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Sensation
The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system take in stimulus energies from our environment.
Perception
The process by which our brain organizes and interprets sensory information, transforming it into meaningful objects and events.
Transduction
Changing one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies, such as sights, sounds, and smells, into neural impulses our brain can interpret.
bottom-up processing
analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information
Subliminal
Below our absolute threshold for conscious awareness.
Priming
Activating, often unconsciously, associations in our mind, thus setting us up to perceive or remember objects or events in certain ways.
Difference threshold
The minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time. (Just a noticeable difference)
Weber's law
The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum proportion (rather than constant amount).
Sensory adaptation
The minimum difference between 2 stimuli required for detection 50% of the time. Reduced sensitivity in response to constant stimulation.
Perceptual set
A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.
Wavelength
The distance from the peak if one light or sound wave to the peak of the next.
Hue
The dimension of color that is determine by the wavelength of light; what we know as the color names blue, green, and so forth.
Intensity
The amount of energy in a light wave or sound wave, which we perceive as brightness or loudness, as determined by the wave's amplitude.
Retina
The light-sensitive inner surface of the eye; contains the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information.
Rods
Retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don't respond.
Cones
Retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina; in daylight or well-lit conditions, cones detect fine detail and give rise to 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; this part of the retina is "blind" because it has no receptor cells.
Feature detector
Nerve cell in the brain that responds to specific features of a stimulus, such as edges, lines, and angles.
Parallel processing
The processing of many aspects of a problem or scene at the same time; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions, including vision.
Gestalt
An organized whole. Gestalt psychology emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.
Figure-ground
The organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground).
Grouping
The perceptual tendency to air organize stimuli into meaningful groups.
Depth perception
The ability to see objects in three dimensions, although the images that strike the retina are two dimensional; allows us to judge distance.
Visual cliff
A laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals.
Binocular cue
A depth cue, such as retinal disparity, that depends on the use of two eyes.
Retinal disparity
A binocular cue for perceiving depth. By comparing images from the two eyes, the brain computes distance-the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object.
Monocular cue
A depth cue, such as interposition or linear perspective, available to either eye alone.
Perceptual consistency
Perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent color, brightness, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change.
Color constancy
Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object.
Perceptual adaptation
In vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field.
Audition
The sense or act of hearing.
Frequency
The number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time (for example, per second).
Pitch
A tone's experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequency.
Cochlea
A coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear; sound waves traveling through the cochlear fluid trigger nerve impulses.
Hypnosis
A social interaction in which one person (the hypnotist) suggests to another (the subject) that certain perceptions, feelings, thoughts, or behaviors will spontaneously occur.
Sensory interaction
The principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences taste.
Kinesthesis
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.
Extrasensory perception (ESP)
The controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input, such as through telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition.
Weber's Law
p. 137 principle that, to be perceived as different, 2 stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount)
absolute threshhold
p. 135 the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus (light, sound, odor, pressure) 50% of the time
top-down processing
information processing guided by higher level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations.
sensation v perception
sensation is the bottom-up process by which the physical sensory system receives and presents stimuli. Perception is the top-down mental process of organizing and interpreting sensory input. They work together to help sort out complex images
prosopagnosia
face blindness
wavelength
the distance from the peak of one light or sound to the peak of the next one
hue
the dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light
intensity
amount of energy in light or sound wave, which influences what we perceive as brightness or loudness. Determined by the wave's amplitude p. 141
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.
rods
Retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don't respond.
cones
Retinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions. The cones detect fine detail and give rise to 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 because no receptor cells are located there
feature detectors
nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement
