enter the inside.

lens.

transmits light, focusing it on the retina.

pupil.

the round opening in the center of the iris .

iris.

the colored tissue at the front of the eye that contains the pupil in the center

retina.

contains millions of light-sensitive cells (rods and cones) and other nerve cells that receive and organize visual information.

fovea.

a small depression within the neurosensory retina where visual acuity is the highest.

blind spot.

the spot where your optic nerve connects to your retina has no light-sensitive cells, so you can't see anything there.

optic nerve.

comprised of millions of nerve fibers that send visual messages to your brain to help you see.

sensation.

the perceptual experience of seeing.

perception.

the brain's ability to receive, interpret, and act upon visual stimuli.

rods.

perceive size, shape, and brightness.

cones.

perceive colour.

bipolar cells.

provide the main pathways from photoreceptors to ganglion cells.

ganglion cells.

collect information about the visual world from bipolar cells and amacrine cells (retinal interneurons).

optic chiasm.

the place in the brain where some of the optic nerve fibers coming from one eye cross optic nerve fibers from the other eye.

thalamus.

your body's information relay station.

visual cortex.

receive, segment, and integrate visual information.

occipital lobe.

responsible for visual perception, including colour, form and motion.

transduction.

the process by which a cell responds to substances outside the cell through signaling molecules found on the surface of and inside the cell.

sound waves.

changes in pressure generated by vibrating molecules.

hair cells.

the sensory receptors for hearing, located in the organ of corti within the cochlea of the inner ears.

basilar membrane.

thin strip of tissue within the cochlea that contains the hair cells which serve as the sensory receptors for the auditory system.

neural messages.

a brief electrical charge that travels down an axon.

thalamus.

the brain's sensory switchboard.

auditory cortex.

the sensory area for hearing, located on the upper side of the temporal lobe of the cerebral cortex.

temporal lobe.

processes auditory sensory input and is the location of the primary auditory cortex and Wernicke's area.

outer ear.

includes the pinna, which is the visible part of the ear that protrudes from our heads, the auditory canal, and the tympanic membrane, or eardrum.

middle ear.

contains three tiny bones known as the ossicles, which are named the malleus (or hammer), incus (or anvil), and the stapes (or stirrup).

inner ear.

contains the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs.

auditory/ear canal.

narrow, tubelike passage through which sound enters the ear.

eardrum.

tight membrane that vibrates when in contact with sound waves.

hammer.

a tiny bone that passes vibrations from the eardrum to the anvil.

anvil.

a tiny bone that passes vibrations from the hammer to the stirrup.

stirrup.

a tiny u-shaped bone that passes vibrations from the anvil to the cochlea.

cochlea.

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

auditory nerve.

the cranial nerve that carries sound from the cochlea of the inner ear to the brain.

perceptual set.

a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.

extra-sensory perception.

the controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input; includes telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition.

parapsychology.

the study of paranormal phenomena, including esp and psychokinesis.

telepathy.

communication outside of the senses.

clairvoyance.

perceives things and events in the future.

precognition.

knowledge on an event that is yet to occur.

wavelength.

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

hue.

the dimension of colour that is determined by the wavelength of light.

intensity.

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

accommodation.

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

rods.

retinal receptors detect black, white, and grey.

cones.

retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the centre of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions.

fovea.

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

feature detectors.

nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement.

parallel processing.

the processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously.

young-helmholtz trichromatic theory.

the theory that the retina contains three different colour receptors which, when stimulated in combination, can produce the perception of any colour.

opponent-process theory.

the theory that opposing retinal processes enable colour vision.

gesalt.

our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.

figure-ground.

the organization of the visual field into objects that stand out from their surroundings.

grouping.

the perceptual tendency to organise stimuli into coherent groups.

depth perception.

the ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional.

visual cliff.

a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals.

binocular cues.

depth cues, such as retinal disparity, depend on the use of two eyes.

retinal disparity.

comparison of images from the retinas in the two eyes.

monocular cues.

depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, are available to either eye alone.

relative size.

the further an object is the smaller the retina perceives the size.

relative height.

the further an object is the taller the retina perceives the height.

relative motion/motion parallax.

as a person moves forwards, the objects that appear to him/her to move backwards faster are closer than apparently slower-moving objects.

interposition.

when an object is partially covered so it seems further.

linear perspective.

when two parallel lines appear to meet at a distance.

perceptual constancy.

perceives objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change.

colour constancy.

perceives familiar objects as having consistent colour, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object.

perceptual adaption.

in vision is the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field.

audition.

the sense or act of hearing.

frequency.

the number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time.

pitch.

a tone’s experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequency.

sensorineural hearing loss.

hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea’s receptor cells or to the auditory nerves.

conduction hearing loss.

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

cochlear implant.

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

place theory.

the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated.

frequency theory.

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

gate-control theory.

the theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological “gate” that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain.

nociceptors.

receives pain stimuli.

phantom-limb sensation.

feeling a lost body part after a traumatic injury.

tinnitus.

ringing or buzzing in the ears.