Psychology Chapter 6

perceptual adaptation

in vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field.

feature detectors

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

extrasensory perception (ESP)

the controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input; includs telepathy, clairvoyancee, and precognition.

top-down processing

Information processing is guided by higher-level ental processes such as when we construct pereptions drawing on our experience and expectations. This process is called:

Conduction hearing loss

Ricardo has been suffering from a lengthy battle with the flu. His ears are painfully plugged with fluid. One morning his right ear "pops" from all of the pressure and fluid comes out. He screams in pain because the eardrum has punctured. This will result in:

retinal disparity

a binocular cue for perceiving depth: By comparing images from teh retinas in the two eyes, the brain computes distance-the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object.

cochlea

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

cochlear implant

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

visual cliff

a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals.

perceptual set

a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another. involves top-down processing.

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.

signal detection theory

a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise). Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depedns partly on a person's experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness.

pitch

a tone's experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequency.

phi phenomenon

an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession.

gestalt

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

bottom-up processing

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

subliminal

below one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness.

transduction

conversion of one form of energy into another, In sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies, such as sights, sounds, and smells, into neural impulses our brain can interpret.

monocular cues

depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either eye alone.

binocular cues

depth cues, such as retinal disparity, that depend on the use of two eyes.

sensory adaptation

diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.

sensorineural hearing loss

hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea's receptor cells or to the auditory nerves; also called nerve deafness

conductive hearing loss

hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea.

place theory

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

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.

embodied cognition

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

top-down processing

information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations.

Sensations

is the bottom-up process by which the physical sensory system receives and represents stimuli.

Perceptions

is the top-down mental process of organizing and interpreting sensory input.

Sensorineural hearing loss

occurs when there is damage to the chlea's receptor cells or to the auditory nerves.

color constancy

perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, eve if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object.

perceptual constancy

perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent shapes, size, brightness, and color) even as illumination and retinall images change.

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.

rods

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

depth perception

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

priming

the acctivation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response.

pupil

the adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters.

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.

fovea

the central focal point in the retina, around which the eye's cones cluster.

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.

hue

the dimenson of color that is determined by the wavelength of light; what we know as the color names blue, green, and so forth.

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 rys to the long pulses of radio transmission.

parapsychology

the field of study that researches claims of extrasensory perception (ESP)

inner ear

the innermost part of the ear, containing the cchlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs.

retina

the light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that beginthe processing of visual information.

difference threshold

the minimum difference betweeen two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time. We wexperience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference (or jnd.)

absolute threshold

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

optic nerve

the nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain.

frequency

the number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time ( for example, per second).

figure-ground

the organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground).

grouping

the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups.

blind spot

the point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a "blind" spot because no receptor cells are located there.

sensory interaction

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

Weber's law

the principle that, to be perceived as different, two stinuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage(rather than a constant amount).

sensation

the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous systme receive an drepresent stimulus energies from our environment

accommodation

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

perception

the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.

parallel processing

the processing of many aspects of a problem simulataneously; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions, including vision. Contrasts with the step-b-step (serial) processing of most computers and of conscious problem solving.

vestibular sense

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

audition

the sense or act of hearing

psychophysics

the study of relationships between the physical characeristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them.

kinesthesis

the system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts.

opponent-process 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.

Young-Halmholtz 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.

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.

lens

the transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina.

the inner ear

where the vestibular sense receptors are located