AP Psychology Unit 1B

What is the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment called?

Sensation

What is the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time called?

Absolute Threshold

What is the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time called?

Difference Threshold

According to Weber's Law, to perceive as different, 2 stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage. True or False?

True

What is the diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation called?

Sensory Adaptation

What is the principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences its taste, called?

Sensory Interaction

What is the condition in which one sense is simultaneously perceived as if by one or more additional senses called?

Synesthesia

What part of the eye contains sensory receptors that process visual information and sends it to the brain?

Retina

What is the transparent structure behind the pupil in the eye that changes shape to focus images on the retina called?

Lens

What is the point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a spot because no receptor cells are located there called?

Blindspot

What is the process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina called?

Accommodation

What is the condition in which nearby objects are seen more clearly than distant objects called?

Nearsightedness

What is the abnormal condition in which vision for distant objects is better than for near objects called?

Farsightedness

What are specialized light-sensitive neurons in the retina that convert light into neural impulses called?

Photoreceptor Cells

Which type of photoreceptor cell detects short wavelengths (blue), medium wavelengths (green), and long wavelengths (red)?

Cones

Which type of photoreceptor cell detects black, white, and gray, and is more sensitive to low light?

Rods

What is the area located in the retina that contains a concentration of cones and provides the clearest vision called?

Fovea

What is the conversion of one form of energy into another, such as the transforming of stimulus energies into neural impulses, called?

Transduction

What theory states that the retina contains three different color receptors, one most sensitive to red, one to green, and one to blue?

Trichromatic theory

What theory states that opposing retinal processes enable color vision?

Opponent-Process Theory

What are neurons that relay information from the retina to the brain via the optic nerve called?

Ganglion Cells

What are the visual illusions that occur when we continue to see an image even after it has been removed from our field of vision called?

Afterimages

When a person can't see a certain set of two colors, usually red and green or yellow and blue, what is this condition called?

Dichromatic

When a person can't see any color and only sees the world in black-and-white, what is this condition called?

Monochromatic

What is the condition defined as an inability to recognize faces of people known to the patient called?

Prosopagnosia

What is the ability to respond to visual information without consciously seeing it called?

Blindsight

What is the dimension of frequency determined by wavelength of sound called?

Wavelength (pitch)

What is the amount of energy in a wave determined by amplitude called?

Amplitude (loudness)

In hearing, what theory links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated?

Place Theory

Which theory states that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone?

Frequency Theory

What is the principle that individual fibers in an auditory nerve respond to one or another stimulus in a rapid succession called?

Volley Theory

What process requires input from both ears and sound waves reaching the nearer ear before the more distant ear?

Sound Localization

What type of hearing loss is caused by damage to the cochlea's receptor cells or to the auditory nerves?

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

What type of hearing loss is caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea?

Conduction Hearing Loss

What is the sense of smell called?

Olfaction

Which sense is the only one not processed first in the thalamus of the brain?

Smell (Olfaction)

What are chemical signals released by members of a species that can affect the behavior of other members of the same species called?

Pheromones

What is the mouth's ability to tell the difference between sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami, and oleogustus properties called?

Gustation

What are pheromones?

Chemical signals used for communication between individuals of the same species.

What are hormones?

Chemical messengers that regulate physiological processes.

What is the mouth's ability to tell the difference between sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami, and oleogustus called?

Gustation

Which taste indicates energy source?

Sweet

Which taste indicates sodium essential to physiological processes?

Salty

Which taste indicates potentially toxic acid?

Sour

Which taste indicates potential poisons?

Bitter

Which taste indicates proteins to grow and repair tissues?

Umami

Which taste indicates fats for energy, insulation, and cell growth?

Oleogustus

What is a person called who experiences the sense of taste with far greater intensity than average?

Supertaster

What is a person called who has an average ability to sense different flavors?

Medium-taster

What is a person called who has less taste perception than medium-tasters?

Non-taster

What is the sense of pressure, warmth, cold, and pain called?

Touch

What theory states that the spinal cord contains a neurological 'gate' that blocks pain signals?

Gate-Control Theory

What is the ability to feel sensations and even pain in a limb that no longer exists called?

Phantom Limb

What is the system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts called?

Kinesthesia

What is the sense of body movement and position, including balance, called?

Vestibular Sense

What are the three looped tubular channels in the inner ear that detect head movements?

Semicircular Canals

What is the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information called?

Perception

What is Bottom-Up Processing?

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

What is Top-Down Processing?

Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes.

What is a perceptual set?

A tendency to perceive or notice some aspects of the available sensory data and ignore others.

What are schemas?

Mental filters or maps that organize our information about the world.

What do Context Effects refer to?

The idea that the context surrounding an event affects how it is perceived and remembered.

What is Selective Attention?

The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus.

What is the Cocktail Party Effect?

The phenomenon of focusing one's auditory attention on a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli.

What do Gestalt psychologists emphasize?

Our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.

What does the Gestalt principle of Proximity state?

Objects close together will be viewed together visually.

What does the Gestalt principle of Closure state?

The brain is good at filling in gaps to create a whole.

What is Intentional Blindness?

Failing to see visible objects when attention is directed elsewhere.

What is Change Blindness?

Failing to notice change in the environment around us.

What are binocular cues?

Depth cues that depend on the use of two eyes.

What is Retinal Disparity?

A binocular cue for perceiving depth by comparing images from the retinas in the two eyes.

What is Convergence?

When two eyes move inward to see near objects and outward to see faraway objects.

What are monocular cues?

Depth cues available to either eye alone.

What does Relative Size refer to?

If two objects are similar in size, the one that casts a smaller retinal image is perceived as farther away.

What does Interposition refer to?

Objects that occlude (block) other objects tend to be perceived as closer.

What does Relative Clarity refer to?

Distant objects appear hazy due to light passing through more atmosphere.

What does Linear Perspective indicate?

Parallel lines appear to converge in the distance, indicating greater distance.

What is Texture Gradient?

Indistinct texture signals increasing distance.

What is Perceptual Constancy?

The ability to perceive objects as unchanging despite changes in distance, point of view, and illumination.

What is Apparent Motion?

An optical illusion that makes a stationary object appear to move.

What is Perceptual Adaptation?

When our brains change our perceptions to match our expectations.