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AP Psych U3
Unit 3 Sensation and Perception Flashcards
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Sensation | the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment. |
| Perception | the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events. |
| Bottom-up processing | analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information. |
| Top-down processing | information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations. |
| Selective Attention | the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus. |
| Inattentional blindness | failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere. |
| Change blindness | failing to notice changes in the environment. |
| 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. |
| Psychophysics | the study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them |
| Absolute threshold | the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time. |
| Signal detection theory | predicts how and when we detect the presence of faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise). Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person’s experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness. |
| Subliminal | below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness. |
| Priming | the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response. |
| Difference threshold | the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time. We experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference (or jnd). |
| Weber's Law | the principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount). |
| Sensory adaptation | diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation. |
| Perceptual set | a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another. |
| Extrasensory perception (ESP) | the controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input; includes telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition. |
| Parapsychology | the study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis. |
| Audition | the sense or act of hearing. |
| Sound wave | changes in pressure generated by vibrating molecules. |
| Frequency | the number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time (for example, per second). |
| Pitch | a tone’s experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequency. |
| Decibels | unit we measure sounds in. |
| Hertz | the unit of frequency equal to one cycle per second. |
| Outer ear | visible part of ear. |
| 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. |
| Hammer, Anvil, Stirrup | three tiny bones in the middle ear that transmits vibrations to the cochlea. |
| Eardrum | a conically shaped membrane that separates the external ear from the middle ear and serves to transform the pressure waves of sounds into mechanical vibration of the ossicles. |
| Round window | a membrane-covered opening in the cochlea where it borders the middle ear. |
| Oval window | a membrane-covered opening in the bony wall of the cochlea in the ear. |
| Inner ear | the innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs. |
| Cochlea | a coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear; sound waves traveling through the cochlear fluid trigger nerve impulses. |
| Basilar membrane | a fibrous membrane within the cochlea that supports the organ of Corti. In response to sound, the basilar membrane vibrates; this leads to stimulation of the hair cells—the auditory receptors within the organ of Corti. |
| Organ of Corti/Hair cells | a specialized structure that sits on the basilar membrane within the cochlea in the inner ear. It contains the hair cells (the sensory receptors for hearing), their nerve endings, and supporting cells. |
| Semicircular canals | a set of three looped tubular channels in the inner ear that detect movements of the head and provide the sense of dynamic equilibrium that is essential for maintaining balance. |
| Sensorineural hearing loss | hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea’s receptor cells or to the auditory nerves. (Also called nerve deafness.) |
| Conduction hearing loss | hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea. |
| Cochlear implants | a device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into 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. |
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nishimm
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