AP Psych Unit 1B

bottom-up processing

starting with the individual pieces and building your way up to the big picture (sensation part)

top-down processing

starting with big picture and breaking it down to its individual parts (perception part)

absolute threshold

minimum stimulation needed to detect the presence of a stimulus 50% of the time - any stimulation below our absolute threshold is subliminal

Transduction

how our sensory systems transform physical energy detected in our environment and turns it into a neural impulse.

difference threshold ( also called just noticeable difference JND)

the minimum DIFFERENCE between 2 stimuli needed for us to detect that they are different 50% of the time

Weber's Law

notices in difference threshold, it's not always enough for 2 stimuli to differ by a certain amount, must differ by a constant minimum percentage to be perceived as different

sensory adaptation

diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation, adapted to it ( ex. after wearing a Band- aid on your arm for a while, you no longer feel it, you forget it's there ) - VISION is the one sense you canNOT be adapted to

Synesthesia

neurological condition that causes people to experience one sense through another (seeing colors while hearing music, tasting textures)

retina

the light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information (simply : a light sensitive inner surface in the back of the eye which contains photoreceptors for sight)

blind spot

the point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a "blind" spot because no receptor cells are located there

visual (optic) nerve

carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain

Photoreceptors

rods and cones

rods

located on the outskirts of the retina, used to detect light and darkness, cannot detect color or detail

lens

transparent structure sitting behind pupil , helps bend light so when light enters pupil and lands on the lens it bends the light to land on ur retina (accomodation) changes shape to focus images on the retina

accommodation

the process by which the eye's lens changes shape to help focus near of far objects on the retina

nearsightedness

a condition in which nearby objects are seen more clearly than distant objects

farsightedness

a condition in which faraway objects are seen more clearly than near objects

trichromatic theory

theory of color vision that proposes three types of cones: red, blue, and green

opponent-process theory

we process 4 primary colors combined in pairs of red-green, blue-yellow, and black-white

Fovea

central point in the retina around which the eye's cones cluster- contains the highest concentration of cones responsible for sharp central vision

cones

used to detect color and detail located in the center of the retina and does not work in darkness

ganglion cells

the specialized cells which lie behind the bipolar cells whose axons form the optic nerve which takes the information to the brain

dichromatism

missing one type of cone, red-green color blindness or blue-yellow color blindness

monochromatism

only have one type of cone or no cones function, sees world in shades of gray

Prosopagnosia

face blindness, inability to recognize faces

blindsight

a condition in which a person can respond to a visual stimulus without consciously experiencing it (people can process the stimuli without being consciously aware of it)

place theory

the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated ( a wave moving at a higher frequency is going to simulate a specific part of the basilar membrane and that's how we perceive pitch)

volley theory

says groups of hair cells in the ear "take turns" firing to match sound frequencies, helping the brain hear pitches accurately even when one cell can't keep up. (think volleyball like taking turns)

frequency theory

the theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch

Conduction deafness

An inability to hear resulting from damage to structures of the middle or inner ear.

sensorineural deafness

deafness that results from damage to the auditory nerve

pheromones

odorless chemicals that serve as social signals to members of one's species

gustation

sense of taste

olfaction

sense of smell

gate control theory

the theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain

phantom limb syndrome

following limb amputation, some patients continue to feel sensations where the missing limb would be

vestibular sense

the system for sensing body orientation and balance, located in the semicircular canals in the inner ear, relies on fluid in the canals, spinning in circles disrupts the fluid

semicircular canals

three fluid-filled canals in the inner ear responsible for our sense of balance

kinesthesis

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

perceptual sets

cognitive bias to interpret sensory information based on expectations and past experiences( if you see one image first you're more likely to perceive the middle image as what you saw first)

gestalt psychology

a psychological approach that emphasizes that we often perceive the whole rather than the sum of the parts "whole is greater than the sum of its parts) focuses on how our brain tries to perceve the big picture

figure- ground (most basic gestalt organizing principle)

the organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground). (we try to pull the central figure from the background or it's surroundings)

selective attention

the ability to focus on only one thing and block out distraction

cocktail party effect

ability to focus on a single voice among many- a form of selective attention

inattentional blindness

failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere (like being on ur phone while driving)

change blindness

failing to notice changes in the environment; a form of inattentional blindness (like magicians and pickpockets)

binocular depth cues

cues of depth perception that arise from the fact that people have two eyes

monocular depth cues

cues rely on one eye (relative clarity, relative size, texture gradient, linear perspective, and interposition)

retinal disparity

two eyes produced slightly different images on retina, brain combines 2 images to create a 3d image

interposition (overlap)

the assumption that an object that appears to be blocking part of another object is in front of the second object and closer to the viewer

linear perspective

as parallel lines get further and further away from you, they appear to come together to a point in the distance ( railroad tracks)