Chapter 5 - General Psychology

Perception

The processing organization, and interpretation of sensory signals in the brain

Sensation

The detection of physical stimuli and the transmission of this information to the brain

Bottom-up processing

Perception based on the physical features of the stimulus

Top-down processing

The interpretation of sensory information based on knowledge, expectations, and past experiences

Transduction

The process where sensory stimuli are converted to neural signals the brain can interpret

Qualitative information

Sensory receptors to the differences by firing in different combinations

Quantitative information

Sensory receptors respond to the differences by firing at different rates

Absolute threshold

The minimum intensity of stimulation necessary to detect a sensation half the time

Difference threshold

The minimum amount of change required to detect a difference between two stimuli

Sensory adaptation

A decrease in sensitivity to a constant level of stimulation

Signal detection theory (SDT)

A theory of perception based on the idea that the detection of a stimulus requires a judgement - it isn’t an all-or-nothing process

Hit

When a signal is presented and the participant detects it

Miss

When a signal is presented and the participant doesn’t detect it

False Alarm

When the participant reports there was a signal that wasn’t presented

Correct Rejection

When a signal isn’t present it and the participant doesn’t detect it

Response bias

a participant’s tendency to report or not report detecting a signal in an ambiguous trial

Retina

The thin inner surface of the back of the eyeball, which contains the sensory receptors that transduce light into neural signals

Cones

Retinal cells that respond to higher levels of light and result in color perception

Rods

Retinal cells that respond to low levels of light and result in black-and-white perception

Fovea

The center of the retina where cones are densely packed

Gestalt perceptual grouping laws

proximity, similarity, good continuation, closure, illusory contours, and common fate

Proximity

The closer two figures are to each other, the more likely we are to group them and see them as part of the same object

Similarity

Grouping figures according to how closely they resemble each other

Good continuation

grouping together smooth and continuous edges or contours

Closure

Completing figures that have gaps

Illusory contours

Seeing contours, shapes, and cues to depth when they don’t exist

Common fate

Seeing things that move together as belonging to the same group

Object constancy

Correctly perceiving objects as constant in their shape, size, color, and lightness, despite raw sensory data that could mislead perception

Binocular depth cues

Cues of depth perception that rise from the fact that people have two eyes

Monocular depth cues

Cues of depth perception that are available to each eye alone

Binocular disparity

A depth cue; because of the distance between the two eyes, each eye receives a slightly different retinal image

Convergence

A cue of binocular depth perception; when a person views a nearby object, the eye muscles turn the eye inward

Motion parallax

A monocular depth cue observed when moving relative to objects, in which the objects that are closer, appear to move faster than the objects farther away

Audition

Hearing; the sense of sound perception

Eardrum

A thin membrane that marks the beginning of the middle ear; sound waves cause it to vibrate

Vestibular sense

Perception of balance determined by receptors in the inner ear

Order of structures that information travels through to the primary auditory cortex

Eardrum, ossicles, cochlea, auditory nerve

Temporal coding

A mechanism for encoding low-frequency auditory stimuli in which the firing rates of cochlear hair cells match the frequency of the sound wave

Place coding

A mechanism for encoding the frequency of auditory stimuli in which the frequency of the sound wave is encoded by the location of the hair cells along the basilar membrane

Gustation

The sense of taste

Olfaction

The sense of smell

Taste buds

Sensory organs in the mouth that contain the receptors for taste

Olfactory epithelium

A thin layer of tissue within the nasal cavity that contains the receptors for smell

Olfactory bulb

The brain center for smell, located below the frontal lobes

Haptic sense

The sense of touch

Sound wave

A pattern of changes in air pressure during a period of time; it produces the perception of a sound

Accommodation

The automatic, reflex process where the eye changes the shape of its lens to shift focus between distant and near objects

Color afterimages

Optical illusions where colors continue to appear after staring at an object for several seconds and then looking away

Cornea

The thick, transparent outer layer of the eye

Figure-ground

the cognitive ability to distinguish an object from its background in a visual scene

Ganglion cells

The cells that make up the optic nerve

Iris

a circular muscle that determines the eye’s color and controls the pupil’s size

Lens

A transparent, biconvex structure behind the iris that changes shape to focus light onto the retina for clear sight

Linear perspective

Seemingly parallel lines appear to converge in the distance

Opponent Process Theory

Human color vision is governed by three neural channels (red-green, blue-yellow, and black-white) that respond in opposing pairs

Optic Chiasm

an X-shaped neural structure where optic nerves from both eyes meet and partially cross that enables binocular vision and depth perception

Optic nerve

A bundle of over 1 million retinal ganglion cell axons that transmits electrical visual signals from the retina at the back of the eye to the brain's visual cortex

Phi phenomenon

a perceptual illusion where stationary, alternating lights or images shown in rapid succession are perceived as moving

Pupil

The adjustable, black circular aperture located in the center of the iris that controls the amount of light entering the eye

Receptor

Rod and cone cells in the retina that transduce light energy into visual, electrochemical signals

Sclera

The opaque, tough, fibrous outer layer that covers most of the human eyeball

Transduction

The process where sensory receptor cells convert physical energy into electrical neural signals that the brain can interpret

Trichromatic theory

Color vision results from activity in three types of cones sensitive to different wavelengths

Visual Cortex

The primary region in the occipital lobe at the back of the brain responsible for processing, interpreting, and integrating visual information received from the eyes

Which part is the sclera?

A

Which part is the cornea?

B

Which part is the pupil?

C

Which part is the lens?

D

Which part is the iris?

E

Which part is the retina?

F

Which part is the optic nerve?

G