Help
Options
Didn't know it?
click below
click below
Knew it?
click below
click below
Don't Know
Remaining cards (0)
Know
retry
shuffle
restart
0:00
Embed Code - If you would like this activity on your web page, copy the script below and paste it into your web page.
Normal Size Small Size show me how
Normal Size Small Size show me how
AP Psych Unit 4
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| sensation | the process by which sensory systems and the nervous system detect physical energy |
| perception | the process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting sensations |
| bottom-up processing | a form of processing in which the sensory receptors work up to the mind |
| top-down processing | the type of processing that draws on past personal experiences to help us interpret situations |
| selective attention | when you focus your consciousness on a particular stimulus to the exclusion of others |
| necker cube | an optical illusion of a cube designed to test one’s ability to perceive the same image in different ways |
| cocktail party effect | our ability to pick out only one voice among many |
| inattentional blindness | the failure to see visual stimuli when your attention is focused elsewhere |
| change blindness | a phenomenon of visual perception that occurs when a stimulus undergoes a change without this being noticed by its observer |
| choice blindness | when people make a decision, but when the object of their decision is switched, they don’t notice the difference |
| transduction | the conversion of energy into neural impulses that the brain can interpret |
| psychophysics | the study of how physical stimuli interact with sensory systems |
| absolute threshold | the minimum amount of stimulation necessary for you to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time |
| signal detection theory | predicts how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus amidst background stimulation such as noise |
| hit | when you detect a signal that is present |
| miss | when you fail to detect a signal that is present |
| false alarm | when you detect a signal that is not present |
| correct rejection | when you do not detect a signal because it is not present |
| subliminal stimulation | stimuli that are below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness |
| priming | exposure to one stimulus influences how a person responds to a related stimulus |
| difference threshold | the minimum difference necessary to detect a change in a stimulus 50% of the time |
| weber's law | to perceive a difference, the stimuli must differ by a constant proportion, not an amount |
| sensory adaptation | the diminished sensitivity to constant and unchanging stimulation |
| habituation | the learned behavior in ignoring neutral stimuli after repeated exposure |
| perceptual set | your mental predisposition to perceive one thing rather than another |
| parapsychology | the study of paranormal phenomena |
| extrasensory perception (esp) | perception in the absence of sensory input |
| telepathy | mind to mind communication in which one person sends a thought to another |
| clairvoyance | when you perceive remote events |
| precognition | when you perceive a future event |
| psychokinesis (telekinesis) | the ability to move objects with your mind |
| wavelength | the distance between the crest and trough of a wave of light |
| frequency | the frequency of a wavelength determines the hue of light or the pitch of a sound |
| hue | the shade of color we perceive light to be |
| amplitude | the amplitude of a wavelength affects brightness of light or the volume of a sound |
| intensity | the quantity of visible light |
| cornea | the part of the eye that bends light rays and protects the eye |
| iris | the muscular part of the eye that expands inward and outward to regulate the amount of light entering the eye |
| pupil | the adjustable opening in the center of the eye |
| lens | the transparent structure of the eye behind the pupil that changes shape to focus images on the retina |
| accommodation | the process by which the lens changes shape to help focus near or far objects |
| nearsightedness | a condition in which nearby objects appear more clearly than distant objects |
| farsightedness | a condition in which distant objects appear more clearly than nearby objects |
| acuity | sharpness of foveal vision controlled by cones in the retina |
| retina | three layers of cells that are sensitive to light and trigger nerve impulses |
| receptor cells | the deepest layer of retinal cells that change light energy into neural impulses |
| rods | retinal cells responsible for peripheral vision |
| cones | retinal cells responsible for foveal vision |
| phototransduction | the process of turning light energy into neural impulses |
| bipolar cells | the middle layer of retinal cells |
| ganglion cells | the innermost layer of retinal cells in which axons form the optic nerve |
| optic nerve | the nerve that carries visual information from the eye to the thalamus |
| blind spot | the point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye where there are no receptor cells |
| fovea | the point of central focus above the optic nerve |
| feature detection | neurons in the visual cortex respond to features such as lines and edges |
| parallel processing | the processing of several stimuli or aspects of a stimulus simultaneously |
| facial recognition | the ability to detect and recognize slight differences in facial features |
| prosopagnosia (face blindness) | a disorder caused by damage to the temporal lobe that hinders one’s ability to recognize faces |
| akinetopsia (motion blindness) | the part of the brain that processes motion is damaged, which hinders one’s ability to perceive fluid motion |
| blindsight | someone who is cortically blind is still able to respond to visual stimuli that they cannot consciously see |
| young hemholtz trichromatic theory | the retina contains three cones that process red, green, and blue light |
| opponent process theory | opposing retinal pairs enable color vision |
| afterimage effect | a visual illusion in which retinal impressions persist after the stimulus has been removed |
| gestalt psychology | we focus on meaningful units rather than discrete, individual stimuli |
| figure-ground relationship | the organization of the visual field into objects that stand out from their surroundings |
| grouping | the tendency to organize stimuli into understandable groups |
| proximity | the tendency to place objects that are close to each other into the same group |
