Bottom Up Processing
Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information
Top down processing
Information processing guided by higher level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations
Selective Attention
The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus
Inattentional Blindness
Transduction
Absolute Threshold Lens
the minimum stimulus energy needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time
Retina
The transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina
Cones
Optic Nerve
The nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain
Blind Spot
The point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a “blind” spot because no receptor cells are located there
Fovea
The central focal point in the retina, around which the eye’s cones cluster
Feature Detectors
Nerve cells in the brain’s visual cortex that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement
Parallel Processing
Processing many aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain’s natural mode of information processing for many functions, including vision
Trichomatic Theory
The theory that the retina contains 3 different types of color receptors one most sensitive to red, one to green, one to blue which when stimulated in combination can produce the perception of any color
Opponent- Process Theory
The theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, blue-yellow, white-black) enable vision
Gestalt
An organized whole. Gestalt 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)
Signal Detection Theory
A theory predictting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise)
Subliminal
Below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness
Priming
The activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one’s perception, memory, or response
Difference Threshold
The minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time
Weber’s Law
The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant)
Sensory Adaptation
Diminished sensitvity as a consequence of constant stimulation
Accommodation
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 Cues
A depth cues, such as retina 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 Cues
A depth cue, dich 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
Color Constancy
Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters are 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
Perceptual Set
A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another
Wavelength
Hue
The dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light; what we know as the color names blue, green, and so forth
Intensity
The amount of energy in a light wave or sound wave, which influences what we perceive as brightness or lightness. Intensity is determined by the waves’s amplitude (height).
Pupil
The adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters
Iris
A ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening
Rods
Retinal receptors that are detect black, white, and gray, and are sensitive to movement; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don’t respond
Frequency
Pitch
Middle Ear
Cochlea
A coiled, bony, fluid filled tube in the inner ear; sound waves traveling through the cochlear fluid trigger nerve impulses
Inner Ear
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
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 intro he 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 in pitch
Vestibular Sense
Dichromatism
Monochromatism
Blindsight
Phantom Limb Syndrome
Near Sightedness
Far Sightedness
Executive Function
Prosopagnosia (face blindness)
Gate-Control Theory
The theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological “gate” that block 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