VCE Psychology: Sensation, Perception, and Social Influence

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering key definitions from VCE Psychology Units 1 & 2: attention, visual perception, depth cues, gustatory perception, social groups, power dynamics, and obedience factors.

Attention

The behavioural and cognitive ability to actively process specific information actively, while ignoring other competing information.

Sustained attention

A specific focus directed to a stimulus for the duration of a cognitive task without being distracted.

Selective attention

The limited ability to focus on specific stimuli, while filtering out others.

Divided attention

The ability to direct focus towards two or more tasks at the same time; commonly referred to as multitasking.

Cognitive load

The amount of information that our brains can handle at one time.

Automatic process

A motor/procedural action or cognitive process that requires little mental effort, such as walking or riding a bike.

Controlled process

An action that requires significant focus and mental effort to be performed, such as writing an essay or talking to a friend.

Sensation

The biological process by which our brains receive and process stimulus energy into sensory information.

Perception

The cognitive process by which our brains organise and interpret sensory information, allowing us to consciously experience and assign meaning to it.

Absolute threshold

The minimum strength or amount of stimulus energy required to perceive a stimulus, in ideal conditions, $50\%$ of the time.

Reception

The process in which stimulus energy reaches and enters the sense organ to activate sensory receptors.

Transduction

The process in which stimulus energy is converted by sensory receptors into nerve impulses.

Transmission

The process in which nerve impulses are sent along neural pathways to the correct regions or cortexes of the brain for processing.

Bottom-up processing

A type of perceptual processing that involves gathering all incoming sensory information from the environment before constructing understanding and adding meaning.

Top-down processing

A type of perceptual processing that involves making inferences and interpreting incoming sensory information based on our perceptual set, prior knowledge, and expectations.

Perceptual set

A unique combination of past experiences, knowledge, expectations, motivations, culture, beliefs, and emotions that determine how we perceive sensory information.

Perceptual hypothesis

A prediction about what we are perceiving, which is tested against incoming detailed sensory information.

Visible light region

The wavelength region of the electromagnetic spectrum that is visible to the human eye, spanning from $360\,\text{nm}$ to $760\,\text{nm}$.

Photoreceptor

A specialised receptor cell located in the retina that senses light details in black and white (rods) and colour (cones).

Colour vision deficiency

An eye condition in which sensitivity to certain wavelengths of light is reduced, previously known as colour blindness.

Congenital achromotopsia

An eye condition in which individuals are born completely lacking cone cells, resulting in monochromatic (black-and-white) vision.

Presbyopia

An age-related eye condition in which the lenses of the eyes lose their flexibility over time, making it challenging to focus on close objects.

Retinis pigmentosa

An inherited eye disorder where the retina degenerates due to genetic mutations, causing night blindness and progressive loss of peripheral vision.

Depth perception

The ability to accurately perceive distance and judge three-dimensional spaces from visual stimuli.

Depth cue

A source of information or stimulus obtained from the environment or internal bodily mechanisms that allows us to perceive depth and distance.

Monocular depth cue

A depth cue that can be detected and processed by the brain using information from just one eye.

Binocular depth cue

A depth cue that requires information from both eyes working together to judge depth and distance.

Pictorial cue

A monocular depth cue used by artists to create a three-dimensional perception of depth and distance on a two-dimensional surface.

Linear perspective

A pictorial cue where parallel lines appear to converge as they extend into the distance towards an imaginary focal point on the horizon.

Texture gradient

A pictorial cue where the surface detail and texture of an object gradually decreases and becomes less distinct as distance increases.

Interposition

A pictorial cue occurring when one object partially obscures or overlaps another, making the overlapping object appear closer.

Height in the visual field

A pictorial cue where objects located closer to the horizon line are perceived as being further away than those situated higher or lower relative to the horizon.

Relative size

A pictorial cue where the retinal image size of familiar objects is used to judge distance; smaller images are interpreted as being further away.

Camouflage

The blending of figures into the background by breaking up contour lines using patterns and colour.

Accommodation

The physiological ability of the lens to change shape to focus light on the retina, controlled by ciliary muscle contractions.

Retinal disparity

A binocular depth cue arising from the slight difference in the visual images projected onto each retina due to the horizontal separation between the eyes.

Convergence

A binocular depth cue involving the inward turning or relaxing of the eyeballs to focus on objects at varying distances.

