4: Sensation, Attention, and Perception

Olfaction

________ (smell) and gustation (taste) are chemical senses that respond to airborne or liquefied molecules.

Eardrum

________: Membrane that vibrates in response to sound waves and transmits them inward.

Accommodation

________: Changes in the shape of lens of the eye to enable the seeing of close and far objects.

Salty

________ and sour tastes are triggered by a direct flow of ions into taste receptors, activating an action potential.

Cones

________: Photoreceptors that are sensitive to color.

Synesthesia

________: A perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory system creates perceptual experiences in another sensory system.

VR technology

________ allows clinicians to simulate real- life conditions for these clients, changing those conditions gradually as therapy progresses.

Transduction

________ is the process by which one form of energy is converted into another.

Sound waves

________ are the stimulus for hearing.

Fovea

________: Tiny spot in the center of the retina, containing only cones, where visual acuity is greatest.

Cochlea

________: Snail- shaped organ in the inner ear that contains sensory receptors for hearing.

Define

________ sensation and transduction, and outline what happens in the sensory organs during transduction.

Hallucination

________: Perception with no basis in reality.

Astigmatism

________: Defects in the cornea, lens, or eye that cause some areas of vision to be out of focus.

Noise

________- induced hearing loss is a common form of sensorineural hearing loss caused by exposure to loud ________.

Basilar membrane

________: Structure in the cochlea containing hair cells that convert sound waves into action potentials.

Blind

________ spot: Area in the retina where the optic nerve exits that contains no photoreceptor cells.

Pupil

________: The back opening inside the iris that allows light to enter the eye.

sensory organs

Sensation is the process by which ________ take in information from the environment, while perception is the process by which the brain interprets that information.

Illusion

________: A misleading or misconstructed perception.

creativity

However, mind- wandering may promote ________, relief from boredom, and the ability to plan for the future.

Dark adaption

________: Increased light sensitivity of the eye under low- light conditions.

Transducers

________: Devices that convert one kind of energy into another.

prior knowledge

Top- down processing: Perception guided by ________ or expectations.

Muller Lyer illusion

The ________ is the effect of seeing two straight lines- one with conventional arrowheads at its ends, and the other with V shapes at its ends- as being different lengths, even though they are actually the same.

Retinal disparity

________: Difference between the images projected onto each eye.

Perceptual construction

________: A metal model of external events.

sensory information

They help the brain to quickly process incoming ________ in ways that are usually accurate.

Attention

________ is also frequently related to contrast- change in stimulation.

Transducers

Devices that convert one kind of energy into another

Sensation

Conversion of energy from the environment into a pattern of response by the nervous system; also a sensory impression

Psychophysics

Study of how the mind interprets the physical properties of stimuli

Absolute threshold

Minimum amount of physical energy that can be detected 50 percent of the time

Difference threshold

Minimum difference in physical energy between two stimuli that can be detected 50 percent of the time

Sensory adaption

A decrease over time in sensory response to an unchanging stimulus

Perceptual features

Basic attributes of a stimulus, such as lines, shapes, edges, or colors

Feature detector

Cells in the cortex that respond to a specific attribute of an object

Hue

Color of light, determined by its wavelength

Saturation

Purity of hues

Brightness

Cause color to appear brighter or intense

Cornea

Curved, transparent, protective layer through which light enters the eye

Lens

Clear structure behind the pupil that bends light toward the retina

Accommodation

Changes in the shape of lens of the eye to enable the seeing of  close and far objects

Hyperopia

Having difficulty focusing on nearby objects (farsightedness)

Myopia

Having difficulty on distant objects (nearsightedness)

Astigmatism

Defects in the cornea, lens, or eye that cause some areas of vision to be out of focus

Presbyopia

Farsightedness caused by aging

Retina

Surface at the back of the eye onto which the lens focuses light rays

Cones

Photoreceptors that are sensitive to color

Rods

Photoreceptors for dim light that produce only black and white sensations

Visual acuity

The sharpness of visual perception

Blind spot

Area in the retina where the optic nerve exits that contains no photoreceptor cells

Optic nerve

Structure that conveys visual information away from the retina to the brain

Fovea

Tiny spot in the center of the retina, containing only cones, where visual acuity is greatest

Color blindness

A total inability to perceive color

Color weakness

An inability to distinguish some colors

Introduction to Psychology

Gateway to Mind and Behavior (16th Edition)

Peripheral (side) vision

Vision at the edges of the visual field

Dark adaption

Increased light sensitivity of the eye under low-light conditions

Pupil

The back opening inside the iris that allows light to enter the eye

Iris

Colored structure on the surface of the eye surrounding the pupil

Opponent-process theory of color vision

Proposition that color vision is based on coding things as red or green, yellow or blue, or black or white

Pitch

How high or low a tone sounds; related to the frequency of a sound wave

Loudness

The volume of a sound; related to the amplitude of a sound wave

Eardrum

Membrane that vibrates in response to sound waves and transmits them inward

Cochlea

Snail-shaped organ in the inner ear that contains sensory receptors for hearing

Basilar membrane

Structure in the cochlea containing hair cells that convert sound waves into action potentials

Hair cells

Receptor cells within the cochlea that transduce vibrations into nerve impulses

Conductive hearing loss

Poor transfer of sounds from the eardrum to the inner ear

Sensorineural hearing loss

Loss of hearing caused by damage to the inner-ear hair cells or auditory nerve

Noise-induced hearing loss

Damage caused by exposing the hair cells to excessively loud sounds

Frequency theory of hearing

Proposition that pitch is decoded from the rate at which hair cells of the basilar membrane are firing

Place theory of hearing

Proposition that higher and lower tones excite specific areas of the cochlea

Olfaction

Sense of smell

Gustation

Sense of taste

Somesthetic Sense

ability to "feel

Skin senses

The senses of touch, pressure, pain, heat, and col

Kinesthetic senses

The senses of body movement and positioning

Vestibular senses

Perception of balance, gravity, and acceleration

Anosmia

Smell blindness

Lock-and-key theory of olfaction

A theory holding that odors are related to the shapes of chemical molecules

Taste buds

Receptors for taste

Touch

First of somesthetic senses

Anaphia

loss of feeling

Warning system

Pain based on large nerve fibers; warns that bodily damage may be occurring

Reminding system

Pain based on small nerve fibers; reminds the brain that the body has been injured

Gate control theory

A theory proposing that pain messages pass through neural "gates" in the spinal cord

Multimodal integration

The process by which the brain combines information coming from multiple senses

Selective attention

Giving priority to a particular incoming sensory message

Attention is also frequently related to contrast

change in stimulation

Inattentional blindness

A failure to notice a stimulus because attention is focused elsewhere

Change blindness

A failure to notice that the background is changing because attention is focused elsewhere

Mind-wandering

The process by which attention is withdrawn from the physical environment to focus on internal events

Synesthesia

A perceptual phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory system creates perceptual experiences in another sensory system

Perception

Selection, organization, and interpretation of sensory input

Illusion

A misleading or misconstructed perception

Hallucination

Perception with no basis in reality

Perceptual construction

A metal model of external events

Bottom-up processing

Organizing perceptions by beginning with low-level features

Top-down processing

Perception guided by prior knowledge or expectations