Chapter 5: Sensation and Perception
Peak
(Also, crest) highest point of a wave
Just noticeable difference
Difference in stimuli required to detect a difference between the stimuli
Place theory of pitch perception
Different portions of the basilar membrane are sensitive to sounds of different frequencies
tympanic membrane
Eardrum
Perceptual hypothesis
Educated guess used to interpret sensory information
Cochlea implant
Electronic device that consist of a microphone, a speech processor, and an electrode array to directly stimulate the auditory nerve to transmit information to the brain
Conductive hearing loss
Failure in the vibration of the eardrum and or movement of the ossicles
Inattentional blindness
Failure to notice something that is completely visible because of lack of attention
Gestalt psychology
Field of psychology based on the idea that the whole is different from the sum in its parts
Cochlea
Fluid field, snail shaped structure that contains the sensory receptor cells of the auditory system
Hertz is a measure of
Frequency
(Ex) how dim can a light be or how soft can a sound be and still be detected half the time?
Goes with absolute threshold
(Ex) if you are in a very dark theatre and someone receives a message and causes the scene to light up, chances are a lot of people would notice. But if you were at a basketball game and the same thing happened you wouldn't notice
Goes with just noticeable difference
(Ex) a mother is able to hear her baby murmur during the night but does not hear other sounds
Goes with signal detection theory
Taste bud
Grouping of taste receptor cells with hair like extension that protrude into the central pore of the taste bud
Amplitude
Height of a wave
What is described by the concept of perception
How sensory information is interpreted and consciously experienced
What was the original focus of Swets (1964) signal detection theory
Improving the sensitivity of air traffic controller's to plane blips
What has research shown about processing subliminal messages
In laboratory settings, people can process and responded to information outside of their awareness
top-down processing
Interpretation of sensations is influenced by available knowledge, experiences, and thoughts
How does the cochlear implant enable the deaf to here
It receives incoming sound information and directly stimulates the auditory nerve to transmit information to the brain
Principle of closure
Organize perceptions into complete objects rather than a series of parts
Closure
Organizing our perceptions into complete objects rather than as a series of parts
Neuropathic pain
Pain from damage to neurons of either the peripheral or central nervous system
Deafness
Partial or complete inability to hear
linear perspective
Perceive depth in an image when two parallel lines same to converge
How does the term Gestalt relate to the psychological studies of perception
Perception involves more than simply combining sensory stimuli; therefore, perception is studied as Gestalt
Pitch
Perception of a sounds frequency
Proprioception
Perception of body position
kinesthesis
Perception of the bodies movement through space
Blind spot
Point where we cannot respond to visual information in that portion of the visual field
Visible spectrum
Portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that we can see
What allows Nancy to run it without watching her feet and hit a baseball without focusing on the bat
Proprioception
Bottom up processing
System in which perceptions are built from sensory input
Thermoception
Temperature perception
Weber's Law
The difference threshold is a constant fraction of the original stimulus
The pupils size is controlled by muscles that are connected to
The iris
Which of the following statements about bow olfactory receptors is false?
They are bulb like structures at the tip of the frontal lobe where the olfactory nerves is begin
Why are olfaction and gustation called chemical senses?
They have sensory receptors that respond to molecules in the food we eat or in the air we breathe
basilar membrane
Thin strip of tissue with in the cochlea that contained the hair cells which serves as the sensory receptors for the auditory system
Similarity
Things that are alike tend to be grouped together
Proximity
Things that are close to one another tend to be grouped together
Sherry offers Matt some salmon. Matt thinks, "how nice. My friend is offering me fish. I wonder where she got it. "This leads Matt to feel happy, appreciative, and curious; he responds with a smile and extended hand. What kind of processing is exemplified by this scenario?
Top-down
Pacinian corpuscle
Touch receptors that detect transient pressure and higher frequency vibrations
Merkel's disk
Touch receptors that respond to light touch
Meissner's corpuscle
Touch receptors that respond to pressure and lower frequency
Cornea
Transparent covering over the eye
Binaural cue
Two-eared cue to localize sound
Honeybees can see light in the ___ range of the electromagnetic spectrum
Ultraviolet
In addition to sweet, salty, sour, and better, what other taste groupings do we possess?
