Sensation and Perception

These flashcards cover key terms and concepts related to sensation and perception, including definitions and descriptions to aid in understanding.

Sensation

The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.

Perception

The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.

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

Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere.

Change Blindness

Failing to notice changes in the environment.

Transduction

Conversion of one form of energy into another; in sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies into neural impulses our brains can interpret.

Psychophysics

The study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli and our psychological experience of them.

Absolute Threshold

The minimum stimulation necessary to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time.

Signal Detection Theory

A theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus amid background stimulation, assuming there is no single absolute threshold.

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 percent of the time, experienced as a just noticeable difference (jnd).

Weber’s Law

The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage.

Sensory Adaptation

Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.

Extrasensory Perception (ESP)

The controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input; includes telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition.

Wavelength

The distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next.

Hue

The dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light.

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.

Lens

The transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus the images on the retina.

Retina

The light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing receptor rods and cones.

Accommodation

The process by which the eye’s lens changes shape to focus on near or far objects.

Rods

Retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision.

Cones

Retinal receptor cells that function in daylight and allow for color sensations.

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.

Fovea

The central focal point in the retina, around which the eye's cones cluster.

Feature Detectors

Nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus, like shape or movement.

Parallel Processing

The processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously.

Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory

The theory that the retina contains three different color receptors for red, green, and blue.

Opponent-Process Theory

The theory that opposing retinal processes enable color vision.

Gestalt

An organized whole, emphasizing our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.

Figure-Ground

The organization of the visual field into objects that stand out from their surroundings.

Grouping

The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups.

Depth Perception

The ability to see objects in three dimensions and judge distance.

Visual Cliff

A laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals.

Binocular Cues

Depth cues that depend on the use of two eyes.

Retinal Disparity

A binocular cue for perceiving depth based on comparing images from both retinas.

Monocular Cues

Depth cues 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.

Perceptual Constancy

Perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change.

Color Constancy

Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color despite changing illumination.

Perceptual Adaptation

The ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or inverted visual field.

Audition

The sense or act of hearing.

Frequency

The number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time.

Pitch

A tone's experienced highness or lowness, depending on frequency.

Middle Ear

The chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing three tiny bones.

Cochlea

A coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear that triggers nerve impulses.

Inner Ear

The innermost part of the ear, including the cochlea and vestibular sacs.

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

Hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea’s receptor cells or auditory nerves.

Conduction Hearing Loss

Hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves.

Cochlea Implant

A device for converting sounds into electrical signals stimulating the auditory nerve.

Place Theory

The theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea’s membrane is stimulated.

Frequency Theory

The theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone.

Gate-Control Theory

The theory that a neurological 'gate' in the spinal cord blocks or allows pain signals to the brain.

Kinesthesia

The system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts.

Vestibular Sense

The sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance.

Sensory Interaction

The principle that one sense may influence another, such as smell influencing taste.

Embodied Cognition

The influence of bodily sensations, gestures, and other states on cognitive preferences and judgments.