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AP Psy. Chapter 4
Flashcards for Chapter 4 in Mrs. Scott's AP Psycology Class
85
Psychology
11th Grade
09/22/2012

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Term
What is sensation?
Definition
the procss by which stimlation of a sensory reeptor produces neural impulses taht the brain interprets as a sound, visual image, ordor, taste, pain, or other sensory image
Term
What step is sensation in processing incoming information?
Definition
first
Term
What is perception?
Definition
a process that makes sensory patterns meaningful
Term
What does perception rely on to make words meaningful?
Definition
memory, motivation, emotion, and other psychological processes
Term
What is transduction?
Definition
transfromation of one form of energy into another-especially the transformation of stimulus information into nerve signals by the sense organs
Term
What is sensory adaption?
Definition
loss of responsiveness in receptor cells after stimulation has remained unchanged for a while
Term
What is absolute threshold?
Definition
The amount of stimulation necessary for a stimulus to be detected. In practice, this means that the presence or absence of a stimulus is dtected correctly half the time over many trials
Term
What is difference threshold?
Definition
the smallest amount by which a stimulus can be changed and the difference be detected half the time
Term
What is just noticeable difference?
Definition
same as the difference threshold
Term
What is Weber's Law?
Definition
this concept says that the size of a JND is proportional to the intesity of the stimulus; the JND is large when the stimulus intensity is high and is small when the stimulus intensity is high
Term
What is Fechner's law?
Definition
the magnitude of a stimulus can be estimated by the formula S= k log R, where S=sensation, R=stimulus, and k= a constant that differs for each sensory modality
Term
What is Steven's power law?
Definition
a law of magnitude estimation that is more accurate than Fechner's law and covers a wider variety of stimuli
Term
What is the formula for Steven's power law?
Definition
S=kl^a, S=sensation, k=constant, l= stimulus intensity, and a= a power exponent that depends on the sense of being measured
Term
What is signal detection theory?
Definition
explains how we detect "signals" consisting of stimulation affecting our eyes, ears, nose, skin, and other sense organs.
Term
What does signal detection theory say about sensation?
Definition
it's a judgment the sensory system makes about incoming stimulation, often occurs wouside of consciousness, and takes observer's characteristics into account
Term
Why does the brain sense the world indirectly?
Definition
because the sense organs convert stimulationinto the language of the nervous system-neural messages
Term
How are the senses similar?
Definition
they all operate in much of the same way
Term
How are the senses different?
Definition
each extracts different information and sends it to its own specialized processing region in the brain
Term
What is the retina?
Definition
the thin, light-sensitive layer at the back of the eyeball
Term
What does the retina contain?
Definition
millions of photoreceptors and the other nerve cells
Term
What are photoreceptors?
Definition
light-sensitive cells(neurons) in the retina that convert light energy to neural impulses. The photoreceptors are as far as the light gets into the visual system
Term
What are rods?
Definition
photoreceptors in the retina that are especially sensitive to dim light but not to colors; are rod-shaped
Term
What are cones?
Definition
photoreceptors in the retina that are especially sensitive to colors but not to dim light; are cone-shaped
Term
What is the fovea?
Definition
tiny area of sharpest vision in the retina
Term
What is the optic nerve?
Definition
the bundle of neurons that carries visual information from the retina to the brain
Term
What is the blind spot?
Definition
the point where the optic nerve exits the eye and where there are no photoreceptors. Any stimulus that falls on this area cannot be seen
Term
What is brightness?
Definition
a psychological sensation caused by the intensity of light waves
Term
What is color?
Definition
also called hue, color is not a property of things in the external world, rather it is a psychological sensation created in the brain from information obtained by the eyes from the wavelengths of visible light
Term
What is the electromagnetic spectrum?
Definition
the entire range of electromagnetic energy, including radio waves, X rays, microwaves, and visible light
Term
What is the visible spectrum?
Definition
the tiny part of the electromagnetic spectrum to which our eyes are sensitive. The visible spectrum of other creatures may be slightly different from our own
Term
What is the trichromatic theory?
Definition
the idea that colors are sensed by three different types of cones sensitive to light in the red, blue, and green wavelengths.
Term
What does the trichromatic theory explain?
Definition
the earliest stage of color sensation
Term
What is the opponent-process theory?
Definition
the idea that cells in the visual system process colors in complementary pairs such as red or green or as yellow or blue.
Term
What does the opponent-process theory explain?
Definition
it explains color sensation from the bipolar cells onward in the visual system
Term
What are afterimages?
Definition
sensations that linger after the stimulus is removed. Most visual are negative afterimages
Term
What are negative afterimages?
Definition
afterimages where the colors appear to be reveresed
Term
What is color blindness?
Definition
typically a genetic disorder that prevents an individual from discriminating certain colrs
Term
What is the most common form of color blindness?
Definition
red-green
Term
What is frequency?
Definition
the number of cycles completed by a wave in a given amount of time usually a second
Term
What is amplitude?
Definition
the physical strength of a wave
Term
How is amplitude usually measured?
Definition
from the peak(top) to valley(bottom) on a graph of the wave
Term
What is the tymapnic membrane?
