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Psychology Exam 2
Vocabulary for Ch. 4, 5, 6
94
Psychology
Undergraduate 2
11/02/2010

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Term
Distal stimulus
Definition
An object or event in the outside world
Term
Proximal stimulus
Definition
The energies from the outside world that directly reach our sense organs
Term
Psychophysics
Definition
An approach to perception that relates the characteristics of physical stimuli to the sensory experiences they produce
Term
Absolute threshold
Definition
The smallest quantity of a stimulus that an individual can detect
Term
Difference threshold
Definition
The smallest amount that a given stimulus must be increased or decreased so that an individual can detect the difference
Term
Just-noticeable difference (JND)
Definition
The smallest difference than an organism can reliably detect between two stimuli
Term
Weber's law
Definition
The observation that the size of the difference threshold is proportional to the intensity of the standard stimulus
Term
Fechner's Law
Definition
The observation that the strength of a sensation is proportional to the logarithm of physical stimulus intensity
Term
Perceptual sensitivity
Definition
An organism's ability to detect a signal
Term
Decision criteria
Definition
An organism's rule for how much evidence it needs before responding
Term
Signal-detection theory
Definition
The theory that perceiving or not perceiving a stimulus is actually a judgment about whether a momentary sensory experience is due to background noise alone of to the background noise plus a signal
Term
Payoff matrix
Definition
The pattern of benefits and costs associated with certain types of responses
Term
Transduction
Definition
The process through which a physical stimulus is converted into a signal within the nervous system
Term
Sensory coding
Definition
The process through which the nervous system represents the qualities of teh incoming stimulus- whether auditory or visual, for example, or whether a red light or a green one, a sour taste or a sweet taste
Term
Specificity theory
Definition
The proposal that different sensory qualities are signaled by different quality-specific neurons
Term
Pattern theory
Definition
The proposal that different sensory qualities are encoded by specific patterns of firing among the relevant neurons
Term
Sensory adaptation
Definition
The process by which teh sensitivity to a stimulus declines if the stimulus is presented for an extended period of time
Term
Kinesthesis
Definition
The sensations generated by receptors in teh muscles, tendons, and joints that inform us of our skeletal movement
Term
Vestibular sense
Definition
The sensations generated by receptors in the semicircular canals of the inner ear that inform us about the head's orientation and movements
Term
Skin senses
Definition
The group of senses, including pressure, warmth, cold and pain, through which we gain information about our immediate surroundings
Term
Nociceptors
Definition
Receptors in the skin that give rise to the sense of pain; they respond to various forms of tissue damge and to temperature extremes
Term
Gate control theory
Definition
The proposal that pain sensations must pass through a neural "gate" in order to reach the brain and can be blocked at that gate by neurons that inhibit signals from the nociceptors
Term
Olfactory epithelium
Definition
A mucous membrane at the top of the nasal cavity; contains olfactory receptor neurons that respond to airborne molecules called odorants
Term
Glomeruli
Definition
Sites in the brain's olfactory bulb where signals from the smell receptors converge
Term
Pheromones
Definition
Biologically produced odorants that convey information to other members of the species
Term
Papillae
Definition
Structures on the tongue that contain the taste buds, which in turn contain taste receptors
Term
Sound waves
Definition
Successive pressure variations in the air that vary in amplitude and wavelength
Term
Amplitude
Definition
The height of a wave crest, used as a measure of sound intensity
Term
Frequency
Definition
The number of wave peaks per second. In sound, frequency governs the perceived pitch of the sound
Term
Cochlea
Definition
The coiled structure in the inner ear that contains the basilar membrane
Term
Eardrum
Definition
The taut membrane that transmits the vibrations caused by sound waves from the auditory canal to the ossicles in the middle ear
Term
Oval window
Definition
The membrane separating the middle ear from the inner ear
Term
Auditory ossicles
Definition
The three bones of the middle ear that transmit the vibrations of the eardrum to the oval window
Term
Basilar membrane
Definition
A membrane running the length of the cochlea; sound waves cause a deformation of thsi membrane, bending the hair cells in the cochlea nad thus stimulating the auditory receptors
Term
Hair cells
Definition
The auditory receptors in the cochlea, lodged between the basilar membrane and other membranes above
Term
Place theory
Definition
