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Study Stack for Chapter 4 - Sensation and Perception

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What is the difference between sensation and perception?   Sensation is when the brain receives the raw sensory info; perception is how the brain selects, organizes and interprets that info.  
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Sensation   Process of receiving, converting and transmitting raw sensory information from the external and internal environments to the brain  
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Perception   process of selecting, organizing and interpreting sensory information  
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Where does perception take place and what does it involve?   It takes place in the brain and involves the sensations which are processed by the brain.  
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Where does sensation take place?   Raw data processed by sensory receptors.  
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Synesthesia   Sensory mixing - seeing color when a sound is heard, for example  
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transduction   converting a stimulus to a receptor into neural impulses, which are then sent to the brain  
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Tiny receptor cells in the inner ear convert mechanical vibrations (from sound waves) into electrochemical signals. These signals are then carried by neurons to specific areas of the brain for further processing. This is an example of *what*?   transduction  
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Filtering and analyzing incoming sensations before sending a neural message to the cortex   sensory reduction  
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What sends messages via the thalamus to alert the cortex?   the reticular formation  
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The reticular formation sends messages via ___ to alert ___?   thalamus, cortex  
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Process that converts a particular sensory input into a specific sensation   coding  
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Coding   Through a process known as __, sounds and smells are interpreted as distinct sensations  
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How does the brain differentiate between senations, such as sounds and smells?   coding - via this process, the brain interprets these stimuli as distinct sensations.  
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psychophysics   study of the relation between attributes of the physical world and our psychological experience of them  
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absolute threshold   smallest amount of a stimulus needed to detect that the stimulus is present  
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Your daughter listens to the sounds over earphones and told to indicate the earliest point at which she can hear a tone. She is listening for what?   absolute threshold  
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difference threshold is also known as what?   Just Noticeable Difference (JND)  
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Minimal difference needed to notice a stimulus change; also known as a Just Noticeable Difference   Difference Threshold  
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Noise-canceling headphones work via creating opposing soundwaves that cancel sounds from the environment. This is an example of what?   difference threshold  
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sensory adaptation   repeated or constant stimulation decreases the number of sensory messages sent to the brain, which causes decreased sensation  
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when receptors higher up in the sensory system get "tired" and fire less frequently, after a constant stimulus is presented over a length of time, causing sensation to often fade or disappear   sensory adaptation  
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To survive, we can't afford to waste attention and time on unchanging, normally unimportant stimuli. This is an example of...   sensory adaptation  
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gate-control theory of pain   theory that pain sensations are processed and altered by mechanisms within the spinal cord  
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wavelength   difference between the crests or peaks of light or sound waves; the shorter the wavelength, the higher the frequency  
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frequency   how often a light or sound wave cycles (i.e., the number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time)  
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Vision and hearing are both based upon ___ phenomena   wave  
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the height, number and distance of waves   Amplitude, frequency and wavelength  
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Visible spectrum   that small part of the electromagnetic spectrum that's detectable by the human eye  
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What is the path of light through the structures of the eye?   Cornea - iris - pupil - lens - retina  
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Light first enters the eye through the ___   cornea  
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protective, transparent tissue that because of its convex curvature, helps focus incoming light rays   cornea  
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iris   structure directly behind the cornea, which provides color of the eye  
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____ in the iris allow the ___ to dilate or constrict in response to light intensity, or emotions   muscles, pupil  
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Behind the iris is the __, which adds to the focusing begun by the cornea; but unlike the cornea, this structure is adjustable.   lens  
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How does the lens adjust?   small muscles change its shape to allow us to focus on objects close to the eye or farther away  
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accommodation (in vision)   automatic adjustment of the eye, which occurs when muscles change the shape of the lens so that it focuses light on the retina from objects at different distances.  
