Sensation and Perception

The process of taking in information from the environment

The way we recognize, interpret, and organize our sensations

Branch of psychology that deals with the effects of physical stimuli on sensory response

minimum amount of stimulus required to detect a stimulus over 50 percent of the time

The founder of psychophysics; discovered the absolute threshold

The idea that there are four possible outcomes for a detection experiment: yes, no, false yes, and false no

Point in which somebody can distinguish between two stimuli

Minimum amount of distance between two stimuli that can be detected

Discovered Weber's law; just noticeable difference is proportional to intensity of stimulus

The larger the stimuli, the more difference needed to be noticeable and vice versa

When we are presented with something so fast, we cannot consciously recognize it

The processing of presented stimuli

When we try to recall preconscious information that is not easily accessible, causing it to take longer to figure out

Cells of the sensory organs that are designed to detect specific types of energy

The area in which our receptor cells receive input

When our receptor cells convert stimuli into neural impulses

When sensory information travels from one side of the brain to the other

how receptors convey a range of information to the brain

What a stimulus is

how much of a stimulus there is

Firing rate and pattern of a single receptor cell can be measured in response to varying sensory input

when the eye receives light input from the outside world

an object as it exists in the environment

image of an object on the retina

protective layer outside the eye

Transparent structure behind the cornea that can change its curvature to account for distance

When the lens changes its curvature to account for distance

Screen in which the proximal stimulus is projected on, back of the eye; covered in rods and cones

Located on outside of retina, sensitive to low light

Located on the center of the retina(fovea), are sensitive to bright light and color vision

the center of the retina, where cones are densely packed

Provide pathway for visual input to the retina which then relays it to the optic nerve

ganglion cells that send visual sensory input to the brain, cross at the optic chasm

where the optic nerve crosses, explains why the left hemisphere controls right eye and vice versa

When brain computes information step by step in a methodical and linear manner

when brain computes multiple pieces of information at the same time

nerve cells that notice specific things, see and respond to just one piece of the puzzle.

the process by which sensory info becomes more complex and integrated

Discovered feature detectors and that mammals will develop normal vision so long as errors are corrected in the critical period

An optimal time for development shortly after birth that if missed, can lead to extreme developmental issues

Cones in the eye are activated by red, blue, and green light waves and all other colors are just a result of the mixture of said light waves

Thalamus responds to opponent pairs of receptor sets; black and white, red and green, etc.

When a specific visual receptor is fatigued, its opponent pair will take its place in order to create a lasting inverse image

People who cannot distinguish red and green or blue and yellow

People who only see in black and white, totally color blind

Sensory input in the form of sound waves

What first vibrates due to auditory input; the eardrum

Transfer vibrations from the tympanic membrane to the inner ear; made up of three small bones called the malleus, incus, stapes

Inside of the inner ear, has hairs that vibrate causing energy to be produced and sent to the auditory nerve

Give information to the body about position and balance, located in the inner ear

Sound waves generate activity at different places along the basilar membrane

We sense pitch because rate of neural impulses is equal to frequency of a particular sound

Deafness caused by injury to outer or middle ear structures

Deafness caused by impairment to structures between the cochlea and auditory cortex, inner ear deafness

The chemical sense of smell caused by sensory input to receptor cells that travels to the olfactory cortex and then the limbic system

Chemical sense of tastes created by five basic tastes: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami

Receptor cells on the skin that relay information about temperature, pressure, and pain

Pain slowly decreases due to a signal that is sent to opiate receptors in the spinal cord from the brain

Sensation of balance controlled by semicircular canals of inner ear

One's sense of body position and motion

When one sensory neuron is stimulated which leads to another being stimulated simultaneously

When we become accustomed to a stimulus and notice it less over time

When a stimulus we had not noticed or barely noticed changes and causes us to notice it once more

Focusing on one thing while ignoring another

When your attention automatically switches during deep attention; like somebody saying your name

an experimental method that requires people to repeat the attended message out loud; helps to study the cocktail party phenomenon

Stimuli must pass through a sort of screen to enter our attention

We only have a fixed amount of attention and it can be distributed depending on what is required in certain situations

Trying to focus on more than one task at a time

When we focus too much on one thing causing us to miss something else

Recognizing and analyzing an object by finding the features that make up a whole

When the brain labels a particular stimulus

Cues to interpret a scene using just one eye; they include relative size, texture gradient, interposition, linear perspective, vanishing point, aerial perspective, relative clarity, and motion parallax

Farther images project smaller images onto our retinas

Father objects appear smoother, closer object rounder and more defined

An object blocking something else is perceived as closer to us

parallel lines converge at a vanishing point

Closer objects appear more clear than farther objects due to the atmospheric haziness and debris that exists

Clearer images are closer to us, fuzzy images are farther

Farther objects appear to move slower than closer objects while we are moving

Rely on both eyes to interpret a scene; include retinal disparity, and retinal convergence

Difference between what each eye sees and the angles they see it at

When both eyes move inward to focus on a specific object

Image created from a fusion of the images in each retina

Developed the visual cliff test in order to study depth perception

A lab device that is half see through and half not, meant to test whether infants and young animals have depth perception

The closer an object is, the more different the image each eye has

based on top-down processing by labeling a figure based on the background it sits in

The tendency to see objects near each other as forming groups

The tendency to prefer grouping like objects together

Tendency to perceive forms that make up mirror images

The tendency to see closed objects rather than incomplete ones

Tendency to perceive fluid and continuous forms rather than jagged and irregular ones

We tends to see objects in their simplest forms

People respond to specific aspects of a particular stimulus

We know something is unchanged even though it appears different

Done in two ways: recording the changing position of an object and how much we move our heads

Something that appears to move but doesn't

A sign that blinks in one direction causing apparent motion even though the sign is unchanged

Still pictures that move at a fast enough rate to imply motion