Introduction to Psychology - Chapter 3: Sensation and Perception (Vocabulary Flashcards)

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering sensation, perception, vision, hearing, taste, smell, touch, and perceptual processes based on the lecture notes.

Sensation

The activation of receptors in the various sense organs.

Sensory receptors

Specialized forms of neurons that respond to specific stimuli.

Just noticeable difference (jnd)

The smallest difference between two stimuli that is detectable 50 percent of the time.

Absolute threshold

The smallest amount of energy needed for a person to consciously detect a stimulus 50 percent of the time it is present.

Subliminal stimuli

Stimuli that are below the level of conscious awareness but can activate sensory receptors.

Subliminal perception

The process by which subliminal stimuli influence the unconscious mind and behavior.

Habituation

The brain’s tendency to stop attending to constant, unchanging information.

Sensory adaptation

Sensory receptor cells becoming less responsive to a constant stimulus.

Microsaccades

Tiny, involuntary eye movements that prevent sensory adaptation to a visual stimulus.

Brightness

Perceived intensity of light; determined by the amplitude of the light wave.

Color (hue)

The quality of a color as determined by wavelength.

Saturation

The purity of a color; mixing with black or gray reduces saturation.

Visible spectrum

The portion of the electromagnetic spectrum visible to the human eye.

Cornea

Clear membrane that covers the eye and focuses most incoming light.

Aqueous humor

Clear, watery fluid between the cornea and lens that nourishes the eye.

Pupil

The opening through which light enters the interior of the eye.

Iris

Colored part of the eye that changes the size of the pupil to regulate light entering the eye.

Lens

Clear structure behind the iris that finishes the focusing process begun by the cornea.

Visual accommodation

Change in the thickness of the lens to focus on distant or near objects.

Vitreous humor

Jelly-like fluid that nourishes the eye and gives it shape.

Retina

Final stop for light in the eye; contains rods, cones, and other cells for vision.

Rods

Visual receptors in the retina responsible for noncolor vision in low light.

Cones

Visual receptors in the retina responsible for color vision and sharpness in bright light.

Blind spot

Area on the retina where the optic nerve exits; contains no photoreceptors.

Dark adaptation

Recovery of the eye’s sensitivity in darkness after exposure to bright light.

Light adaptation

Recovery of the eye’s sensitivity in light after exposure to darkness.

Trichromatic theory

Color vision theory proposing three cone types: red, green, and blue.

Afterimages

Images that persist briefly after a stimulus is removed.

Opponent-process theory

Color vision theory proposing red-green and blue-yellow opponent channels.

Monochrome colorblindness

Lack of functioning cones or cones that do not work at all.

Protanopia

Lack of functioning red cones.

Deuteranopia

Lack of functioning green cones.

Tritanopia

Lack of functioning blue cones.

Ishihara color test

Color vision test to detect color vision deficiencies.

Wavelength

Distance between successive peaks of a wave; related to frequency (pitch in sound).

Amplitude

Height of a wave; related to the perceived loudness of sound.

Purity

Quality of sound related to timbre.

Hertz (Hz)

Unit of frequency for waves per second.

Eardrum

Tympanic membrane that vibrates when struck by sound waves.

Hammer

Malleus; one of the three auditory ossicles in the middle ear.

Anvil

Incus; one of the three auditory ossicles in the middle ear.

Stirrup

Stapes; one of the three auditory ossicles in the middle ear.

Cochlea

Inner-ear, snail-shaped structure filled with fluid where hearing transduction occurs.

Organ of Corti

Structure in the cochlea containing hair cells that respond to sound.

Auditory nerve

Bundle of axons from hair cells that transmits hearing signals to the brain.

Pitch

Perceived frequency of a sound.

Place theory

Idea that different pitches are sensed by the activation of hair cells at different places along the organ of Corti.

Frequency theory

Idea that pitch corresponds to the frequency of basilar membrane vibrations.

Volley principle

For frequencies above ~100 Hz, hair cells fire in a coordinated volley to encode pitch.

Conduction hearing impairment

Hearing loss due to problems with the eardrum or middle-ear bones.

Nerve hearing impairment

Hearing loss due to problems in inner ear or auditory pathways.

Cochlear implant

Device that converts sound to electrical impulses sent to the auditory nerve.

Taste buds

Taste receptor cells in the mouth responsible for gustation.

Gustation

The sensation of taste.

Five basic tastes

Sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami (brothy).

Olfaction

Sense of smell.

Olfactory bulbs

Brain areas that receive information from olfactory receptors.

Olfactory receptors

Receptors in the nasal cavity that detect odors.

Cilia (olfactory)

Hairlike projections in the nasal cavity that act as odor receptors.

Somesthetic senses

Body senses including the skin, kinesthetic, and vestibular senses.

Skin senses

Senses of touch, pressure, temperature, and pain.

Gate-control theory

Idea that pain signals are modulated by a gate in the spinal cord.

Kinesthetic sense

Sense of the location of body parts in relation to the ground and each other.

Proprioceptors

Proprioceptive receptors that provide information about body position.

Vestibular senses

Senses of movement, balance, and body position.

Perception

The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information.

Size constancy

Tendency to perceive an object as constant in size despite distance changes.

Shape constancy

Perceiving an object as constant in shape despite retinal changes.

Brightness constancy

Perceiving an object's brightness as constant despite lighting changes.

Figure-ground

Tendency to perceive objects as figures standing out from the background.

Reversible figures

Figures where figure-ground can switch depending on focus.

Similarity

Tendency to group objects that look similar.

Proximity

Tendency to group objects that are close to each other.

Closure

Tendency to complete incomplete figures.

Continuity

Preference for continuous figures and patterns.

Contiguity

Perceiving events that occur close in time as related.

Depth perception

Ability to perceive the world in three dimensions.

Monocular cues

Depth cues that can be perceived with one eye.

Linear perspective

Convergence of parallel lines as distance increases.

Relative size

Perceiving smaller images as farther away when size is expected to be constant.

Interposition

If one object blocks another, the blocked object is perceived as further away.

Aerial perspective

Haze around distant objects indicating greater distance.

Texture gradient

Texture appears finer as distance increases, signaling depth.

Motion parallax

Objects closer to the observer move faster than distant ones during movement.

Monocular cue: accommodation

Change in lens shape to focus on nearby versus distant objects (depth cue).

Binocular cues

Depth cues that require both eyes.

Convergence

Eye rotation inward for near objects; greater convergence for closer items.

Binocular disparity

Difference between the two eyes’ images; greater for closer objects.

Perceptual Illusions

Misinterpretations of sensory information leading to incorrect perceptions.

Hermann grid

A grid illusion possibly due to primary visual cortex processing.

Müller-Lyer illusion

Line-length illusion caused by inward/outward turning corners affecting perceived length.

Moon illusion

Moon appears larger at the horizon than in the sky due to perceived distance cues.

Autokinetic effect

A stationary light in darkness appears to move.

Stroboscopic motion

Illusion of motion from a rapid sequence of still images.

Phi phenomenon

Apparent motion created by successive light flashes.

Rotating snakes

Motion illusion due to specific eye movements and color contrasts.

Ames room illusion

Room designed to distort size perception of people within.

Perceptual set

Tendency to perceive things in a certain way due to expectations.

Top-down processing

Using prior knowledge to organize sensory information into a whole.

Bottom-up processing

Building perception from the smallest features upward.