Ap psych sensation and perception test

skin senses

Sensory systems for processing touch, warmth, cold, texture, and pain

warm/cold receptors

thermoreceptors are specialized cells; detect differences in temperature; when warm and cold receptors are stimulated together the sensation is perceived as hot

Pain

nociceptors in the skin=activated by tissue damage and sent to the brain for processing

gate-control theory

the spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain

perception

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

perceptual illusions

misperceptions or interpretations of stimuli that do not correspond to the sensations received

internal factors

schemas, perceptual set

schema

mental frameworks that help us organize/interpret information about the world

Perceptual set

top down processing skill that influences our disposition to perceive one aspect of a thing and not another

External factors

context, cultural expectation

context

the impact of an environmental cue on human perception

cultural expectations

culture can focus on individual objects versus the broader concept, and how we organize information based on their cultural values and norms

Gestalt principles

Principles that describe the brain's organization of sensory information into meaningful units and patterns.

Figure ground relationship

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

Grouping

the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups

proximity

occurs when elements placed close together tend to be perceived as a group

similarity

the tendency to perceive things that look similar to each other as being part of the same group

closure

the tendency to complete figures that are incomplete

inattentional blindness

failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

change blindness

form of inattentional blindness in which individuals will not notice a significant change in their visual environment

visual perceptual constancies

help us maintain a consistent perception of objects, even when their images change

depth perception

the ability to see the world in three dimensions and accurately judge the distance of objects

Gibson and walk study

visual cliff experiment

binocular depth clues

retinal disparity and convergence

convergence

A binocular cue for perceiving depth; the extent to which the eyes converge inward when looking at an object

retinal disparity

a binocular cue for perceiving depth by comparing images from the retinas in the two eyes, the brain computes distance—the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object.

monocular depth cues

linear perspective, texture gradient, interposition, relative size, relative clarity

linear perspective

parallel lines appear to converge with distance

relative size

smaller image is more distant

interposition

if one object partially blocks our view of another, we perceive it as closer

relative clarity

hazy object seen as more distant

texture gradient

the tendency for textured surfaces to appear to become smaller and finer as distance from the viewer increases

perceptual adaptation

the means by which the brain accounts for the differences that the subject may witness, particularly alterations in the visual field

Apparent movement

Our brains computes motion as object move across/towards the retina. A quick succession of images, as in motion pictures or on a lighted sign, can also create illusion of movement

stroboscopic movement

a type of apparent movement based on the rapid succession of still images, as in motion pictures

Phi phenomenon

an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession

Human factors psychology

a branch of psychology that explores how people and machines interact and how machines and physical environments can be made safe and easy to use