AP Psych Unit 1 Pt. 2

Rods

Detects light vs dark, lines the back of the eye

Cones

Detects Hue & Color, lines the center back of the eye

Pupil

Hole in the eye

Iris

Colored muscle which contracts or dilates the pupil

Cornea

Clear shield protecting the eye; “crowned” atop the pupil

Lens

directs, concentrates, and “flips” the light which enters through the pupil to hit the retina

Retina

reflective light-sensitive tissue which transfers light into electric data via transduction

Fovea

Small depression or “dent” in center of the retina which provides the clearest, sharpest vision

Blind Spot

small gap in the retina where the optic nerve passes through; typically “filled in” by the brain overlaying the vision of the other eye.

Optic Nerve

sensory nerve which carries light data to the visual cortex

Rods & Cones

1st step in the neural pathway to the brain

Bipolar cells

2nd step in the neural pathway to the brain;

Ganglion

3rd step in the neural pathway to the brain; interperts motion

Optic Nerve

4th step in the neural pathway to the brain

Thalamus

5th step in the neural pathway to the brain

Visual Cortex in Occiptical Lobe

6th step in the neural pathway to the brain

Wavelength (Light)

color/hue

Amplitude (Light)

intensity/brightness/saturation

Trichromatic Theory

vision is made up of three cones, combining different signals to create different colors.

Opponent-Process Theory

colors are perceived in opposition pairs (red-green, blue-yellow, white-black)

Top-Down processing

using past data/information to draw conclusions about what is being perceived

Bottom-Up processing

using raw sensory input to draw conclusions about what is being perceived

Wavelenngth (Sound)

pitch

Amplitude (Sound)

volume

Pinna

outer, visible cartilage portion of the ear

temporal bone

protects the temporal lobe, protects ear organs, forms part of the jaw

Ear Cannal

Hole entering into the ear

Eardrum

thin membrane covering inner ear; converts sound into mechanic movement

Malleus

“hammer” (mallet) bone, eardrum vibration moves the malleus, transfering vibration data

Incus

“anvil” bone, between the malleus and stirrup, transferring & amplifying data

Stapes

“stirrup” transfers data to the oval window of the inner ear, trafsering mechanical movement to fluid waves

Semicircular Tubes

detects movement of the head; what disorients the inner ear

Cochlea

converts sound waves into electrical nerve signals via transduction

Vestibular Nerve

carries nerve signals for balance, spatial orientation, & head movement

Auditory Nerve

transmits frequency, volume, and timing sound data to the brainstem

Eustachian Tube

equalizes air pressure; connected to throat & nose

Pitch Perception

the brain’s interpretation of the frequency of sounds

Place Theory

theory that different parts of the inner ear detects different frequencies

Frequency Theory

theory that the frequency of a sound wave directly corresponds to the rate at which auditory nerve fibers fire.

Volley Theory

A theory that auditory neurons fire in rapid succession, or "volleys", to encode the frequency of sounds above 1000 Hz (or frequencies that exceed the firing rate of individual neurons)

Sound Localization

ability to pinpoint the location where sound comes from

Sensory Interaction

principal that senses influence one another

Olefactory

scent; chemical sense, bypasses thalamus

Gustation

taste; chemical sense; senses sweet, sour, salty, bitter, & umami (savory)

Touch

physical sense; sense temperature, pain, and pressure

Gate control theory

theory that reception of pain can be blocked by a “gate” in the spine

Vestibular Sense

sense of body orientation and movement, such as balance and spatial awareness

kinesthesis/proprioception

sense of body movement and position

conduction deafness

hearing impairment on part of the outer or middle ear

Sensorineural deafness

hearing impairment on part of the inner ear or auditory nerve

Color blindness

defect in cone cells; Dichromatism where only two work, Monochromatism where only one does.

blindsight

visual cortex damage where individuals respond to visual stimuli without consciously perceiving

Prosopagnosia

face blindness

Just-noticable difference (JND)

The minimum difference in stimulation that a person can detect 50% of the time (also called the difference threshold)

Weber’s Law

the just-noticeable difference (JND) between two stimuli is always a constant proportion of the original stimulus intensity, rather than a fixed amount

Perceptual set

predisposition to perceive, notice, or interpret sensory information in a specific way while ignoring other details

Gestalt psychology

human brain percieves patterns, rather than individual stimuli.

law of closure

brain automatically fills in missing information or visual gaps to perceive incomplete shapes, figures, or objects as a complete, unified whole

Figure & Ground

The brain's automatic tendency to organize visual scenes into a main object of focus (the figure) and everything surrounding it (the ground)

Proximity

people naturally group objects that are physically close to each other into a single, unified unit or pattern

Similarity

brain automatically groups together individual items that share visual characteristics and perceives them as a unified whole or pattern

Binocular depth cues

visual signals that require input from both eyes to perceive three-dimensional space and judge distance

Retinal disparity

the small difference between the visual images projected on the left and right retinas to gauge depth

Monocular depth cues

visual signals that allow you to perceive depth, distance, and 3-dimensionality using only one eye (or on a 2D flat surface)

relative clarity

the brain perceives sharp, crisp, and detailed objects as closer, and hazy, blurry, or less distinct objects as farther away

relative size

judging the size of two objects believed to be similarly sized to gauge depth

texture gradient

where a surface's texture appears coarse and detailed up close, but becomes finer, denser, and less distinct as distance increases

linear perspective

where parallel lines appear to converge as they recede into the distance (like train tracks, or a fence)

Interposition

the overlap of two objects being used to gauge depth

Perceptual Constancies

the brain's ability to perceive familiar objects as unchanging even when the sensory input or retinal image changes due to shifts in distance, angle, or lighting