A.P. Psychology
Term
Sensation
Name: _______________________
Definition
the raw data of experience; sensory stimulation;
example are eyes only register light energy and
ears only register wave energy
Psychophysics
the mental process of sorting, identifying, and
arranging raw sensory data into meaningful
patterns; Ex. how we distinguish between music
and crying, how we take light and form a tree
Study of the relationship between physical stimuli
and the sensations they evoke in a human observer
Sensory coding
Codes used by sense organs to transmit
information to the brain
Perception
Gestalt
Absolute threshold
Difference
Threshold
Just-noticeable
difference
Weber’s law
Subliminal
perception
An organized whole. These psychologists
emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of
information into meaningful wholes.
minimal amount of energy required to produce any
sensation;
Differentiating between two distinct stimulus;
differs from one person to the other (and from
moment to moment); tells us the flexibility of
sensory systems
the smallest change in stimulation that you can
detect 50% of the time
developed the 1930s by Ernst Weber; the principle
that accounts for how one notices JND for any
sense by noticing a fraction or proportion of a
stimulus;
Below one's absolute threshold of conscious
awareness.
Color range detectable by our eyes
Visible spectrum
Light sensitive layer of cells at the back of the eye
Retina
Accommodation
what occurs when new information or experiences
cause you to modify your existing schemas.
The sense or act of hearing.
Audition
Application
A.P. Psychology
Cochlea
Name: _______________________
snail-shaped structure in the inner ear; contains
fluid that vibrate; attach the oval window and
basilar membrane
Difficulty focusing distant objects
Myopia
(nearsightedness)
Astigmatism
Defects in the cornea, lens, or eye that cause vision
to be unfocused
Caused by aging
Presbyopia
(farsightedness)
Cornea
transparent protective coating over the front of the
eye
Iris
the color part of the eye; made of muscle that
contracts/relaxes to control the size of the people
allowing light to enter the eye
Pupil
small opening in the center of the iris; color part of
the eye
Cones
Rods
Lens
Blind spot
visual receptor cells; located in retina; 8 million in
each eye; works best in bright light; chiefly
responsible for viewing color; greatest density in
the fovea
visual receptor cell; located in retina; 120 million in
each eye; respond to varying degrees of light and
dark; chiefly responsible for night vision and
perception of brightness
transparent part of the eye behind the iris; focuses
light on the retina; change shape to focus on
objects;-if object is closed, muscles attach to the
land contract to make lens around,-if object is far
away, the muscles pull to flatten the lens
Lack of receptors to supply information to the optic
nerve
Sharpness of an image
Visual acuity
Fovea
located on retina, directly behind lens; is a
depressed spot; Center a visual field; images are
sharpest here; contains mostly cones
A.P. Psychology
Trichromatic theory
Opponent-process
theory
Color blindness
Young-Helmholtz
theory
Ossicles
Hair cells
Organ of Corti
Pitch
Frequency theory
Place theory
Visual Cliff
Name: _______________________
created by Hermann von Helmholtz; theory of
color vision based on additive color mixing; suggest
that the retina contains three types of color
receptors, cones: red, green, blue
created by Edward Hering; alternative theory used
to explain after images; suggest that the retina
contains three pairs color receptors or conesyellow-blue, red-green, black-white; pairs work in
opposition
inability to see certain color combinations: redgreen or blue-yellow; 10% are male and 1% are
female
the manner in which the photoreceptor cells in the
eyes of humans and other primates work to enable
color vision
the middle ear; contains the hammer, anvil, and
stirrup which are the smallest three bones the
body; when the eardrum quivers it causes the
hammer, anvil, and stirrup to hit each other in
sequence, then carry the vibrations to the inner
ear; stirrup catch the oval window
Transducers that detect sound vibrations in the
cochlea
part of the inner ear; structure on service and
basilar membrane that connects thousands of tiny
hair cells (receptor cells) for hearing; each hair is
taught by fibers that push and pull the vibrations of
the basilar membrane and brain pools the
information
A tone's experienced highness or lowness; depends
on frequency.