A proposal about pitch perception stating that regions of the basilar membrane respond to particular sound frequencies and the nervous system interprets the excitation from different basilar regions as different pitches
Term
Timbre
Definition
The quality of a sound apart from its pitch or loudness; timbre enables us to distinguish a clarinet from an obe, or one person's voice from another
Term
Photoreceptor
Definition
A light-sensitive cell located on the retina that converts light energy into neural impulses
Term
Retinal image
Definition
The image of an object that is projected on the retina. Its size increases with the size of that object and decreases with the objects' distance from the eye
Term
Rods
Definition
Photoreceptors in the retina that respond to lower light intensities and give rise to achromatic sensations
Term
Cones
Definition
Visual receptors that respond to greater light intesities and give rise to chromatic sensations
Term
Fovea
Definition
The area roughly at the retina's center where cones are plentiful and visual acuity is greatest
Term
Optic nerve
Definition
The bundle of fibers that proceeds from each retina to the brain
Term
Photopigment
Definition
A chemical in the photoreceptors that changes its formi n response to light, producing an electircal change that signals to the nervous system that light is present
Term
Lateral inhibition
Definition
The pattern of interaction among neurons in the visual system in which activity in one neuron inhibits adjacent neurons' responses
Term
Trichromatic color vision
Definition
The principle underlying human color vision. Color vision occurs through the operation of three sets of cones, each maximally sensitive to a different wavelength of light
Term
Opponent-process theory
Definition
A theory of color vision that proposes three pairs of color antagonists: red-green, blue-yellow, and white-black. Excitation of neurons sensitive to one member of a pair automatically inhibits neurons sensitive to another member
Term
Receptive field
Definition
For a particular cell in the visual system, the pattern of retinal stimulation that most effectively causes the cell to fire. For some cells, this pattern is defined simply in terms of a retinal location; for others, the most effective input has a particular shape, color, or direction of motion
Term
Feature detectors
Definition
Neurons in the retina or brain that respond to specific attributes of the stimulus, such as movement, orientation, and so on
Term
Gestalt psychology
Definition
A theoretical approach that emphasizes the role of organized wholes in perception and other psychological processes
Term
Similarity
Definition
In perception, a principle by which we tend to group like figures, especially by color and orientation
Term
Proximity
Definition
The closeness of two figures. The closer together they are, the more we tend to group them together perceptually
Term
Good continuation
Definition
A factor in visual grouping; we tend to perceive contours in a way that alters their directions as little as possible
Term
Subjective contours
Definition
Perceived contours that do not exist physically. We tend to complete figures that have gaps in them by perceiving a contour as continuing along its original path
Term
Reversible figure
Definition
A visual pattern that easily allows more than one interpretation, in some cases changing the specification of figures and ground, in other cases changing the perceived organization in depth
Term
Visual search
Definition
A task in which participants are asked to determine whether a specified target is present within a field of stimuli
Term
Feature net
Definition
A model of pattern recognition involving a network of detectors and having feature detectors as the network's starting point
Term
Geons (geometric ions)
Definition
Simple geometric figures, such as cubes, cylinders, and pyramids, that can be combined to create all other shapes. An early step in some models of object recognition is determining which geons are present
Term
Parvo cells
Definition
Ganglion cells that, because of their sensitivity to differences in hue, are particularly suited to perceiving color and form
Term
Magno cells
Definition
Ganglion cells that, because of their sensitivity to brightness changes, are particularly suited to perceiving motion and depth
Term
"what" system
Definition
The visual pathway leading from the visual cortex to the temporal lobe; especially involved in identifying objects
Term
"Where" system
Definition
The visual pathway leading from the visual cortex to the parietal lobe; especially involved in locating objects in space and coordinating movements
Term
Binding problem
Definition
The problem confronted by the brain of recombining the elements of a stimulus, given the fact that these elemetns are initially analyzed separately by different neural systems
Term
Perceptual constancy
Definition
The accurate perception of certain attributes of a distal object, such as its shape, size and brightness, despite changes in the proximal stimulus, caused by variations in our viewing circumstances
Term
Unconscious interference
Definition
A process postulated by Hermann von Helmholtz to explain certain perceptual phenomena such as size constancy.
