Unit 1B Vocab Psychology

Sensation

The process by which we receive information from the environment.

Absolute Threshold

The minimum amount of energy needed to produce sensation more 50% of the time

Transduction

The process of converting energy of a stimulus into neural activity.

Just Noticeable Difference

The smallest difference between two stimuli that can be consistently and accurately detected 50% of the time.

Sensory Adaptation

When sensory receptor cells are constantly stimulated, they undergo a loss of sensitivity to stimuli.

Weber's Law

The relationship between actual and perceived differences in stimulus intensity.

Sensory Interaction

The process by which our five senses work with and influence each other.

Synesthesia

When your brain routes sensory information through multiple unrelated senses, causing you to experience more than one sense simultaneously.

Visual Sensory System

The Complex process of how the eyes and brain work together to interpret light into meaningful information like color, motion and depth.

Retina

The light-sensitive layer at the back of the eye that contains photo receptor cells called rods (for black and white vision in dim light) and cones (for color vision and detail in bright light).

Blind Spot

The optic disc, the small area on the retina where the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a gap in our vision that the brain fills in.

Visual Nerve

A bundle of nerve fibers that carries visual information from the retina to the brain.

Incomplete Retinal Images

Where the brain perceives incomplete images as whole by filling in the gaps

Photoreceptors

Specialized cells in the retina that convert light into electrical signals, enabling vision

Rods

Specialized photoreceptor cells located in the retina of the eye

Lens

The transparent, biconvex structure located behind the iris in the eye. It plays a role in vision by focusing light onto the retina.

Accomodation

The process by which the focus of the eye is changed to allow near or distant objects to form sharp images on the retina.

Nearsightedness

A vision condition where nearby objects are seen clearly, but distant objects appear blurry

Farsightedness

A vision condition where distant objects are seen clearly, but near objects appear blurry because the image of near objects is focused behind the retina

Light and Dark Adaptation

is the process where the eyes adjust to bright light by becoming less sensitive to light, allowing for vision in high illumination. is the process where the eyes become more sensitive to light after moving into a darker environment

Color Vision

Explained by both the trichromatic theory and the opponent-process theory.

Trichromatic Theory

A theory of color vision that suggests the human eye has three types of cones, each sensitive to different wavelengths of light

Opponent-Process Theory

This theory of color vision takes place within the ganglion cells.

Fovea

Small, central pit in the retina that provides the sharpest, most detailed vision due to its high concentration of cone cells

Cones

Photoreceptor cells located in the fovea of the eye that process color and detail are called ___

Afterimages

Visual illusions that occur when a person continues to see an image even after it has been removed from their field of vision

Ganglion Cells

Neurons in the retina that receive signals from bipolar cells and transmit visual information to the brain via the optic nerve

Color Vision Deficiency

Damage or irregularities to one or more cones or ganglion cells (Monochormatism/Dichromatism)

Prosopagnosia

The inability to recognize faces as familiar due to an issue with the connection within the temporal lobe, occipital cortex, and fusiform gyrus.

Blindsight

A neurological condition where someone can perceive the location of an object despite being cortically blind.

Sound Waves

A form of energy that travels through a medium as a series of compressions and rarefactions, caused by vibrations.

Wavelengths

Refers to how fast the wave vibrates or the number of cycles per second. The ____ determines the pitch of the sound.

Amplitude

Refers to the height of the wave from the centre line. It tells the loudness of the sound.

Place Theory

Hearing different pitches because different sound waves trigger activity at different places along the cochlea's basilar membrane.

Volley Theory

Neural cells work together, alternating when they fire. Operating in rapid succession, they can achieve a combined frequency above 1000 waves per second.

Frequency Theory

Hearing different pitches because different sound waves trigger neural impulses to the brain at the same rate as the sound wave. If the sound wave has a frequency of 100 waves per second, then 100 pulses per second travel up the auditory nerve.

Sound Localization

The ability to identify the position and changes in position of sound sources based on acoustic information.

Hearing Difficulties

A partial or complete inability to hear sounds due to damage to the hearing mechanism, from the outer ear to the auditory nerve

Conduction Deafness

Results from damage to the mechanical system that transmits sound waves to the cochlea, most often the bones of the middle ear.

