| Question | Answer |
| Sensation | Neurons in a receptor create an internal pattern of nerve impulses that represent the conditions then stimulated in either inside or outside the body |
| Perception | Brings meaning to sensation. A process that makes sensory patterns meaningful and more elaborate |
| Transduction | Transformation of one form of energy into another (Stimulus to nerve impulses) |
| Sensory Adaptation | Loss of responsiveness in receptor cells after stimulus has remained unchanged/constant for a while |
| Absolute Threshold | Amount of stimulation necessary for a stimulus to be detected (50% of the time) |
| Difference Threshold | Smallest amount by which a stimulus can be charged and the difference be detected (JND) |
| Weber's Law | The JND increases with the magnitude of the stimulus |
| Signal Detection theory | Perceptual judgement as combination of sensation and decision-making process |
| Negative Afterimages | Sensations that linger after the stimulus is removed |
| Vestibular Sense | Sense of body in relationship to gravity |
| Kinesthetic Sense | Sense of body parts in relationship to each other |
| Olfaction | Smell |
| Gustation | Taste |
| Feature Detectors | Cells in the cortex that specialize in extracting certain factors of a stimuli |
| Binding problem | A major unsolved mystery in cognitive psychology concerning the physical process used by the brain to combine many aspects of sensation to a certain percept |
| Bottom-up Processing | Analysis that begins with the sense receptors and works up to the brains integration of sensory info |
| Top-down processing | Analysis guided by higher-level mental process |
| Perceptual Constancies | Ability to recognize the same objects under different conditions, such as change in illumination, distance, or location |
