Psych Ch. 5

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Terms

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the process that detects stimuli from our bodies and our environment: sensation
the process that organizes sensations into meaningful objects and events: perception
the study of how physical stimuli are translated into psychological experience: psychophysics
the lowest level of intensity of a given stimulus that a person can detect half the time: absolute threshold
the theory that explains how detection of a stimulus is influenced by observers' expectations: signatl-detection theory
the smallest difference in the amount of stimulation that a specific sense can detect: just-noticeable difference (JND)
the principle that a weak or small stimulus does not require much change before a person notices that the stimulus has changed, but a strong or large stimulus requires a proportionately greater change before the change is noticed: Weber's law
the tendency for our sensory receptors to have decreasig responsiveness to stimuli that continue without change: sensory adaptation
the distance between two peaks of adjacent waves: wavelength
a clear membrane covering th front of the eyeball that aids in visual acuity by bending light that falls on its surface: cornea
a ring of muscles that range in color from light blue to dark brown: iris
a hole in the center of the iris that regulates how much light enters the eye: pupil
an elastic, disc-shaped structure that focuses light: lens
a light-sensitive surface at the back of the eye: retina
receptor neurons in the eye located at the edges of the retina that are sensitive to the brightness of light: rods
receptor neurons in the eye located near the center of the retina that mediate color vision: cones
the retina's area of central focus: fovea
the bundle of nerve cells that carries information from the retina to the brain: optic nerve
the area on the retina where the optic nerve leaves the eye and that contains no receptor cells: blind spot
cells in the visual cortex that respond only to a highly specific feature of a visula stimulus,such as a straight edge, and angle, movement of a spot, or brightness: feature detectors
a theory of color perception that proposes that there are three types of color receptors in the retina that produce the primary color sensations of red, green, and blue: trichromatic theory
a deficiency in the ability to distinguish among colors: color blindness
a visual image that persists after a stimulus has been removed: afterimage
a theory proposing that color perception depends on receptors that make opposing responses to three pairs of colors: opponent-process theory
perceiving objects as having consistent color under different conditions of illumination: color constancy
the sense of hearing: audition
pressure changes in a medium (air, water, solids) caused by the vibrations of molecules: sound waves
the number of sound waves that pass a given point in one second; corresponds to the psychological experience of pitch: frequency
the height of a sound wave; corresponds to the psychological experience of loudness: amplitude
the extent to which a sound is composed of waves of different frequencies; corresponds to the psychological experience of timbre: complexity
the coiled, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear that contains the hairlike auditory receptors: cochlea
a thin, flexible membrane at the end of the auditory canal that vibrates in sequence with sound waves: eardrum
a membrne that runs down the middle of the cochlea that contains the auditory receptor: basilar membrane
the ability to lacate objects in space solely on the basis of the sounds they make: sound localization
a theory that pitch is determined by which place along the cochlea's basilar membrane is most activated: place theory
a theory that pitch is determined by the frequency with which the basilar membrane vibrates: frequency theory
a theory of pitch that neurons work in groups and alternate firing, thus achieving a combined frequency corresponding to the frequency of the sound wave: volley theory
the sense fo smell: olfaction
the thin layer of tissue at the top of the nasal cavity that contains the olfactory receptor cells: olfactory epithelium
the sense of taste: gustation
taste receptors on the tongue: papillae
a theory of pain perception that proposes that small and large nerve fibers open and close "gateways" for pain in the spinal cord.: gate-control theory
a type of proprioceptive sense that provides information about the movement and location of body parts with respect to one another: kinesthetic sense
a type of proprioceptive sense that provides information on the position of the body - especially the head - in space: vestibular sense (or equilibrium)
an organized and coherent whole: gestalt
the process by which sensations are organized into meaningful shapes and patterns: form perception
the gestalt principle that when peple focus on an object in their perceptual field, they automatically distinguish it from its surroundings: figure-ground relationships
the ability to perceive objects three-dimensionally: depth perception
depth cues that require information from both eyes: binocular cues
depth cues that require information from only one eye: monocular cues
the tendency to perceive objects as relatively stable despite continually changing sensory information: perceptual constancy
the form of perceptual constancy in which there is a tendency to perceive objects as stable in size despite changes in the size of their retinal images when they are viewed from different distances: size constancy
the form of perceptual constancy in which there is a tendency to perceive an object as the same shape no matter from what angle it is viewed: shape constancy
expectations that create a tendency to interpret sensory information in a particular way: perceptual sets
a misperception of physical reality often due to the misapplication of perceptual principles: perceptual illusion
the illusory movement of a stationary object caused by the movement of another nearby object: induced movement
the illusion of movement produced by a rapid pattern of stimulation on different parts of the retina: stroboscopic movement
a perceptual illusion in which the moon appears larger when near the horizon thatn when high in the sky: moon illusion
the ability to perceive events without using normal sensory receptors: extrasensory perception (ESP)
the field that studies ESP and other paranormal phenomena: parapsychology
a situation where people experience some change or improvement from an empty, e, or ineffectual treatment: placebo effect
a situation where people experience some change or improvement from an empty, fake, or ineffectual treatment: placebo effect
stimulation just below the absolute threshold for conoscious awareness: subliminal stimulation
a perceptual illusion in which the perceived lengths of horizonotal lines are influenced by their being placed between vertical converging lines that serve as distance cues: ponzo illusion
a perceptual illusion in which the perceived length of a line is influenced by placing inward or outward facing wings on the ends of lines: Mueller-Lyer illusion

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