AP Psych Module 18, 20, and 21

Accomidation

(1) in sensation and perception, the process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina. (p. 172) (2) in developmental psychology, adapting our current understandings (schemas) to incorporate new information. (p. 477)

How is wavelength related to hue and intensity?

Light's wavelength—the distance from one wave peak to the next (Figure 18.2a)—determines its hue (the color we experience, such as the tulip's red petals or green leaves). Intensity, the amount of energy in light waves (determined by a wave's amplitude, or height), influences brightness (Figure 18.2b).

Why is taste important to human beings?

Pleasureful tastes attracted our ancestors to energyor protein-rich foods that enabled their survival. Aversive tastes deterred them from new foods that might be toxic.

How do we locate sound?

Sound waves strike one ear sooner and more intensely than the other. From this information, our nimble brain computes the sound's location. As you might therefore expect, people who lose all hearing in one ear often have difficulty locating sounds.

What determines loudness and pitch?

The amplitude of sound waves determines their loudness. Their length, or frequency, determines the pitch we experience. Long waves have low frequency—and low pitch. Short waves have high frequency—and high pitch. Sound waves produced by a violin are much shorter and faster than those produced by a cello or a bass guitar.

How do psychological and social cultural factors influence our perception of pain?

The psychological effects of distraction are clear in the stories of athletes who, focused on winning, play through the pain. We also seem to edit our memories of pain, which often differ from the pain we actually experienced. Our perception of pain also varies with our social situation and our cultural traditions. We tend to perceive more pain when others also seem to be experiencing pain (Symbaluk et al., 1997).

What do endorphins have to do with pain?

When we are distracted from pain (a psychological influence) and soothed by the release of our naturally pain-killing endorphins (a biological influence), our experience of pain diminishes.

Cochlea

a coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear; sound waves traveling through the cochlear fluid trigger nerve impulses. (p. 195)

How does a cochlear implant work?

a device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into the cochlea. (p. 198)

Iris

a ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening. (p. 172)

Sensorineural Hearing Loss

hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea's receptor cells or to the auditory nerves. (Also called nerve deafness.) (p. 197)

Conduction Hearing Loss

hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea. (p. 197)

Place Theory

in hearing, the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated. (p. 199)

Frequency Theory

in hearing, 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. (p. 199)

Embodies Cognition

in psychological science, the influence of bodily sensations, gestures, and other states on cognitive preferences and judgments. (p. 211)

How do we sense touch?

is actually a mix of distinct skin senses for pressure, warmth, cold, and pain. Touching various spots on the skin with a soft hair, a warm or cool wire, and the point of a pin reveals that some spots are especially sensitive to pressure, others to warmth, others to cold, still others to pain. Other skin sensations are variations of the basic four (pressure, warmth, cold, and pain):

Feature Detectors

nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement. (p. 175)

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. (p. 173)

Rods

retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don't respond. (p. 173)

What are the basic tastes?

sweet (energy source), salty (sodium essential to physicologcal process), sour (potentially toxic acid), bitter (potential poison), umami (protiens that grow and repair tissue)

Pupil

the adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters. (p. 172)

Intensity

the amount of energy in a light or sound wave, which we perceive as brightness or loudness, as determined by the wave's amplitude. (p. 172)

Forvea

the central focal point in the retina, around which the eye's cones cluster. (p. 173)

Middle Ear

the chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing three tiny bones (hammer, anvil, and stirrup) that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea's oval window. (p. 195)

Hue

the dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light; what we know as the color names blue, green, and so forth. (p. 172)

Wavelength

the distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next. Electromagnetic wavelengths vary from the short blips of cosmic rays to the long pulses of radio transmission. (p. 171)

Inner Ear

the innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs. (p. 195)

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. (p. 172)

Optic Nerve

the nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain. (p. 173)

Sensory Interaction

the principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences its taste. (p. 210)

How does your vestibular sense work?

the sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance. (p. 209)

Opponent-Porcess Theory

the theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision. For example, some cells are stimulated by green and inhibited by red; others are stimulated by red and inhibited by green. (p. 179)

Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic (three color) Theory

the theory that the retina contains three different color receptors—one most sensitive to red, one to green, one to blue—which, when stimulated in combination, can produce the perception of any color. (p. 178)

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. The "gate" is opened by the activity of pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers and is closed by activity in larger fibers or by information coming from the brain. (p. 203)

Lens

the transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina. (p. 172)

Phantom Limb Sensation

when it misinterprets the spontaneous central nervous system activity that occurs in the absence of normal sensory input.