Definition
the eardrum
Term
What is the cochlea?
Definition
the primary organ ofhearing; a coiled tueb in the inner ear, where sound waves are transduced into nerve messages
Term
What is the basilar membrane?
Definition
a thin strip of tissue sensitive to vibrations in the cochlea
Term
What does the basilar membrane contain?
Definition
hair cells connected to neurons
Term
Explain how the Basilar membrane works.
Definition
when a sound wave causes the hair cells to vibrate, the associated neurons become excited. As a result, the sound waves are converted into nerve activity
Term
What is pitch?
Definition
a sensory characteristic of sound produced by the frequency of the sound wave
Term
What is the placebo effect?
Definition
a response sto a placebo, caused by a subject's belief that they are taking real drugs
Term
What is a placebo?
Definition
fake drug
Term
What is loudness?
Definition
a sensory characteristic of sound produced by the amplitude of the sound wave
Term
What is timbre?
Definition
the quality of a sound wave that derives from the wave's complexity
Term
What is the greek word that timbre comes from?
Definition
drum
Term
What is conduction deafness?
Definition
an inability to hear resulting from damabge to structures of the middle and inner ear
Term
What is nerve deafness?
Definition
an inablity to hear, linked to a deficit in the body's ability to transmit impulses from the cochlea to the brain, usually involving the auditory nerve or higher auditory processing centers
Term
What is another name for nerve deafness?
Definition
sensorineural deafness
Term
What is vestibular sense?
Definition
the sense of body orientation with respect to gravity. The vestibular sense is closely associated with the inner ear and, in fact, is carried to the brain on a branch of the auditory nerve
Term
What is the kinesthetic sense?
Definition
the sense of body position and movement of the body parts relative to each other
Term
What is olfaction?
Definition
the sense of smell
Term
What are pheromones?
Definition
chemical signals released by organisms to communicate with othermembers of their speicies
Term
What is gustation?
Definition
the sense of taste
Term
What are skin senses?
Definition
sensory systems for processing touch, warmth, cold, texture, and pain
Term
What is the gate-control theory?
Definition
an explanation for pain control that proposes we have a neural "gate" that can, under some circumstances, block incoming pain signals
Term
What is percept?
Definition
the meaningful product of perception-often an image that has been associated with concepts, memories of events, emotions, and motives
Term
What are feature detectors?
Definition
cells in the cortex that specialize in extracting certain features of a stimulus
Term
What is a binding problem?
Definition
refers to the process used by the brain to combine the results of many sensory operations into a single percept
Term
What is bottom-up processing?
Definition
perceptual analysis that emphasizes characteristics of the stimulus, rather than our concepts and expectations
Term
What is top-down processing?
Definition
perceptual analysis that emphasizes the perceiver's expectations, concept memories, and other cognitive factos, rather than being driven by the characteristics of the stimulus
Term
What is perceptual constancy?
Definition
the ability to recognize the same object as remaining "constant" under different conditions, such as changes in illumination, distance, or location
Term
What is an illusion?
Definition
is an incorrect perception of a stimulus pattern, especially one that fools others who are observing the same stimulus
Term
What is an ambiguous figure?
Definition
an image that is capable of more than one interpretation, there is no right way to see an ambiguous figure
Term
What is the Gestalt psychology?
Definition
means "whole" or "form" or "configuration". the Gestalt psychologists beleived that much of perception is shaped by innate factors built into the brain
Term
Waht is a figure?
Definition
the part of a pattern that commands attention, the figure that stands out aginst the ground
Term
What is the ground?
Definition
the part of a pattern that does not command attention; the background
Term
What is a closure?
Definition
the Gestalt principle that identifies the tendency to fill in gaps in figures and to see incomplete figures as complete
Term
What are Laws of perceptual grouping?
Definition
the Gestalt principles of similarity, proximity, continuity, and common fate.
Term
What do the Laws of perceptual grouping suggest?
Definition
they suggest how our brains prefer to group stimulus elements together to form a percept
Term
What is the Law of similarity?
Definition
the Gestalt principle that we tend to group similar objects together in our perceptions
Term
What is the Law of proximity?
Definition
The Gestalt principle that we tend to group objects together when they are near each other
Term
What is the Law of Continuity?
Definition
the Gestalt principle that we prefer perceptions of connected and continuous figures to disconnected and disjointed ones
Term
What is the Law of common fate?
Definition
the Gestalt principle that we tend to group similar objects together that share a common motion or destination
Term
What is the Law of Pragnanz?
Definition
the most general Gestalt principle which states that the simplest organization will emerge as a figure
Term
What are binocular cues?
Definition
information taken in by both eyes that aids in depth perception including binocular convergence and retinal disparity
Term
What are monocular cues?
Definition
information about depth that relies on the input of just one eye-includes relative size, light, and shadow, interposition, relative motion, and atmospheric perspective
Term
What is the learning-based inference?
Definition
the view that perception is primarily shaped by learning rather than by innate factors
Term
What is a perceptual set?
Definition
readiness to detect a particular stimulus in a given context-as when a person who is afraid interprets an unfamiliar sound in the night as a threat
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