Term
Pictorial cues
Definition
Patterns that can be represented on a flat surface in order to crate a sense of a three-dimenisonal object or scene
Term
Interposition
Definition
A monocular cue to distance that relies on the fact that objects farther away are blocked from view by closer objects
Term
Linear perspective
Definition
A cue for distance based on the fact that parallel lines seem to converge as they get farther away from the viewer
Term
Motion parallax
Definition
A depth cue based on the fact that, as an observer moves, the retinal images of nearby objects move more rapidly than do the retinal images of objects farther away
Term
Motion detectors
Definition
Cell in the visual cortex that are sensitive to an image moving in a particular direction across the retina
Term
Apparent movement
Definition
The perception of movement produced by stimuli that are stationary but are presented first at one positions and then, at an appropriate time interval, presented at a different position
Term
Induced motion
Definition
Perceived movement of a stationary stimulus, usually caused by movement of a surrounding framework or nearby objects
Term
Correspondence problem
Definition
As your view changes, the perceptual task of determining which aspects of the current view correspond to which aspects of the view seen a moment ago
Term
Illusory conjunction
Definition
A pattern of errors in which observers correctly perceive the features present in a display, such as color and shape, but misperceive how they were combined. For example, they might report seeing a green O and a red X when a green X and red O were presented
Term
Priming
Definition
The process through which a detector or proportion of the nervous system is prepared for an upcoming input, making it easier for the participant to recognize that input
Term
Consciousness
Definition
Moment-by-moment awareness of ourselves, our thoughts, and our environment
Term
Introspection
Definition
The process of "looking within" to observe one's own thoughts, beliefs, and feelings
Term
Cognitive unconscious
Definition
The mental support processes outside our awareness that make our perception, memory, and thinking possible
Term
Blindsight
Definition
The ability of a person with a lesion in the visual cortex to reach toward or correctly "guess" about objects in the visual field even though the person reports seeing nothing
Term
Mind-body problem
Definition
The difficulty in understanding how the midn and body influence each other- so that physical events can cause mental events, and so that mental events can cause physical ones
Term
Neural correlates of consciousness
Definition
Specific brain states that seem to correspond to the content of someone's conscious experience
Term
Global workspace hypothesis
Definition
A hypothesis about the neural basis of consciousness. It proposes that specialized neurons, called workspace neurons, give rise to consicousness by allowing us to link stimuli or ideas in dynamic, coherent representations
Term
Alpha rhythm
Definition
A pattern of regular pulses between 8 and 12 per second, visible in the EEG of a person who is relaxed by awake and typically has her eyes closed
Term
Beta rhythm
Definition
The rhythmic pattern in the brain's electrical activity often observed when a person is actively thinking about some specific topic
Term
Delta rhythm
Definition
The rhythmic pattern in the brain's electrical activity often observed when a person is in slow-wave sleep
Term
Slow-wave sleep
Definition
A term used for both stage 3 and 4 of sleep; characterized by slow, rolling eye movements, low cortical arousal, and slowed heart rate and respiration
Term
REM sleep
Definition
Sleep characterized by rapid eye movements, EEG patterns similar to wakefulness, speeded heart rate and respiration, near-paralysis of skeletal muscles, and highly visual dreams
Term
Activation-synthesis hypothesis
Definition
The hypothesis that dreams may be just a byproduct of the sleeping brain's activities, which are later assembled into a semicoherent narrative
Term
Hypnosis
Definition
A highly relaxed, suggestible state of mind in which a person is likely to feel that his actions and thoughts are happening to him rather than being produced voluntarily
Term
Depressants
Definition
Drugs that diminish activity levels in the nervous system
Term
Stimulants
Definition
Drugs that have activating or excitatory effects on the brain or bodily functions
Term
Hallucinogens
Definition
Drugs that powerfully change perception and can trigger sensory experiences in the absence of any inputs
Term
Withdrawal
Definition
A consequence of drug dependence that occurs when the drug is witheld, such that the person feels strong drug cravings and psychological and medical distress
Term
Drug tolerance
Definition
The diminished response to a drug that results from extended use, so that over time the user requires larger doses to experience the drug's effects
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