In hearing, the theory that the rate of nerve
impulses travelling up the auditory nerve match
the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense
it's pitch.
one unto basic views of pitch discrimination; brain
determines pitch by the place on the basilar
membrane with the messages strongest; the
highest frequency sounds cause the greatest
vibrations at the stiff base of the basilar membrane
A laboratory device for testing depth perception
in infants and young animals.
A.P. Psychology
Conduction
deafness
Nerve deafness
Stimulation
deafness
Name: _______________________
Poor transfer of sound from the inner ear to the
ear drum.
Loss of hearing due to damaged inner ear hair cells
or auditory nerve
Damage caused by exposing the hair cells to
excessively loud sounds
Anosmia
The loss of the sense of smell, either total or
partial. It may be caused by head injury, infection,
or blockage of the nose
Pheromone
a chemical substance produced and released that
affects the behavior or physiology of others of its
species
Receptor organ for taste
Taste bud
Somesthetic senses
Kinesthetic sense
Sensations produced by the skin, muscles, joints,
viscera, and organs of balance
sense of muscle movement, posture, and strain on
muscles/joints; provides information on speed and
direction of movement; works with vestibular
sense
The sense of balance, gravity, and acceleration
Vestibular sense
Sensory conflict
theory
Sensory adaptation
Selective attention
Gate control theory
Mismatch of information from vision, vestibular
system, and kinesthesis, as in motion sickness
the change in the responsiveness of a sensory
system that is confronted with a constant stimulus.
This change can be positive or negative, and does
not necessarily lead to completely ignoring
a stimulus.
focusing on a particular object for a period of time
while simultaneously ignoring irrelevant
information that is also occurring.
the spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" that
blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the
brain. The "gate" is opened by the activity pain
signals travelling up the small fibers and is closed
by activity in larger fibers or by information coming
from the brain.
A.P. Psychology
Phantom limb
Figure-ground
organization
Depth perception
Name: _______________________
a phenomenon characterized by the experience of
pain, discomfort, orother sensation in the area of a
missing limb or other body part
The organization of the visual field into objects that
stand out from their surroundings.
The ability to see objects in three dimensions
although the images that strike the retina are twodimensional; allows us to judge distance.
Depth cues
visual messages/cues that require the use of two
eyes
Stereoscopic vision
Perception of space and depth due to the eyes
receiving different images
Apparent-distance
hypothesis
Context
Frame of reference
Illusion
Stroboscopic
movement
Muller-Lyer illusion
Size-distance
invariance (size
constancy)
An explanation of the moon illusion stating that the
horizon seems more distant than the night sky
describes the influence of environmental factors on
one's perception of a stimulus. The impact
of context effects is considered to be part of topdown design
complex set of assumptions and attitudes which
we use to filter perceptions to create meaning.
The frame can
include beliefs, schemas, preferences,
values, culture and other ways in which we bias
our understanding and judgment
a perception that represents what is perceived in a
way different from the way it is in reality.
brain perceives continuous movement in rapid
series of slightly varying images
Two equal length lines tipped with inward or
outward pointing V’s appear to be different lengths
perceive objects as having constant size even as
distance changes
Prioritizing the incoming sensory messages
Selective attention
A.P. Psychology
Name: _______________________
concentration on more than one thing.
Divided attention
Habituation
Decrease in perceptual response to a repeated
stimulus
Bottom-up
processing
Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and
works up to the brain's integration of sensory
information.
Top-down
processing
Perceptual
Adaptation
Perceptual
Constancy
Perceptual Set
(Expectancy)
Extrasensory
perception
Superposition
Phi
phenomenon
Information processing guided by higher-level
mental processes, as when we construct
perceptions drawing on our own experience and
expectations.
In vision, the ability to adjust to artificially
displaced or even inverted visual field.
Perceiving objects as unchanging (having
consistent shape, size brightness and color) even
as illumination and retinal images could change.
A mental predisposition to see one thing and not
another.
The controversial claim that perception can occur
apart from sensory input; includes telepathy,
clairvoyance, and precognition.
an object appears closer because the images
superimposed on the top of the other image;
example-one card laying on top of another card
illusion of apparent movement; caused by
flashing lights in the sequence; example-neon
lights
The sense of taste
Gustation
The sense of smell
Olfaction