Psychology Chapter 6

Visual Cliff

a laboratory device for testing depth perception, especially in infants and young animals. In their experiments with the visual cliff, Gibson and Walk found strong evidence that depth perception is at least in part innate.

Perceptual set

a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

clairvoyance

a person who "senses" that a friend is in danger might claim to have the ESP ability of

psychokinesis

a person who claims to be able to levitate and move objects

subliminal

a stimulus below one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness.

lens/retina

by changing its curvature, the ________ can focus the image object onto the __________, the light sensitive inner surface of the eye.

weber's law

states that the just noticeable difference between two stimuli is a constant minimum proportion of the stimulus.

basic taste sensations

sweet, salty, sour, bitter, umami(meaty)

priming

the activation, often unconsciously, of an association by an imperceptible stimulus, the effect of which is to predispose a perception, memory, or response

relative luminance

the amount of light an object reflects relative to its surroundings

middle ear

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

cochlea

the coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube of the inner ear through which sound waves trigger neural impulses

telepathy

the form of ESP in which ppl claim to be capable of reading others' minds

iris

this size of the opening is controlled by....

similarity

grouping items that look alike

proximity

grouping of items that are close to each other

Top-down processing

information processing guided by higher-level mental processes

parallel processing

information processing in which several aspects of a stimulus, such as light or sound, are processed simultaneously.

pitch

is determined by its frequency, that is, the number of complete wavelengths that can pass a point in a given time.

Depth Perception

is the ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; it allows us to judge distance.

grouping

is the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups. Gestalt psychologist identified various principles of grouping

intensity

light and sound is determined by the amplitude of waves and is experienced as brightness and loudness, respectively.

cornea

light enters the eye through this

feature detectors

located in the visual cortex of the brain, are nerve cells that selectively respond to specific visual features, such as movement, shape, or angle; evidently the basis of visual information processing

gate-control theory

maintains that a "gate" in the spinal cord determines whether pain signals are permitted to reach the brain. Neural activity in small nerve fibers opens the gates; activity in large fibers or information from the brain closes the gate.

Opponent-process theory

maintains that color vision depends on pairs of opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, and white-black). This theory explains the second stage of color processing

Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic theory

maintains that the retina contains red-green, and blue-sensitive color receptors that in combination can produce the perception of any color. This theory explains the first stage of color processing

gestalt

means "organized whole." The Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.

continuity

organize stimuli into smooth, continuous patterns

connectedness

perceiving uniform or attached items as a single unit

vestibular sacs/semicircular canals

receptors for the vestibular sense

extrasensory perception (ESP)

refers the controversial claim that perception can occur without sensory input. supposed ESP powers include telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition.

Perceptual Adaptation

refers to our ability to adjust to an artificially displaced of even inverted visual field. Given distorting lenses, we perceive things accordingly but soon adjust by learning the relationship between our distorted perceptions and the reality.

sensory adaptation

refers to the decreased sensitivity that occurs with continued exposure to an unchanging stimulus

Retinal Disparity

refers to the differences between the images received by the left eye and the right eye as a result of viewing the world from slightly different angles.(since the greater the difference between the two images, the nearer the object)

Figure-Ground

refers to the organization of the visual field into two parts; the figure, which stands out from its surroundings, and the surroundings, or background

audition

refers to the sense of hearing

supercell clusters

respond to more complex patterns

book

see book about depth perception cues defined.

nociceptors

sensory receptors that detect hurtful temperatures, pressure, or chemicals.

Parapsychology

the study of ESP, psychokinesis and other paranormal forms of interaction between the individual and the environment.

Psychophysics

the study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli and our psychological experience of them.

pupil

after the light enters the eye, it passes through a small opening called:

precognition

an ability to "see" into the future

Bottom-up processing

analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration

rods

are concentrated in the periphery of the retina; poor sensitivity; detect black, white and gray; function well in dim light and are needed for peripheral vision

Binocular Cues

are depth cues that depend on information from both eyes

cones

are in and around the fovea; excellent sensitivity, enable color vision, and function best in daylight or bright light.

optic nerve

comprised of the axons of retinal ganglion cells; carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain.

inner ear

contains the semicircular canals and the cochlea, which includes the receptors that transform sound energy into neural impulses. Because it also contains the vestibular sac, the inner ear plays an important role in balance, as well as in audition.

Monocular cues

depth cues that depend on information from either eye alone.

frequency

directly related to wavelength; longer waves produce lower pitch; shorter waves produce higher pitch

retina

the light-sensitive, multilayer inner surface of the eye that contains the rods and cones as well as neurons that form the beginning of the optic nerve.

difference threshold

the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time.

absolute threshold

the minimum stimulation needed to detect a stimulus 50 percent of the time.

color constancy

the perception that familiar objects have consistent color despite changes in illumination that shift the wavelengths they reflect.

Perceptual constancy

the perception that objects have consistent lightness, color, shape, and size, even as illumination and retinal images change

prosopagnosia

the perceptual disorder in which a person has lost the ability to recognize familiar faces

sensory interaction

the principle that one sense may influence another

Sensation

the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment

accommodation

the process by which the lens of the eye changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina

Perception

the process by which we organize and interpret sensory information.

blind spot

the region of the retina where the optic nerve leaves the eye; because there are no rods or cones in this area, there is no vision here.

fovea

the retina's point of central focus. It contains only cones; therefore, images focused on the fovea are the clearest.

vestibular sense

the sense of the body movement and position, including the sense of balance

Kinesthesis

the sense of the position and movement of the parts of the body

rods and cones

visual receptors that convert light energy into neural impulses.

closure

we fill in gaps to create a complete, whole object.

wavelength

which refers to the distance from the peak of one light wave to the next, gives rise to the perceptual experiences of hue, or color, in vision.