Chapter 3

Transduction

The process by which sensory receptors convert sensory stimulation into neural impulses.

Sensation

The process whereby the senses pick up visual, auditory, and other sensory stimuli from the environment.

Perception

The process whereby the brain actively organizes and interprets sensory information, providing the "finished" product of how we understand our world.

Sensory Receptors

Highly specialized cells in the sensory organs, skin, muscles, tendons, etc., that detect and respond to one type of sensory stimuli and transduce (convert) stimuli into neural impulses.

Sensory Adaptation

The process whereby sensory receptors grow accustomed to constant, unchanging levels of stimuli over time.

Vision

The process of receiving and interpreting visual stimuli through the eyes.

Hearing

The process of receiving and interpreting auditory stimuli through the ears.

Olfaction

The sense of smell, which aids in survival, influences emotional states, and serves as a memory cue.

Gustation

The sense of taste, which detects five primary taste sensations:sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami.

Touch

The sense of touch, which conveys tactile information to the brain through pressure and temperature-sensitive receptors in the skin.

Kinesthetic Sense

Provides information about the position of body parts in relation to each other and the movement of the entire body.

Vestibular Sense

Detects movement and provides information about the body's orientation in space.

Pain

The perception of unpleasant sensations, which can serve as a warning and protective mechanism.

Endorphins

Natural painkillers produced by the body that block pain and produce a feeling of well-being.

Perception

The process of assigning meaning and intensity to environmental stimuli that have been received and processed by sensory organs into neural impulses.

Gestalt

The whole form, pattern, or configuration that a person perceives, organizing sensory experience according to basic principles of perceptual organization.

Perceptual Constancy

The ability to perceive objects as maintaining their physical properties, such as size, shape, and brightness, despite differences in distance, viewing angles, and lighting.

Depth Perception

The ability to perceive the visual world in three dimensions and judge distances accurately.

Monocular Cues

Depth cues that can be perceived with one eye, such as interposition, linear perspective, relative size, texture gradient, atmospheric perspective, shadow or shading, and motion parallax.

Binocular Cues

Depth cues that require both eyes, such as convergence and binocular (retinal) disparity.