AP Psychology: Sensation, Perception, and Biological Bases of Behavior

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering sensation, perception, neural anatomy, brain structures, genetics, and consciousness from AP Psychology.

Sensation

Detecting information through your senses.

Sensory receptors

Cells that detect sensory stimuli.

Perception

Organizing and interpreting sensory information.

Bottom-up processing

Processing information starting with sensory details, beginning with the sensory receptors and working up to the brain's integration of sensory information.

Top-down processing

Processing guided by higher-level mental processes, using prior knowledge, experience, and expectations to interpret information.

Transduction

Converting sensory energy into neural signals.

Psychophysics

The study of how physical stimuli relate to psychological experiences.

Gustav Fechner

Psychologist who helped develop psychophysics.

Absolute threshold

The minimum stimulation needed to detect a stimulus $50\%$ of the time.

Signal detection theory

A theory predicting how and when we detect stimuli, depending on sensitivity, expectations, and alertness.

Subliminal

Below the level of conscious awareness.

Priming

Activating associations in memory that influence responses.

Difference threshold

The smallest detectable difference between two stimuli.

Ernst Weber

Psychologist who studied sensory differences.

Weber's law

The principle that detecting a difference depends on a constant proportion of the original stimulus.

Sensory adaptation

Becoming less sensitive to constant stimulation.

Wavelength

The distance between wave peaks; determines color in visible light.

Hue

The color we perceive.

Frequency

The number of sound waves per second; determines pitch.

Pitch

How high or low a sound seems.

Middle ear

Transfers sound vibrations to the inner ear.

Cochlea

A fluid-filled inner-ear structure that converts vibrations into neural signals.

Inner ear

Contains structures for hearing and balance.

Sensorineural hearing loss

Hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea or auditory nerve.

Conduction hearing loss

Hearing loss caused by problems transferring sound through the outer or middle ear.

Cochlear implant

A device that converts sound into electrical signals to stimulate the auditory nerve.

Place theory

Pitch depends on where the cochlea is stimulated.

Frequency theory

Pitch depends on how frequently auditory nerves fire.

Gate-control theory

The theory that the spinal cord can regulate pain signals traveling to the brain.

Gustation

The sense of taste.

Olfaction

The sense of smell.

Kinesthesia

The sense of body position and movement.

Vestibular sense

The sense of balance and head movement.

Sensory interaction

The principle that one sense influences another.

Embodied cognition

The influence of physical sensations and bodily states on thinking.

Intensity

The amount of energy in a light wave; affects brightness.

Cornea

Clear outer covering that bends incoming light.

Pupil

The opening that lets light enter the eye.

Iris

Colored part of the eye that controls pupil size.

Lens

Focuses light onto the retina.

Retina

The light-sensitive layer at the back of the eye.

Accommodation

The process by which the lens changes shape to focus on near or distant objects.

Rods

Receptors that help with dim-light and peripheral vision.

Cones

Receptors responsible for color and fine detail.

Optic nerve

Carries visual information from the retina to the brain.

Blind spot

The area where the optic nerve exits the retina, containing no photoreceptors.

Fovea

The retina's central area with the sharpest vision.

Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory

Theory stating that color vision comes from three types of cones sensitive to different wavelengths.

Opponent-process theory

Theory stating that color vision uses opposing pairs, such as red–green and blue–yellow.

David Hubel

Neuroscientist who studied how the brain processes visual information.

Torsten Wiesel

Neuroscientist who studied visual processing and feature detection.

Feature detectors

Brain cells that respond to specific visual features, such as edges or movement.

Parallel processing

Processing multiple aspects of information simultaneously.

Nature-nurture issue

The longstanding controversy over the relative contributions that genes and experience make to the development of psychological traits and behaviors.

Charles Darwin

Scientist who argued that natural selection shapes behaviors as well as bodies.

Natural selection

The principle that inherited traits enabling an organism to survive and reproduce in a particular environment will, in competition with other trait variations, most likely be passed on to succeeding generations.

Evolutionary psychology

The study of the evolution of behavior and the mind, using principles of natural selection.

Behavior genetics

The study of the relative power and limits of genetic and environmental influences on behavior.

Mutation

A random error in gene replication that leads to a change.

Environment

Every nongenetic influence, from prenatal nutrition to our experiences of the people and things around us.

Heredity

The genetic transfer of characteristics from parents to offspring.

Genes

The biochemical units of heredity.

