Ear/eye unit

Frequency

Determines Hue

Amplitude

Determines Intensity/Brightness

Short Wavelengths

High Frequency (bluish colors)

Long Wavelengths

Low Frequency (reddish colors)

Medium Wavelengths

Medium frequency (greenish colors)

Cornea

The clear front part of the eye that helps focus light.

Pupil

The black center of the eye that changes size to control how much light enters.

Iris

The colored part of the eye around the pupil that adjusts its size to control light.

Lens

The clear part behind the pupil that bends to focus light on the retina.

Retina

The back of the eye where light is changed into signals for the brain, using rods and cones.

Fovea

The tiny center of the retina where vision is sharpest, used for details like reading.

Optic Nerve

The nerve that sends visual information from the eye to the brain for processing.

Retina → Fovea:

Light hits the retina, where rods and cones detect it. Signals go through cells to form the optic nerve.

The blind spot is where the optic nerve leaves the eye, but the brain fills in the missing part so we see a complete image.

Transduction in the Retina:

The retina changes light into signals for the brain. Rods and cones detect light, and the signals travel through the optic nerve so you can see images.

Rods

Cells that see in low light and at the edges of your vision, detect motion, but can't see color.

Cones

Cells that need bright light to see colors and fine details clearly.

Blind Spot

The spot on the retina where the optic nerve leaves the eye. It has no light-detecting cells, so we can't see there.

Nearsightedness

Nearsightedness (Myopia): You can see close objects clearly, but far objects are blurry. It happens when the eye is too long or the cornea is too curved, so light focuses in front of the retina.

Farsightedness

Far objects are clear, close ones are blurry because light focuses behind the retina.

Trichromatic Theory

The retina has three types of cones—red, green, and blue. Mixing their signals lets us see all colors.

Opponent-Process Theory

Some brain cells respond to certain color pairs (red-green, blue-yellow, black-white). This helps explain afterimages.

Afterimages

Seeing an image even after the original stimulus is gone, caused by temporary overstimulation of cone cells.

Blindsight

A condition where a person can respond to visual objects without consciously seeing them.

PROSOPAGNOSIA

The inability to recognize familiar faces due to brain connection problems in the temporal lobe and fusiform gyrus.

Perception

The process of selecting, organizing and interpreting sensory information

Selective Attention

the process of focusing on a specific aspect of information while ignoring others.

COCKTAIL PARTY EFFECT

The ability to focus on one voice or sound while ignoring others, like hearing your name in a noisy room

INATTENTIONAL BLINDNESS

The failure to notice the existence of an unexpected item

Change Blindness

Failure to notice obvious change

Schema

A mental framework of knowledge that helps us understand, imagine, or solve problems.

ex: when at a restaurant you know to grab a menu, use a napkin, and wait for the server because past experiences guide your actions.

PERCEPTUAL SET

A tendency to see things a certain way based on expectations, experiences, or context.

Gestalt Psychology

We see whole objects or patterns, not just separate parts.

Figure-Ground

We see a main object (figure) separate from the background (ground).

Depth Perception

The ability to perceive the relative distance of objects in one's visual field.

MONOCULAR DEPTH CUES

one eye to see depth of a target or its distance from the observer.

BINOCULAR DEPTH CUES

two eyes to integrate info to see depth of a target or its distance from the observer.

Retinal Disparity

Each eye sees a slightly different image. The brain compares them to help judge depth.

Convergence

The eyes turn inward to focus on a close object.

Relative Clarity

The brain sees clear, sharp objects as closer and hazy, blurry ones as farther away.

Relative Size

When objects are assumed to be the same size, bigger ones look closer.

Texture Gradient

]Surfaces look smoother and less detailed as they get farther away, showing distance.

Linear Perspective

Parallel lines, like railroad tracks, seem to meet in the distance, making them look farther away.

Interposition

When one object blocks part of another, the blocked object looks farther away.

Stroboscopic Movement

Seeing motion from a series of images shown quickly one after another, like in movies.

Phi Phenomenon

Seeing movement from lights flashing in order, even though nothing actually moves.

Size Constancy

We perceive an object as the same size even if its image on the retina changes.