Sensorineural Deafness

Results from damage to the cochlea's hair cells or the auditory nerve. It results in some sounds being heard more softly or not at all.

Olfactory System

The sensory system responsible for the sense of smell

Pheromones

Chemical substances that trigger a response in other individuals of the same species, influencing behavior or physiology

Gustation

A chemical sense linked to smell in determining the flavor of things

Oleogustus

The term for the newly identified sixth basic taste: the unpleasant taste of fatty acids

Supertaster

People who are extremely sensitive to some tastes

Medium Tasters

People with an average number of taste buds

Non-tasters

People who are unable to taste the bitter compound

Taste Receptors

Specialized sensory cells within the taste buds on the tongue that detect different chemicals in food and transmit signals to the brain. Sweet, salty, sour, bitter

Chemical Senses

The senses of taste (gustation) and smell (olfaction), which detect and interpret chemical molecules from the environment.

Sensory Interaction (Smell and taste)

The integration of sensory processes when performing a task, as in maintaining balance using sensory input from both vision and proprioception.

Sensation of hot

Stimulating nearby cold and warm spots produces ____

Pain

The experience evoked by a harmful stimulus; directs our attention toward a danger and holds our attention

Phantom Limb Syndrome

The ability to feel sensations and even pain in a limb or limbs that no longer exist.

Gate Control Theory

Non-painful sensory input can dampen or block painful sensations from reaching the brain

Vestibular Sense

Enables the maintenance of balance in part controlled by the semicircular canals, which contain receptors that detect motions of the head

Kinesthesis

Enables control and coordination over movements, including walking, talking, facial expressions, gestures, and posture

Semicircular Canals

Three fluid-filled tubes in the inner ear that are part of the vestibular system, responsible for detecting rotational head movements and providing the sense of balance and spatial orientation

Perception

The process of selecting, organizing and interpreting sensory information

Top-Down Processing

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

Bottom-up Processing

Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information.

Schemas

A collection of basic knowledge about a concept or entity that serves as a guide to perception, interpretation, imagination, or problem solving.

Perceptual Sets

Readiness to perceive a stimulus in a particular way

Context

In which something appears guides people's perceptual hypotheses

Inattentional blindness

The failure to notice the existence of an unexpected item

Cocktail party effect

The ability to focus one's listening attention on a single talker among a mixture of conversations and background noises

Change Blindness

Failure to notice obvious change

Depth Perception

The ability to perceive the relative distance of objects in one's visual field.

Monocular depth cues

Require only one eye to inform the visual system about the depth of a target or its distance from the observer.

Binocular depth cues

Require integration of information from the two eyes and include signals about the convergence of the eyes and retinal disparity.

Retinal Disparity

The slight difference between the right and left retinal images.

Convergence

The rotation of the two eyes inward toward a light source so that the image falls on corresponding points on the foveas.

Relative Clarity

A monocular depth cue consisting of the relative clarity of objects under varying atmospheric conditions. Nearer objects are usually clearer in detail, whereas more distant objects are less distinct and appear bluer.

Relative Size

If separate objects are expected to be of the same size, the larger ones are seen as closer.

Texture Gradient

The progressive decline in the resolution of textures as the viewer moves away from them.

Linear Perspective

The principle that the size of an object's visual image is a function of its distance from the eye. Two objects appear closer together as the distance from them increases and appear to converge on the horizon

Interposition

A monocular depth cue occurring when two objects are in the same line of vision and the closer object, which is fully in view, partly conceals the farther object.

Apparent Movement

Visual perceptual constancies maintain the perception of an object even when the images of the object in the visual field change.

Size constancy

Perceived size of an object remains constant despite changes in the size of the retinal image of that object.

Shape constancy

Perceived shape of an object remains constant despite changes in the shape of the retinal image of that object.

Brightness

The tendency to perceive a familiar object as having the same brightness under different conditions of illumination.

Color

The tendency to perceive a familiar object as having the same color under different conditions of illumination.

Stroboscopic movement

The apparent motion of a series of separate stimuli occurring in close consecutive order, as in motion pictures.

Phi phenomenon

Apparent motion resulting from an orderly sequence of stimuli (such as lights flashed in rapid succession a short distance apart on a sign) without any actual motion being presented to the eye