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AP Psych: Mod 16-21
Meyers Unit 4
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| sensation | process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment |
| perception | organizing and interpreting sensory information |
| bottom-up processing | analysis that begins with sensory receptors and works its way towards the brain |
| top-down processing | information processing guided by higher-level mental processes |
| selective attention | focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus |
| cocktail party effect | ability to focus on one voice among many, while also being able to decipher your name by others |
| inattentional blindless | failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere |
| change blindness | failing to notice changes in the enviorment |
| transduction | conversion of one form of energy into another (transforms stimulus energy-5 senses- into neural impulses our brain can interpret |
| psychophysics | the study of how we perceive sensory stimuli based on their physical characteristics |
| absolute threshold | the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time |
| signal detection theory | theory predicting how and when we detect presence of faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise); assumes no absolute threshold |
| subliminal | below one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness |
| priming | the activation, often unconsciously, of particular associations in memory |
| 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 |
| difference threshold | the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time |
| sensory adaptation | diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation (you become less aware b/c the nerve cells are firing less frequently) |
| 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 |
| wavelength | the distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next |
| hue | dimension of color determined by wavelength of light; i.e. what we know as blue, green, red, etc. |
| intensity | amount of energy carried by a wave of light or sound, which we perceive as brightness or volume, determined by amplitude of wave |
| pupil | the adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters |
| iris | ring of muscle tissue that forms colored portion of eye, controls size of pupil (dilation) |
| lens | transparent structure behind pupil that changes shape to focus images on the retina |
| retina | light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information |
| accommodation | process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina |
| rods | retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don't respond |
| cones | retinal receptor cells concentrated near the center of the retina that function in daylight or well-lit conditions; detect fine detail and color sensations |
| optic nerve | the nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain |
| blind spot | the point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye |
| fovea | central focal point in the retina around which the eye's cones cluster |
| feature detectors | nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus; e.g. shape, angle, movement |
| parallel processing | processing many aspects of a problem simultaneously; brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions, including vision |
| Young-Helmholtz trichromatic (three-color) theory | theory that the retina contains three kinds of cones—R, G, B—which can produce perception of any color when stimulated in combination |
| opponent-process theory | the theory that opposing retinal processes—red/green, yellow/blue, white/black—enable color vision |
| gestalt | an organized whole |
| figure-ground | the organization of the visual field into objects (i.e. figures) that stand out from their surroundings (i.e. ground) |
| grouping | the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups |
| proximity | group nearby things together, you don't see size lines you see three groups of two. |
| continuity | smooth continuous patters over discontinuous ones, alternating semi circles or two lines-one waved the other straight |
| closure | fill gaps to create a a whole object, circles are covered by an invisible triangle or close one circle and you can picture all the others |
| depth perception | ability to judge distance and three-dimensional relations |
| visual cliff | a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals |
| binocular cues | depth cues, such as retinal disparity, that depend on the use of two eyes |
| retinal disparity | a binocular cue for perceiving depth; brain compares images from retinas in two eyes—the greater the disparity, the closer the object |
| monocular cues | depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either eye alone |
| phi phenomenon | illusion of movement created when 2+ adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession |
| perceptual constancy | perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change |
| color constancy | perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters wavelengths reflected by object |
| innate perception | genetic inheritance |
| learned perception | past experiences |
| perceptual adaptation | ability to adjust to artificially displaced or even inverted visual field |
| shape constancy | we perceive the form of familiar objects as constant even while our retinas receive changing images of them |
| size constancy | perceive objects as having a constant size, even while our distance from them vary |
| brightness constancy | tendency to perceive familiar objects as having the same brightness under different conditions of illumination |
| audition | the sense or act of hearing |
| decibels | unit of measurement for loudness, moves steps by x10 (up one step 10x10=100) |
| frequency | the number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time |
| pitch | a tone's experienced highness or lowness; depends on frequency |
| middle ear | chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing three tiny bones (hammer, anvil, stirrup) that concentrate vibrations of eardrum on cochlea's oval window |
| cochlea | coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear; sound waves travel through fluid and trigger nerve impulses |
| inner ear | innermost part of ear; contains the cochlea, semicircular canals, vestibular sacs |
| 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 mechanical system conducting sound waves to cochlea |
| cochlear implant | device for converting sounds to electrical signals and stimulating auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into cochlea |
| place theory | theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated |
| frequency theory | theory that rate of impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches frequency of tone, enabling us to sense its pitch |
| outer ear | gathers sound from environment and funnels them into auditory mechanism |
| William Molyneux | discovered that a blind person can not distinguish figure-ground is vision is restored, if vision is restored you cannot visually distinguish object that they could tell apart by touch |
| critical period | time during which a given behavior is especially susceptible to and require a specific environmental influences to develop normally |
| George Stratton | invented goggles that flipped right/left and up/down and worse them for eight days |
| cilia | hair cell/receptors, turns vibrations into nerve impulses-apart of the inner ear |
| auditory nerve | cranial nerve that carries sound from the cochlea of the inner ear to the brain |
| gate-control theory | theory that spinal cord contains neurological "gate" that blocks or allows pain signals to the brain |
| nociceptors | detects harmful temps, pressures, or chemicals (something is painful) |
| perception of pain is | biopsychosocial phenomena |
| 5 types of taste | sweet (energy source), salty (sodium essential to psychological processes), sour (potentially toxic acid), bitter, (potentially poisonous), UMAMI (proteins to grow/repair tissue) |
| bottom up taste | asses what you are eating |
| top down taste | actualization needs stage |
| olafaction | sense of smell |
| bottom up smell | smell a food and the signal is sent to the brain |
| top down smell | may generate odors (predictions) of action/object that smell predicts |
| kinesthesia | the system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts |
| vestibular sense | the sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance |
| sensory interaction | the principle that one sense may influence another (smell of food influences taste) |
| embodied cognition | influence of bodily sensations, gestures, and other states on cognitive preferences and judgments |
| synesthesia | one sense produces another (hearing sounds and seeing specific colors) |
| McGurk effect | see one syllable but hear another- your brain perceives a new third syllable that blends both (see mouth movements for "ga" but hear "ba" the brain processes "da") |
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