Umami and fat content
Pinna
Visible part of the ear that protrudes from the head
Perception
Way that sensory information is interpreted and continuously experienced
Good continuation
We are more likely to perceive continuous, smooth flowing lines rather than jagged, broken lines
Hair cell
auditory receptor cell of the inner ear
Iris
colored portion of the eye
Afterimage
continuation of a visual sensation after removal of the stimulus
binocular cue
cue that relies on the use of both eyes
monocular cue
cue that requires only one eye
congenital deafness
deafness from birth
binocular disparity
slightly different view of the world that each eye receives
Timbre
sound's purity
Vertigo
spinning sensation
Umami
taste for monosodium glutamate
Ruffini corpuscle
touch receptor that detects stretch
sensorineural hearing loss
failure to transmit neural signals from the cochlea to the brain
congenital insensitivity to pain (congenital analgesia)
genetic disorder that results in the inability to experience pain
monaural cue
one-eared cue to localize sound
Lens
Curved, transparent structure that provides additional focus for a light entering the eye
Hertz (Hz)
Cycles per second; measure of frequency
Pattern perception
Ability to discriminate among different figures and shapes
Depth perception
Ability to perceive depth
electromagnetic spectrum
All of the electromagnetic radiation that occurs in our environment
When light levels are low, the pupil becomes dilated yo
Allow more light to enter the eye (vice versa)
Olfactory bulb
Bulb-like structure at the tip of the frontal lobe, where the olfactory nerves begin
The visible spectrum refers to the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that
Can see
Optic nerve
Carries visual information from the retina to the brain
Signal detection theory
Change in stimulus detection as a function of current mental state
Pheromone
Chemical message sent by another individual
Opponent-process theory of color perception
Color is coded in opponent pairs: black white, yellow blue, and red green
trichromatic theory of color perception
Color vision is mediated by the activity across the three groups of cones
Vestibular sense
Contribute to our ability to maintain balance and body posture
Transduction
Conversion from sensory stimulus energy to action potential
Wavelength
Length of a way from one peak to the next peak
Photoreceptor
Light detecting cell
Retina
Light sensitive lining of the eye
Decibel (dB)
Logarithmic unit of sound intensity
Trough
Lowest point of a wave
Subliminal message
Message presented below the threshold of conscious awareness
Incus
Middle ear ossicle; also known as the anvil
Malleus
Middle ear ossicle; also known as the hammer
Stapes
Middle ear ossicle; also known as the stirrup
Absolute threshold
Minimum amount of stimulus energy that must be present for the stimulus to be detected 50% of the time
Tyler's rods do not transform light into nerve impulses as easily and efficiently as they should, so he has difficulty seeing in dim light. This is called
Night blindness
Sensory adaptation
Not perceiving stimuli that remain relatively constant over a prolonged period of time
Frequency
Number of waves that pass a given point in a given period of time
Ménière's disease
Result in a degeneration of inner ear structures that can lead to hearing loss, tinnitus, vertigo, and an increase in pressure within the inner
olfactory receptors
Sensory cell for the olfactory shatem
Nociception
Sensory signals indicating potential harm and maybe pain
Inflammatory pain
Signal that some type of tissue damage has occurred
Interaural timing difference
Small difference in the time at which a given sound wave arrives at each ear
Fovea
Small indentation in the retina that contains cones
Pupil
Small opening in the eye through which light passes
Interaural level difference
Sound coming from one side of the body is more intense at the closest ear because of the attenuation of the sound wave as it passes through the head
temporal theory of pitch perception
Sounds frequency is coded by the activity of a sensory neuron
Cone
Specialized photo receptor that works best in bright light conditions and detects color
Rod
Specialized photo receptor that works well in low light. Involved in our vision of dimly lot environments and our perception of movement on the periphery of our vision field
Sensations
What happens when sensory information is detected by sensory receptor
optic chiasm
X-shaped structure that sits just below the brains ventral surface; represent the merging of the optic nerves from the two eyes and the separation of information from the two sides of the visual field to the opposite side of the barin
figure-ground relationship
segmenting our visual world into figure and ground