Figure-ground organisation

A Gestalt principle where the visual field is separated into a central figure of primary focus and its surrounding contours or background (ground).

Closure

A Gestalt principle where the brain mentally fills in gaps or missing contours of an incomplete visual stimulus to perceive it as a whole object.

Similarity

A Gestalt principle where stimulus elements sharing common visual properties such as shape, size, or colour are grouped together as a unified whole.

Proximity (Gestalt principle)

A Gestalt principle where individual stimulus parts that are situated close to one another are perceived as belonging together in a single meaningful unit.

Gustatory perception

The ability to experience and interpret the chemical composition of soluble stimuli consumed, mediated by taste buds; also known as taste perception.

Taste

The physiological sensation experienced by the mouth and tongue when consuming soluble food and drink substances.

Taste bud

A structure located on the tongue and throat containing $50\text{ to }150$ specialized taste receptor cells; functions as a taste sense organ.

Chemoreceptor

A specialized protein or sensory cell in the body that detects and responds to chemical stimuli.

Flavour

A complex perceptual experience synthesized by the brain that combines taste, smell, texture, temperature, and visual information.

Primary tastes

The five fundamental chemical taste sensations that serve as the building blocks of flavour: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami.

Non-taster

An individual with fewer taste receptors who displays reduced taste sensitivity, particularly to compounds such as phenylthiocarbamide (PTC).

Supertaster

An individual with an unusually high density of taste buds who experiences taste sensations, such as bitterness and sweetness, with heightened intensity.

Brand

The unique name, symbol, or identity of a company selling a product that influences consumer perception and quality expectations.

Off-colouring

A visual conflict or discrepancy between a consumer's expectation of a food's normal appearance and its actual colour.

Sensory memory

The collection of schema stored in memory relating to how elements of the world look, sound, feel, smell, and taste.

Normative influence

Social conformity that occurs when individuals align their behaviour with others to seek social approval, acceptance, or group harmony.

Informational influence

Social conformity occurring when individuals adopt others' positions or views because they want to ensure their own judgments are accurate and valid.

Individualist culture

A cultural framework that prioritises the needs, independence, and personal goals of individuals over the collective interests of the group.

Collectivist culture

A cultural framework that emphasises group harmony, interdependence, and the collective needs of the community over individual desires.

Group

A collection of two or more individuals who interact over time, influence each other, and strive toward mutual goals while aware of their shared membership.

Collective group

A gathering of two or more individuals who engage in minimal interaction but share a common goal and temporarily influence each other's behaviour or mood.

Friendship group

A group of two or more individuals characterized by positive interactions, shared behavioural norms, common attitudes, and unique idiosyncrasies.

Clique

A small, close-knit friendship subgroup, often similar in age and gender, who share elevated levels of mutual attachment and frequent interaction.

Family group

A fundamental social unit whose membership is defined by blood, marital, adoptive, or other intimate personal ties.

Role

A set of adopted or allocated behavioural expectations guiding how an individual should act within a group for its collective benefit.

Status

An individual's social standing or relative position of importance and respect within a group or society.

Power

An individual's capacity to influence the thoughts, feelings, and actions of others while resisting attempts of outside influence.

Reward power

A power dynamic based on the ability to grant or promise positive rewards and benefits in return for compliance.

Coercive power

A power dynamic based on the capacity to administer or threaten punitive consequences for non-compliance.

Informational power

A power dynamic derived from possessing or controlling access to valuable information, knowledge, or resources not held by others.

Expert power

A power dynamic based on the perception that an individual possesses superior specialised skills, training, or expertise in a given domain.

Legitimate power

A power dynamic rooted in an individual's recognized formal authority within a legitimate social structure, law, or institutional hierarchy.

Referent power

A power dynamic stemming from others' interpersonal attraction to, admiration of, or desire to identify with an individual.

Confederate

An individual in a psychological study who appears to be an authentic participant but is secretly working for the experimenter.

Proximity (obedience factor)

The degree of physical or emotional closeness between an authority figure, the teacher, and the learner, directly altering the rate of compliance.

Legitimacy of the authority figure

The extent to which an authority figure is perceived to possess genuine social status or institutional power, increasing others' willingness to obey commands.

Group pressure

The social influence exerted by the majority of a group upon individuals to alter their choices, opinions, or actions.