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When you look at a faraway object, your lens accommodates by thinning and flattening to focus. hen your glance shifts to a near object, your lens thickens and curves. This process is called:   accommodation  
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Light sensitive inner surface of the back of the eye, which contains the receptor cells for vision (rods and cones)   retina  
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rods and cones are located where?   retina  
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the retina contains what:   rods and cones  
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rods   receptor cells in the retina that detect shades of gray and are responsible for peripheral vision and are most sensitive in dim light.  
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Cones   receptor cells concentrated near the center of the retina, responsible for color vision and fine detail; most sensitive in brightly lit conditions.  
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These are responsible for color vision and fine detail   cones  
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tiny pit in the center of the retina, filled with cones; it is responsible for __   fovea; sharp vision  
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the fovea is responsible for what?   sharp vision  
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the fovea is filled with cones, assisting in its responsibility for__   sharp vision  
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the sense of hearing is called what?   audition  
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cochlea   three chambered, snail shaped structure in the inner ear containing the receptors for hearing  
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What determines the pitch of a sound?   The frequency of the sound wave  
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What determines the loudness of a sound?   the amplitude  
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The ear has ___ major sections   three  
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___ gathers and delivers sound waves to the middle ear   outer ear  
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amplifies and concentrates sounds gathered by the outer ear   middle ear  
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contains receptor cells that ultimately transduce the mechanical energy created by sounds into neural impulses   inner ear  
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pinna   external, visible part of the ear that we automatically envision when we think of an ear  
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the pinna channels sound waves into what?   the auditory canal  
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tubelike structure that focuses sound that is then delivered to the inner ear   auditory canal  
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thin, tautly stretched membrane also known as the eardrum   tympanic membrane  
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tympanic membrane   thin, tautly stretched membrane also known as the eardrum  
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three tiniest bones in the human body, and where they're located   malleus, incus and stapes - also known as the ossicles - in the inner ear  
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What is the path of sound waves through the ear?   Enters the outer ear -- are amplified and concentrated in the middle ear -- transduced in the inner near -- carried through the auditory nerve to the brain  
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snail shaped structure that contains the basilar membrane with receptors for hearing   cochlea  
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hearing receptors are known as...   hair cells  
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what happens as waves travel through cochlear fluid?   hair cells bend from side to side  
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The mechanical energy of a sound wave is ___ into the electrochemical impulses that are carried by the auditory nerve to the brain   transduced  
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The two chemically based senses   olfaction and gustation  
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sense of smell results from stimulation of ___?   receptor cells in the nose  
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the receptor cells in the nose are embedded in what?   a mucus-coated membrane called the olfactory epithelium  
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actually modified neurons with branched dendrites extending out into the epithelium   olfactory receptors  
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most olfactory data is processed here before being sent to other parts of the brain   olfactory bulb  
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pheremones   airborne chemicals that affect behavior, including recognition of family members, aggression, territorial marking, and sexual mating  
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five tastes   sweet, sour, salty, bitter and umami  
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Umami   separate taste and type of taste receptor that is sensitive to glutamate (the taste of protein)  
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major taste buds are clustered on our tongues within little bumps called...   papillae  
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receptors for the sense of taste   taste buds  
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Why are children so picky about food?   Their taste buds are more abundant - taste buds die and are replaced every seven days  
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Why do humans and animals have a preference for sweet foods?   They are generally nonpoisonous and are good sources of energy  
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What are the three body senses   skin senses, vestibular sense and kinesthesia  
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three basic skin sensations   touch/pressure, temperature and pain  
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sense of body orientation and position with respect to gravity and three-dimensional space   vestibular  
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sense of balance   vestibular sense  
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riding a bike, walking or sitting up would be impossible without this sense   vestibular sense  
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semicircular canals   provide brain with balance information, particularly information about rotation of the head  
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what causes motion sickness?   overload or confusion of the vestibular sense  
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sensory system for body posture and orientation   kinesthesia  
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these receptors, unlike those for any other sense, are found throughout the body - the muscles, joints and tendons   kinesthetic receptors  
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Function of the skin senses   Detect pressure, temperature and pain; they protect the internal organs and provide basic survival information  
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the weightlessness experienced by space travelers from zero gravity has its greatest effect on the __   vestibular sense  
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false or misleading perceptions   illusion  
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chemical scents found in natural body odors   pheremones  
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first step in perception   selection  
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filtering out and attending only to important sensory messages   selective attention  
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specialized neurons that respond only to certain sensory information   feature detectors  
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tendency of the brain to ignore environmental factors that remain constant   habituation  
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how does habituation differ from adaptation?   habituation occurs in the brain; adaptation occurs when sensory receptors actually decrease the number of sensory messages they send to the brain.  
