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Ch 3 Psychology Terms and Definitions

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Question
Answer
Sensation   The activation of receptors in the various sense organs  
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Sensory Receptors   Specialized neurons designed to convey information regarding external stimuli to the nervous system  
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Ernst Weber   1795-1978 Pioneer in the study of sensory thresholds, Discovered the just noticeable difference and Weber's law  
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Gustav Fechner   1801-1887 Pioneer in the field of sensation and perception  
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Just Noticeable Difference (jnd)   The smallest difference between two stimuli that is detectable 50 percent of the time  
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Weber's Law   States that the size of the just noticeable difference is a constant proportion  
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Absolute Threshold   The smallest amount of energy needed for a person to consciously detect a stimulus 50 percent of the time it is present  
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Habituation   Tendency of sensory receptor cells to become less responsive to a stimulus that is unchanging  
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Sensory Adaption   Tendency of sensory receptor cells to become less responsive to a stimulus that is unchanging  
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Brightness   Corresponds to the amplitude (or height) of a light wave  
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Color or Hue   Determined by the frequency (or length) of a light wave  
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Saturation   Relates to the degree of mixture of light waves of varying frequency  
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Retina   Nerve tissue lining the inside of the back of the eye that contains sensory receptors that convert focused light into nerve impulses and transmits the information to the brain through the optic nerves.  
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Rods   Visual sensory receptor found at the back of the retina, responsible for non-color sensitivity to low levels of light  
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Cones   Visual sensory receptor found at the back of the retina, responsible for color vision and sharpness of vision  
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Trichromatic Theory   Theory of color vision that proposes three types of cones: red, blue and green  
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Afterimage   Images that occur when a visual sensation persists for a brief time even after the original stimulus is removed  
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Opponent-Process Theory   Theory of color vision that proposes four primary colors with cones arranged in pairs: red and green, blue and yellow  
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Optic Nerve   Bundle of axons carrying visual information from the retina to the brain  
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Color Blindness   Reduced ability to distinguish colors due to damage to the cones of the retina  
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Audition (auditory system)   The sensation of hearing  
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Volume   Sensation of the loudness of sound determined by the amplitude (or height) of a sound wave  
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Pitch   Psychological experience of sound that corresponds to the frequency (or length) of the sound waves; higher frequencies are perceived as higher pitches  
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Timbre   The quality of a sound that distinguishes it from other sounds with the same pitch and volume. Also referred to as sound quality.  
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Hertz (Hz)   Cycles or waves per second, a measurement of frequency  
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Pinna   The outer ear that focuses sound waves for the middle and inner ears  
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Cochlea   Snail-like structure of the inner ear, filled with fluid  
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Basilar Membrane   The cellular membrane in which the hari cells are embedded, it is a part of the organ of Corti  
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Organ of Corti   The structure in the inner ear that contains the hair cell sensory receptors  
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Hair Cells   Sensory receptors of the auditory system, Specifically, specialized neurons that convert sound into an electrical-chemical signal  
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Place Theory   Theory of pitch that states that different pitches are experienced by the stimulation of hair cells in different locations on the organ of Corti  
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Frequency Theory   States that the perceived pitch is caused by the frequency of the incoming sound wave and subsequently the frequency of firing in the auditory nerve  
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Volley Principle   Theory of pitch that states that frequencies are above 100 Hz cause the hair cells (auditory neurons) to fire in a volley pattern or taking turns in firing  
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Conduction Hearing Impairment   Deficit in hearing cause by damage to the eardrum or bones of the middle ear, typically corrected by ordinary hearing aid  
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Nerve Hearing Impairment   Deficit in hearing caused by damage to the inner ear, auditory nerve, or cortical areas of the brain, can sometimes be partially reversed with cochlear implants  
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Cochlear implants   Medical device surgically implanted to bypass damage in the inner ear and directly stimulate auditory nerve endings  
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Gustation (Gustatory system)   The sensation of taste  
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Taste Buds   Small structures located under the papillae in the mouth that contain the sensory receptors for the gustatory system  
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Papillae   Small projections on the tongue  
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Umami   Name for the tast sensation produced by foods such as parmesan, soy sauce, fish sauce, and the additive monosodium glutamate or MSG  
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Olfaction (Olfactory system)   The sensation of smell  
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Somesthetic Senses   The body senses consisting of the skin senses, the kinesthetic sense and vestibular senses  
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Skin Senses   The sensations of touch, pressure, temp and pain  
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Kinesthetic Senses   Sense of the location of body parts in relation to the ground and each other  
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Vestibular Senses   The sensations of movement, balance, and body positions  
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Gate-control Theory   Theory of pain that states the psychological experience of pain is controlled by a series of "gates" in the central and peripheral nervous system that can allow or block the flow of the pain information depending on a number of factors  
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Substance P   A newly discovered neurotransmitter that plays a role in transmitting information about pain  
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Proprioceptive Receptors (proprioceptors)   Sensory receptors that detect pain and pressure in the organs  
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Otolith Organs   Structures in the inner ear that send information to the brain about acceleration and tilt  
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Semicircular Canals   Three circular tubes filled with fluid and lined with hair-like receptors that fire when the body moves in any circular pattern  
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Perception   The method by which the sensations experienced at any given moment are interpreted and organized in some meaningful fashion  
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Size Constancy   The tendency to interpret the shape of an object as being constant, even when its shape changes on the retina  
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Brightness Constancy   The tendency to perceive the apparent brightness of an object as the same even when the light conditions change  
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Figure-ground Relationships   The tendency to perceive objects, or figures, as existing on a background  
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Closure   The tendency to complete figures that are incomplete  
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Similarity   The tendency to perceive things that look similar to each other as being part of the same group  
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Contiguity   The tendency to perceive two things that happen close together in time as being related  
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Continuity   The tendency to perceive things as simply as possible, with a continuous pattern rather than with a complex, broken-up pattern  
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Proximity   The tendency to perceive objects that are close to each other as part of the same grouping  
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Depth Perception   The ability to perceive the world in three dimensions  
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Monocular Cues   Cues for perceiving depth based on one eye only  
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Linear Perspective   The tendency for parallel lines to appear to converge on each other  
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Relative Size   Perception that occurs when objects that a person expects to be of a certain size appear to be small and are therefore assumed to be much, much farther away  
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Interposition (overlap)   The assumption that an object that appears to be blocking part of another object is in front of the second object and closer to the viewer  
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Aerial Perspective   The haziness that surrounds objects that are farther away from the viewer, causing the distance to be perceived as greater  
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Texture Gradient   The tendency for textured surfaces to appear to become smaller and finer as distance from the viewer increases  
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Motion Parallax   The perception of motion of objects in which close objects appear to move more quickly than objects that are farther away  
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Accommodation   As a monocular clue, the brain's use of information about the changing thickness of the lens of the eye in response to looking at objects that are close or far away  
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Binocular Cues   Cues for perceiving depth based on both eyes  
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Convergence   The rotation of the two eyes in their sockets to focus on a single object, resulting in greater convergence for closer objects and less convergence if objects are distant  
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Binocular Disparity   The difference in images between the two eyes, which is greater for objects that are close and smaller for distant objects  
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Illusion   A perception that does not correspond to reality  
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Muller-Lyer Illusion   Illusion of line length that is distorted by inward-turning or outward-turning corners on the ends of the lines, causing lines of equal length to appear to be different  
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Perceptual Sets   The tendency to perceive things a certain way because previous experiences or expectations influence those perceptions  
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Top-Down Processing   The use of pre-existing knowledge to organize individual features into a unified whole  
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Bottom-Up Processing   The analysis of the smaller features to build up to a complete perception  
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