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I got these definitions, COPY AND PASTED from the book. I am not responsible if you do bad on your vocab quiz.
gestalt
an organized whole. These psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.
figure-ground
the organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground).
grouping
the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups.
depth perception
the ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance.
visual cliff
a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals.
binocular cue
a depth cue, such as retinal disparity, that depends on the use of two eyes.
retinal disparity
a binocular cue for perceiving depth. By comparing retinal images from the two eyes, the brain computes distance—the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object.
monocular cue
a depth cue, such as interposition or linear perspective, available to either eye alone.
phi phenomenon
an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession.
perceptual constancy
perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent color, brightness, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change.
color constancy
perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object.
perceptual adaptation
the ability to adjust to changed sensory input, including 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 (for example, per second).
pitch
a tone’s experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequency.
middle ear
the chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing three tiny bones (hammer, anvil, and stirrup) that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea’s oval window.
cochlea
a coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear; sound waves traveling through the cochlear fluid trigger nerve impulses
inner ear
the innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs.
sensorineural hearing loss
hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea’s receptor cells or to the auditory nerves; the most common form of hearing loss, also called nerve deafness.
conduction hearing loss
a less common form of 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
in hearing, the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea’s membrane is stimulated.
frequency theory
in hearing, the theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch. (Also called temporal theory.)
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. The “gate” is opened by the activity of pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers and is closed by activity in larger fibers or by information coming from the brain.
olfaction
the sense of smell.
kinesthesia
our movement sense—our system for sensing the position and movement of individual body arts.
vestibular sense
our sense of body movement and position that enables our sense of balance.
sensory interaction
the principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences its taste.
embodied cognition
the influence of bodily sensations, gestures, and other states on cognitive preferences and judgments.
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