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four things by which we organize sensory data   form, constancy, depth and color  
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most fundamental Gestalt principle of organization   tendency to distinguish between figure and ground  
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Figure-Ground principle of organization   ground is always seen as farther away than figure  
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Proximity principle of organization   objects that are physically close together are goruped together  
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Continuity principle of organization   Objects that continue a pattern are grouped together  
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Closure principle of organization   Tendency to see a finished unit from an incomplete stimulus  
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One of the drawbacks of the Gestalt laws of perceptual organization is this...   It's culturally specific; it's valid only for people who have been schooled in geometrical concepts  
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perceptual constancy   tendency for the environment to be perceived as remaining the same even with changes in sensory input  
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perceptual set   readiness to perceive in a particular manner based on expectations  
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We largely see what we expect to see... this is because of:   the perceptual set  
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Bottom-up processing   Information processing that begins "at the bottom" with raw sensory data fed "up" to the brain  
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information processing that starts "at the top" with the observer's thoughts, expectations and knowledge, and works down   top-down processing  
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our perceptions of people, objects or situations are affected by _____ or context   frame of reference  
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Your visual receptors have begun to receive, translate and transmit the contours of the letters on this exam to your brain. You are therefore engaged in the process of ____   sensation  
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the process of selecting, organizing and interpreting sensory data into usable mental representations of the world is called __   perception  
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three people standing next to each other were witnesses to a robbery. When asked for a description of the robber, each person gave a different answer. These different interpretations MOST LIKELY illustrate differences in __   perception  
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body cells specialized to receive and process distinct sensory information   sensory receptors  
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transduction   when you listen to music, the sound waves are converted into neural impulses for your brain to process. This process is called __  
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Process of filtering and analyzing incoming sensations before sending a neural message to the cortex   sensory reduction  
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coding   the reason you are seeing this test, rather than smelling it, tasting it, or hearing it, is because your visual receptors are being stimulated and the ifnromation is being sent along the optic nerve to the occipital lobe in the brain...  
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The lightest amount of a stimuli that can be perceived   absolute threshold  
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Rowena is placed in a room and told to press a button each time she hears a sound become louder. In this test, Rowena's __ is being measured   difference threshold for sound  
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When you first put your clothes on this morning you felt them on your skin, but within minutes you no longer noticed them.   sensory adaptation  
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pathway for light through the eye   cornea - pupil - lens - retina  
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pathway for sound through the ear   ear drum - malleus - incus - stapes - cochlea  
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hair cells are sensory receptors found in the:   cochlea, semicircular canals, vestibular sacs  
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The taste that animals are coded to avoid that improves chances or survival by avoiding toxicity   bitter  
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balance or ability to know your body orientation and position with respect to gravity and three dimensional space is provided by this sense   vestibular  
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according to the most fundamental Gestalt principle of organization, our perceptions consist of __   figure and ground  
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as a flock of Canadian geese flies overhead in its familiar V formation, the geese are seen as __ and the sky as __   figure; ground  
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also known as negative space and positive space, respectively   ground, figure  
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perceptual principle of organization suggests that you are more likely to believe that a group of people who look alike will act alike   similarity  
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___ is the readiness to perceive in a particular manner, based on expectations   perceptual set  
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