TRANSDUCTION

changing incoming stimuli to neural signal

• ex: changing sound wave to audible noise

SENSORY ADAPTATION

sensory receptors stop responding due to constant stimulation

• ex:forgetting that your pencil is behind your ear 

SENSORY HABITUATION

a person chooses what stimulation to pay attention to

• ex: like reading this flashcard

COCKTAIL-PARTY PHENOMENON

When hearing your name you immediately focus your attention in the direction your name came from 

SENSATION

Picking up on incoming stimuli

• touch, audition, taste, vision, movement, smell

PERCEPTION

Reaction or organization to a stimuli

ENERGY SENSES

• audition
• vision

use energy waves that are transmitted to neural signals

CHEMICAL SENSES

• taste
• smell

VISION

Protective covering of eye

PUPIL

LENS

• located in back of eye
• focuses image
• rods and cones are located here

OPTIC NERVE

nerve that sends signals from your retina to your occipital lobe

part of the cerebrum (ceberal cortex) that senses visual stimuli

• located in back of ceberal cortex

light waves that are visible by the human eye

FOVEA

• Located around optic nerve (center eye)
• cones are located in fovea
• "foveal vision"- vision that sees detail

BLIND SPOT

lack of rods & cones due to optic nerve leaving retina

• lack of visual sensation

theory that we have three color receptors

• blue, red, green

COLOR BLINDNESS

lack of one or more color receptors

AFTERIMAGES 

when looking at image for long periods of time, vision receptors become adapted and project image even when you look away (in opposing colors)

OPPONENT-PROCESS THEORY

each color receptor has an opposing color that kicks in when viewing after images, or constant exposure to color

• red to green
• blue to yellow
• black to white
• green to red

HEARING

act of changing sounds waves to neural signal

COCHLEA

snail shaped part inside ear

• hair receptors that pick up vibrations
• also controls balance

PITCH THEORIES

• Two processes involved in hearing pitch
• place theory
• frequency theory

PLACE THEORY

theory that different frequency are picked up by different places on cochlea

FREQUENCY THEORY

• upper ranges picked up by hair receptors
• lower ranges determined by rate of firing

CONDUCTION DEAFNESS

portions of the inner ear have been damaged

SENSORINEURAL DEAFNESS

sensory receptors (hairs in cochlea) are damaged

TOUCH

• pressure
• cold
• warmth
• pain

By stimulating other touch sensations you can block pain fiber

• ex: massage during labor blocks labor pains

TASTE (GUSTATION)

• chemical sensation
• relies on smell

• Chemical sensation
• olfactory bulb used to gather smell stimulation (chemicals)

• orientation of head compared to body orientation
• controls balance
• uses cochlea inside ear to help keep balance

• controls orientation of specific muscles/body parts
• uses muscles and joints to send info to brain

smallest amount of stimulus a person can detect

DIFFERENCE THRESHOLD

(Just noticeable difference)

• Taking incoming stimuli and reacting to it/creating a perception
• uses motor neurons (efferent)
• Ex: if you remove your hand from a hot burner

• having a predisposition to see stimuli in a certain way
• created by schema
• ex: someone raised in the south may perceive the confederate flag differently than someone raised in the north

BOTTOM-UP PROCESSING

(feature analysis)

• using only sensation stimuli to create a perception

• Analyzing a picture as a whole
• Gestalt principles
• similarity
• closure
• proximity
• continuity

Figure-Ground

• Figure: what you focus on first in an image
• Ground: what you notice second

• Which image did you see first?
• If you saw the tree, the black is the figure, white is the ground
• If you saw the animals, white is the figure, black is the ground

Maintaining a constant mental image even when it visually changes.

• Ex: When a door is open we can still picture it closed

we mentally always know the size of an object even if we see it from a distance

• Ex: when a car is far away, we mentally know it is a normal sized car

COLOR CONSTANCY

(Brightness Constancy)

visual cues that help us see 3d

• depth cues that use one eye to see 3d
• Monocular Cues
• linear perspective
• relative size
• interposition
• light and shadow
• texture gradient
• relative motion

• Depth cues that use both eyes to determine depth
• Binocular Cues
• Retinal disparity: closer object is, start to see 2 different images
• Convergence: as object gets closer eyes turn inward