| similarity | the tendency to place items that look similar into the same group |
| continuity | the tendency to assume an object’s movement in a particular will continue unchanged |
| connectedness | the tendency to perceive elements that are joined by uniform visual properties as closer together than other elements |
| closure | the tendency to attempt to fill in any gaps in our visual field |
| depth perception | the ability to see in three dimensions and judge distance |
| visual cliff | a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals |
| binocular cues | cues that require the use of both eyes |
| retinal (binocular) disparity | results from slightly different images being produced by the retinas of the left and right eye |
| convergence | translates tension in the eye muscles when they eyes track inward to focus on objects closer to the viewer |
| monocular cues | translates tension in the eye muscles when they eyes track inward to focus on objects closer to the viewer |
| relative size | when an object of known size casts a small retinal image, but we understand that the object is actually far away |
| interposition | when closer objects partially obstruct the view of farther objects |
| relative clarity | when distant objects appear hazy or less clear than nearby objects |
| texture gradient | when nearby objects have more distinct textures than faraway objects |
| relative height | when we perceive objects higher in our field of vision as farther away |
| relative motion (motion parallax) | when stable objects appear to be moving |
| linear perspective | when parallel lines seem to draw together in the distance of a vanishing point |
| phi phenomenon | an optical illusion in which stationary objects shown in rapid succession, transcending the threshold at which they can be perceived separately, appear to move |
| perceptual constancy | perceiving the size, shape, color and lightness of an object as unchanging even as the image of the object on the retina of the eye changes |
| color constancy | we perceive an object as having a constant color even while its context varies |
| brightness constancy | we perceive an object as having a constant brightness even while its illumination varies |
| shape constancy | we perceive the form of familiar objects as constant even while our retinal images of them change |
| size constancy | we perceive objects as having a constant size even while our retinal images of them change |
| ames room illusion | an irregularly shaped but apparently rectangular room in which cues for depth perception are used experimentally to distort the viewer's perception of the relative size of objects within the room |
| muller lyer illusion | an optical illusion in which two lines of the same length appear to be of different lengths |
| ponzo illusion | a visual illusion in which the upper of two parallel horizontal lines of equal length appears to be longer than the bottom of the two lines when they are flanked by oblique lines that are closer together at the top than they are at the bottom |
| stroop effect | our tendency to experience difficulty naming a physical color when it is used to spell the name of a different color |
| perceptual adaptation | the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced visual field |
| audition | the act of hearing |
| decibels | units in which loudness is expressed |
| pitch | the quality of sound |
| hertz | units in which pitch is expressed |
| outer ear | the external part of the ear that collects sound waves and channels them into the auditory canal |
| auditory canal | the passageway that leads from the outer ear to the tympanic membrane |
| tympanic membrane (eardrum) | a piece of tissue that seals the inner workings of the ear from the outside world |
| middle ear | the air-filled central cavity of the ear, behind the eardrum |
| ossicles | three small bones of the middle ear, including the hammer, anvil, and stirrup |
| cochlea | the fluid filled, snail shaped bony tube inside the ear where transduction takes place |
| inner ear | the hearing and balance apparatus embedded in the temporal bone |
| oval window | the point of the cochlea that receives sound vibrations |
| cilia | hair cells that are the receptor sites for neural impulses |
| auditory nerve | formed by the axons of nerve cells that converge and carry neural impulses to the thalamus |
| semicircular canals | three semicircular, interconnected tubes inside the ear that affect balance |
| sensorineural hearing loss | caused by damage to the inner ear |
| tinnitus | when you experience ringing or other noises in one or both of your ears |
| conduction hearing loss | caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound |
| cochlear implant | a small electronic device that can help to provide a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or hard of hearing |
| place theory | the idea that different sound waves trigger activity in different places along the cochlea’s basilar membrane |
| frequency theory | the idea that the whole basilar membrane vibrates at the frequency of the sound |
| volley principle | the idea that neurons alternate firing to achieve a frequency of 1000 per second |
| sound localization | the ability to identify the origin of a detected sound |
| auditory cortex | the part of the temporal lobe that processes auditory information |
| cutaneous reciptors | sensory receptors found in the skin that detect basic senses |
| nociceptors | a particular type of cutaneous receptor that sends pain signals in response to potentially damaging stimuli |
| gate-control theory | the idea that your spinal cord has the ability to either block pain or allow it to be sensed |
| phantom limb sensation | sensations that feel as if they are coming from a body part that has been amputated |
| fungiform papillae | raised lingual structures on the tongue which contain taste buds and thus play an important role in taste perception |
| olfactory receptors | receptor cells in the nasal cavity that are sensitive to odorants |
| kinesthesis | relies on receptor cells (proprioceptors) throughout the muscles and joints to sense your body position and movement |
| vestibular sense | the system for sensing body orientation based on head position and balance |
| sensory interaction | the ability of one sense to influence and interact with another sense |
| mcgurk effect | an illusion where speech sounds are often misinterpreted when the auditory cues in the stimulus conflict with the visual cues from the speaker's face |
| visual capture | the dominance of vision over other senses |
Created by:
TessaMeyers
Popular Psychology sets