M17 - Basic Concepts of Sensation and Perception

Barbara stubbed her toe last night. It hurts and all day today she has been aware of her toe. She says, "This is so weird. I usually don't think about my toe." Barbara is describing:

sensory adaptation.

_____ is the process by which we detect physical energy in the environment and encode that energy as neural signals.

Sensation

If people stare at an object, why doesn't it disappear?

Their nerve cells are constantly firing.

The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage, rather than a constant amount, is called:

Weber's law.

A person can detect a single drop of perfume diffused in an area the size of a one-bedroom apartment. This is a(n) _____ threshold.

absolute

According to the textbook, desirable objects are perceived as closer than neutral objects. In an experiment examining this phenomenon, the perceived distance of the objects is a(n) _____ variable in this study.

dependent

Both _____ and _____ indicate how experiences help to construct perception.

perceptual set; context

After hearing that Bryce had served a prison sentence, Janet began to view his genuinely friendly behavior as insincere and manipulative. This BEST illustrates the impact of:

perceptual sets.

Once John learned of Sara's past history of being an abuse victim, he began to view her cautious behavior around men as more self-protective rather than rude. This BEST illustrates the impact of:

perceptual sets.

Studying the relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli (for example, intensity) and the subjective experience of them involves the field known as _____.

psychophysics

Perceptual sets are the result of _____, which people form to organize and interpret unfamiliar information.

schemas

Anna is reading her psychology textbook. The activation of receptors in her retina is called _____. Her interpretation of the stimuli as particular words is called _____.

sensation; perception

Samantha opens her eyes in the morning to see flowers by her bedside. At that point, her eyes are receiving light energy, which they change into neural messages for the brain to process. This conversion of one form of energy into another is called:

transduction