Module 22-24-25

Wavelength

Distance from one peak of wave to another; electromagnetic wavelength vary (short gamms + long radio trnasmissions)

Hue

Dimension of color, determined by wavelength of light

Intensity

Amount of energy in light/sound wave, influences how we perceive as bright/loud, determined by wave’s height/amplitude

Cornea

Eye’s clear protective layer covering pupil + iris

Pupil

Adjustable opening in center of eye where light enters

Iris

Ring of muscle tissue that forms colored portion of eye around pupil + controls size of pupil opening

Lens

Transparent structure behind pupil that changes shape to help better focus images retina

Retina

Light sensitive inner surface of eye, contains receptor rods + cones and layers of neurons that begin processing visual info

Accomodation

Process where eye’s lens changes shape to focus near or far object on retina

Rods

Retinal receptors detecting white/gray/black + sensitive to movement + necessary for peripheral + twilight vision when cones are unresponsive

Cones

Retinal receptors concentrated in center of retina + function in well lit conditions + detect fine detail + detects color

Optic Nerve

Nerve that carries neural impulses from eye to brain

Blind spot

Point which optic nerve leaves eye, creates blind spot because no receptor cells are located there

Fovea

Central focal point in retina, around which eye’s cones cluster

Trichromatic theory

Retina contains 3 different types of color receptors (red, blue, green); when stimulated they can produce perception of any color

Opponent process theory

Opposing retinal processes enable color vision; ex some cells are stimulated by green and inhibited by red or vice versa

Feature detectors

Nerve cells in brain’s visual cortex that respond to specific features of stimulus (shape + angle + movement)

Dichromatism

Lacks one cone, difficulty distinguishing colors

Monochromatism

Only one/no cones, black + white vision

Blind sight

People with damage to visual cortex that can still respond to visual stimuli without consciously perceiving them

Prosopagagnosia

Inability to recognize faces

Frequency

Number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time

Audition

Sense or act of hearing

Pitch

Tone’s experienced highness/lowness depending on frequency

Middle ear

Chamber between eardrum + cochlea containing ossicles that concentrate on vibrations of eardrum on cochlea’s oval window

Cochlea

Coiled bony, fluid filled tube in inner ear; sound wave traveling through cochlear fluid trigger neural impulses

Inner ear

Innermost part of ear with cochlea + semicircular canals + vestibular sacs

Sensorineural hearing loss/deafness

Caused by damage to cochlea’s receptor cells (the hair cells/cilia) or auditory nerves; most common form of hearing loss (nerve deafness)

Conduction hearing loss/deafness

Less common, caused by damage to mechanical system that conducts sound waves to cochlea

Cochlear implant

Device for converting sounds into electrical signals + stimulating auditory nerves + through electrodes threaded into cochlea

Place theory

Pitch we hear is linked with the place where cochlea’s membrane is stimulated (higher pitches near entrance, lower is near end)

Frequency theory

Rate of neural impulses traveling up auditory nerves matches frequency of a tone and allows us to sense pitch

Volley theory

Groups of auditory neurons fire in rapid succession (volleys) to encode frequency of sounds above 1000 Hz, allows brain to perceive pitches that are over firing rate of individual neurons

Sound localization

Brain’s ability to locate sound source

McGurk effect

Interaction between hearing + vision speech perception; occurs when what we hear contradicts what we see and results in the perception of another sound

Kinethesia

Movement sense; our system for sensing the position + movement of individual body parts

Vestibular sense

Our sense of body movement + position that enables balance

Sensory interaction

Principle that one sense may influence another

Embodied cognition

Influence of bodily sensations + gestures + other states on cognitive preferences + judgements