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1. Sensation:

• Process by which sensory organs obtain information from the environment and send it to the brain.

2. Perception:

• The organization of sensory information into a meaningful interpretation.

3. Transduction:

• The conversion of physical energy (like light or sound) into electrical signals that the brain can interpret.

4. Bottom-up processing:

• Starts with raw sensory data (what we see, hear, etc.), which gets sent to the brain for interpretation.

5. Top-down processing:

• Starts with prior knowledge or expectations and influences how we interpret sensory data.

6. Absolute threshold:

• The smallest amount of stimulation that can be detected half of the time.

7. Difference threshold (Just Noticeable Difference - JND):

• The smallest difference between two stimuli that can be detected.

8. Weber’s Law:

• For two stimuli to be perceived as different in intensity, the second must differ by a constant proportion from the first.

9. Sensory adaptation:

• A decrease in the response of sensory receptors to a constant, unchanging stimulus.

10. Signal detection theory:

• Perception is influenced by both sensory information and judgment (decision-making) about that information.

11. Response bias:

• A person’s tendency to be more or less likely to report detecting a stimulus, influenced by expectations or motivation.

12. Hits:

• Correctly detecting a stimulus when it is present.

13. Misses:

• Failing to detect a stimulus when it is present.

14. False alarms:

• Incorrectly reporting the presence of a stimulus when it is not there.

15. Correct rejections:

• Correctly identifying that no stimulus is present.

16. Factors affecting response bias:

• Expectations, motivation, and past experiences with signal detection errors can influence future responses.

17. Gestalt approach:

• The theory that we perceive objects as whole, organized structures rather than as individual parts.

18. Figure-ground perception:

• The ability to distinguish an object from its background.

19. Grouping principles:

• The ways in which we group objects: proximity, similarity, continuity, and closure.

20. Proximity:

• Objects that are physically close together tend to be grouped together.

21. Similarity:

• Objects that are similar in appearance tend to be grouped together.

22. Continuity:

• The brain organizes stimuli into continuous lines or patterns.

23. Closure:

• The tendency to perceive incomplete figures as complete.

24. Binocular cues:

• Depth cues that require the use of both eyes.

25. Monocular cues:

• Depth cues that can be perceived with one eye, especially for distant objects.

26. Retinal (binocular) disparity:

• The difference in the images produced by each eye, which helps us judge depth.

27. Convergence:

• The inward turning of the eyes when focusing on a nearby object.

28. Relative size:

• Smaller objects appear farther away than larger objects.

29. Relative clarity:

• Objects that appear clearer are perceived as closer, while hazier objects are perceived as farther away.

30. Linear perspective:

• Parallel lines appear to converge as they recede into the distance.

31. Perceptual constancy:

• The perception that certain properties of an object (like color, shape, or size) remain constant even when conditions change.

32. Color constancy:

• The ability to perceive the color of an object as the same, even if the lighting changes.

33. Lightness constancy:

• The ability to perceive the lightness or shade of an object as constant despite changes in lighting.

34. Shape constancy:

• The perception that an object’s shape remains the same despite changes in its retinal image (viewed from different angles).

35. Size constancy:

• The perception that the size of an object remains constant, despite the size of its image on the retina changing with distance.