Brightness Constancy

We see an object's brightness as the same even under different lighting conditions.

Color Constancy

We see an object's color as the same even under different lighting.

Accommodation

The eye lens changes shape to focus on near or far objects.

Visual cliff

A test that shows babies (and animals) can sense depth and avoid drops.

Transduction

When senses turn physical energy (light, sound) into brain signals.

Retina

The back of the eye that detects light and sends signals to the brain.

Cochlea

A fluid-filled tube in the inner ear that turns sound vibrations into signals.

Volley theory

For medium sounds, groups of neurons take turns firing to match sound waves.

Pheromones

the scent u give off

Auditory Sensory System

Sound waves are air vibrations that our ears detect.

Loudness depends on amplitude (decibels), and pitch depends on frequency (hertz).

The McGurk Effect

This illusion happens when what you see and what you hear don't match, causing you to hear a different sound.

amplitude

loudness

frequency

pitch

Pinna:

The visible ear that collects sound

Ear canal

The tube that carries and boosts sound to the eardrum

Eardrum

A thin membrane that vibrates when sound hits it, starting hearing.

Ossicles

Three tiny bones that amplify vibrations and pass them to the inner ear.

Eustachian tube

A tube that equalizes air pressure in the ear (like ear popping).

Cochlea

A spiral structure that turns vibrations into electrical signals

Basilar membrane

Inside the cochlea, lined with hair cells

Auditory nerve

Sends sound signals from the cochlea to the brain.

Sound Localization

The ability to identify the position and changes in position of sound sources based on acoustic information.

Cochlear Implants

Devices that can help restore hearing by stimulating the auditory nerve. (used to help Sensorineural Deafness)

Smell

(Olfaction)Smell comes from chemicals we breathe in.

Receptors in the nose send signals to the brain, and smell makes up about 80% of taste.

Gustation

The sense of taste, involving receptors on the tongue that detect different flavors.

Tactile

TOUCH) Senses: The senses of the skin, allow us to feel light touch specifically

Gate Control Theory

A theory proposing that the experience of pain is modulated by a neural "gate" in the spinal cord.

This gate can open to allow pain signals to be transmitted to the brain or close to block them.

Phantom Limb

The brain can also create pain, as it does in people's experiences of phantom limb sensations

Vestibular Sense

This sense helps with balance and movement.

It uses receptors in the semicircular canals of the inner ear to detect head movement and keep the body stable.

Semicircular Canals

Fluid-filled inner ear structures that detect head rotation and help maintain balance

Kinesthesis

Lets us feel and control body movement and know the position of muscles and joints.

Sensorineural Deafness

Caused by damage to cochlea hair cells or the auditory nerve, making some sounds quieter or inaudible.

Place Theory

We hear different pitches because sound waves activate different spots on the cochlea's basilar membrane. High pitches activate the base.

Frequency Theory

For low pitches, the entire basilar membrane vibrates, sending signals to the brain at the same rate as the sound wave.

trabsduction occurs in

cocelia

hair cells

are receptors

Sensation

How your senses and brain notice and take in information from the world around you.

Detection of a Stimulus

Sensation starts when your senses notice something, like light, sound, or a smell.

Bottom-Up Processing (Sensory Analysis)

It starts with what your senses notice first and does not need any past knowledge or learning.

Top-Down Processing

You understand the big picture first, then focus on the small details. It is influenced by your past experiences and what you expect to see.

Psychopysics

The study of how physical things we sense (like how loud or bright something is) relate to how we experience them in our minds.

Absolute Threshold

The minimum intensity of a stimulus that can be detected 50% of the time.

Just-Noticeable Difference

The smallest detectable change in a stimulus.

Weber's Law

The principle that the size of the JND is proportional to the intensity of the stimulus.

sensory adaptation

Getting less sensitive to something over time, like smells or cold water.It helps us ignore things that don't change.

Sensory Interaction

One sense affects another, like smell changing how food tastes or seeing and feeling an object.

Synesthesia

When one sense triggers another automatically, like hearing sounds and seeing colors.

Priming

Exposure to one stimulus can influence how we perceive a subsequent stimulus.