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Chapter 4 Sensation and Perception
Sensation and Perception
31
Psychology
Undergraduate 1
01/25/2011

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Term
absolute threshold
Definition
The stimulus level at which a sensory signal is detected half the time
Term
ambiguity
Definition
property of perceptual object that may have more than one interpretation
Term
attention
Definition
a state of focused awareness on a subset of the available perceptual information
Term
basilar membrane
Definition
A membrane in the cochlea that, when set into motion, stimulates hair cells that produce the neural effects of auditory stimulation
Term
blind spot
Definition
The region of the retina where the optic nerve leaves the back of the eye; no receptors cells are present in this region
Term
cochlea
Definition
The primary organ of hearing; a fluid-filled coiled tube located in the inner ear
Term
cone
Definition
One of the photoreceptors concentrated in the center of the retina that are responsible for visual experience under normal viewing conditions for all experiences of color
Term
convergence
Definition
the degree to which the eyes turn inward to fixate on an object
Term
difference threshold
Definition
The smallest physical difference between two stimuli that can still be recognized as a difference; operationally defined as the point at which the stimuli are recognized as different half of the time.
Term
frequency theory
Definition
The theory that a tone produces a rate of vibration in the basilar membrane equal to its frequency, with the result that pitch can be coded by the frequency of the neural response
Term
Gestalt psychology
Definition
A school of psychology that maintains that psychological phenomena can be understood only when viewed as organized, structured wholes, not when broken down into primitive perceptual elements.
Term
goal-directed selection
Definition
a determinant of why people select some parts of sensory input for further processing; it reflects the choices made as a function of one's own goals
Term
hue
Definition
The dimension of color space that captures the qualitative experience of the color of light
Term
just noticeable difference
Definition
The smallest difference between two sensations that allows them to be discriminated
Term
kinesthetic sense
Definition
The sense concerned with bodily position and movement of the body parts relative to one another
Term
perception
Definition
The processes that organize information in the sensory image and interpret it as having been produced by properties of objects or events in the external, three-dimensional world
Term
pheromone
Definition
Chemical signal released by an organism to communicate with other members of the species; pheromones often serve as long-distance sexual attractors
Term
place theory
Definition
The theory that different frequency tones produce maximum activation at different locations along the basilar membrane, with the result that pitch can be coded by the place at which activation occurs.
Term
proximal stimulus
Definition
The optical image on the retina
Term
psychophysics
Definition
The study of the correspondence between physical simulation and psychological experience
Term
receptive field
Definition
The area of the visual field to which a neuron in the visual system responds.
Term
response bias
Definition
The systematic tendency a result of nonsensory factors for an observer to favor responding in a particular way
Term
sensation
Definition
The process by which stimulation of a sensory receptor gives rise to neutral impulses that result in an experience, or awareness, of conditions inside or outside the body
Term
signal detection theory
Definition
A systematic approach to the problem of response bias that allows an experimenter to identify and separate the roles of sensory stimuli and the individual's criterion level in producing the final response.
Term
sound localization
Definition
The auditory processes that allow the spatial origins of the environmental sounds.
Term
vestibular sense
Definition
The sense that tells how one's own body is oriented in the world with respect to gravity.
Term
weber's law
Definition
An assertion that the size of a difference threshold is proportional to the intensity of the standard stimulus
Term
shape constancy
Definition
the ability to perceive the true shape of an object despite variations in the size of the retinal image
Term
gate-control theory
Definition
a theory about pain modulation that proposes that certain cells in the spinal cord act as gates to interrupt and block some pain signals while sending others to the brain.
Term
transduction
Definition
Transformation of one form of energy into another; for example, light is transformed into neutral impulses
Term
distal stimulus
Definition
In the processes of perception, the physical object in the world, as contrasted with the proximal stimulus, the optical image on the retina
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