Sensation and Perception Review

Flashcards generated from lecture notes covering various aspects of sensation and perception, including color vision, hearing, pain, and depth perception.

Color Blindness

The deficiency in color discrimination, often resulting in difficulties distinguishing reds and greens.

Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory

States that the retina contains three types of color receptors, each sensitive to red, green, or blue.

Opponent Process Theory

The theory that sensory receptors come in pairs; when one color is stimulated, the other is inhibited.

Afterimage Effect

An optical illusion where an image continues to appear in one's vision after the exposure has ceased.

Feature Detectors

Nerve cells in the visual cortex that respond to specific features of a stimulus, such as shape or movement.

Parallel Processing

The simultaneous processing of multiple aspects of a stimulus or problem.

Acuity

The sharpness or clarity of vision.

Nearsightedness

A vision condition where nearby objects are seen clearly, while distant objects appear blurred.

Farsightedness

A vision condition where distant objects are seen clearly, while nearby objects appear blurred.

Decibels

The unit of measurement for sound energy, with 0 decibels defined as the absolute threshold for hearing.

Conduction Hearing Loss

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

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Hearing loss caused by damage to the receptor hair cells in the cochlea or to the auditory nerves.

Cochlear Implant

An electronic device that receives sound and converts it into electrical signals to stimulate the auditory nerve.

Gate Control Theory of Pain

A theory suggesting the spinal cord contains a neurological gate that controls the transmission of pain.

Phantom Limb Pain

The sensation of pain in a limb that has been amputated, often treated with techniques like mirror therapy.

Kinesthetic Sense

The sense that enables us to perceive the position and movement of our body parts without visual reference.

Vestibular Sense

The sense that provides information about balance and spatial orientation, located in the semicircular canals of the inner ear.

Sensory Interaction

The phenomenon where different senses influence each other, such as how smell can affect taste.

Gestalt Principles

A set of principles that describe how individuals perceive visual elements as organized patterns or wholes.

Binocular Cues

Depth cues that depend on the use of both eyes, such as retinal disparity and convergence.

Texture Gradient

A monocular depth cue where texture appears denser at a distance.

Interposition

A monocular cue where one object blocks another, indicating that the blocked object is farther away.

Relative Size

A monocular cue suggesting that objects that cast smaller retinal images are perceived as farther away.

Phi Phenomenon

The optical illusion of perceiving continuous motion between separate objects viewed rapidly in succession.

Autokinetic Effect

The illusion of a still spot of light appearing to move in a dark room.

Stroboscopic Movement

An illusion of continuous movement perceived when viewing a rapid series of slightly varying still images.