Genome

The complete instructions for making an organism.

Identical (monozygotic) twins

Individuals who developed from a single fertilized egg that split in two, creating two genetically identical organisms.

Fraternal (dizygotic) twins

Individuals who developed from separate fertilized eggs; genetically no closer than ordinary siblings, but sharing a prenatal environment.

Temporal lobes

The portion of the cerebral cortex lying roughly above the ears; includes auditory areas, receives information primarily from the opposite ear, and enables language processing.

Motor cortex

A cerebral cortex area at the rear of the frontal lobes that controls voluntary movements.

Somatosensory cortex

A cerebral cortex area at the front of the parietal lobes that registers and processes body touch and movement sensations.

Corpus callosum

The large band of neural fibers connecting the two brain hemispheres and carrying messages between them.

Split brain

A condition resulting from surgery that isolates the brain's two hemispheres by cutting the fibers connecting them.

Cognitive neuroscience

The interdisciplinary study of the brain activity linked with cognition.

Dual processing

The principle that information is often simultaneously processed on separate conscious and unconscious tracks.

Blindsight

A condition in which a person can respond to a visual stimulus without consciously experiencing it.

REM sleep

Rapid eye movement sleep.

Insomnia

A sleep disorder characterized by the recurring inability to fall or stay asleep.

Narcolepsy

A sleep disorder characterized by sudden, uncontrollable sleep attacks.

Sleep apnea

A sleep disorder characterized by repeatedly stopping breathing while asleep.

REM sleep disorder

A disorder involving talking or walking during sleep.

Reticular formation

A nerve network that travels through the brainstem into the thalamus; filters incoming information and plays an important role in controlling arousal.

Cerebellum

The hindbrain's 'little brain' at the rear of the brainstem; functions include processing sensory input, coordinating movement output and balance, and enabling nonverbal learning and memory.

Limbic system

A neural system located mostly in the forebrain below the cerebral hemispheres (including the amygdala, hypothalamus, hippocampus, thalamus, and pituitary gland) associated with emotions and drives.

Amygdala

Two lima-bean-sized neural clusters in the limbic system; linked to emotion.

Hypothalamus

A limbic system neural structure lying below the thalamus; directs several maintenance activities, helps govern the endocrine system, and is linked to emotion and reward.

Hippocampus

A neural center located in the limbic system; helps process explicit memories of facts and events for storage.

Cerebral cortex

The interconnected neural cells covering the forebrain's cerebral hemispheres; the body's ultimate control and information-processing center.

Frontal lobes

The portion of the cerebral cortex lying just behind the forehead; enables linguistic processing, muscle movement, higher-order thinking, and executive functioning (plans and judgment).

Parietal lobes

The portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the top of the head and toward the rear; receives sensory input for touch and body position.

Occipital lobes

The portion of the cerebral cortex lying at the back of the head; includes areas that receive information from visual fields.

Biological psychologists

Researchers who study the links between biological processes and psychological events.

Biopsychosocial approach

An integrated approach that incorporates biological, psychological, and social-cultural levels of analysis.

Levels of analysis

The differing complementary views, from biological to psychological to social-cultural, for analyzing any given phenomenon.

Neuroplasticity

The brain's ability to change, especially during childhood, by reorganizing after damage or by building new pathways based on experience.

Lesion

Tissue destruction; brain lesions can occur naturally or experimentally during surgery.

Hindbrain

Brain region consisting of the medulla, pons, and cerebellum; directs essential survival functions such as breathing, sleeping, and wakefulness, as well as coordination and balance.

Midbrain

Region found atop the brainstem; connects the hindbrain with the forebrain, controls some motor movement, and transmits auditory and visual information.

Forebrain

Brain region consisting of the cerebral cortex, thalamus, and hypothalamus; manages complex cognitive activities, sensory and associative functions, and voluntary motor activities.

Brainstem

The central core of the brain, beginning where the spinal cord swells as it enters the skull; responsible for automatic survival functions.

Medulla

The hindbrain structure that forms the base of the brainstem; controls heartbeat and breathing.

Thalamus

The forebrain's sensory control center, located on top of the brainstem; directs messages to the sensory receiving areas in the cortex and transmits replies to the cerebellum and medulla.

Synapse

The junction between the axon tip of the sending neuron and the dendrite or cell body of the receiving neuron; the tiny gap is called the synaptic gap or synaptic cleft.