Ap Psych Unit IV Vocab - Night Annotations

AP Psych Unit IV Vocab

Maddie Powell

1. Absolute threshold- the minimum stimulation needed to detect a stimulus 50 percent of the time
2. Sensory adaptation- temporary decrease in sensitivity to a stimulus that occurs when stimulation is unchanging
3. Transduction- A process by which sensory receptors produce neural impulses when they receive physical or chemical stimulation
4. Signal detection theory- A theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus ("Signal") amid background stimulation ("Noise"). Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and detection depends partly on a person's experience, expectations, motivation, and level of fatigue
5. Gate-control theory- pain is only experienced in the pain messages can pass through a gate in the spinal cord on their route to the brain
6. Rods- Located in the periphery of the retina, these are sensory receptors for vision that work best in reduced illumination, and only allow perception of achromatic colors, low sensitivity to detail and are not involved in color vision.
7. Cones- Cone-shaped visual receptor cells; located in retina; works best in bright light; responsible for viewing color; greatest density in the fovea
8. Blind-spot- The point at the back of the retina where the optic nerve leaves the eye. Since there are no visual receptor cells, this creates a small gap in field vision called the "blind spot."
9. Cochlea- A coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses
10. Sensation- The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.
11. Perception- The act of becoming aware through the senses
12. Bottom-up processing- analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information
13. Top-down processing- information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations
14. Selective attention- The focus of attention on one stimulus or task at the exclusion of other stimuli
15. Inattentional blindness- failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere
16. Change blindness- the tendency to fail to detect changes in any part of a scene to which we are not focusing our attention
17. Psychophysics- the study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them
18. Subliminal- below one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness
19. Priming- The activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response.
20. Difference threshold- the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time. We experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference. (Also called just noticeable difference or JND.)
21. Weber’s law- (difference threshold) The change needed is proportional to the original intensity of the stimulus. (5% for sound, 8% vision)
22. Wavelength- Horizontal distance between the crests or between the troughs of two adjacent waves
23. Hue- A shade of a given color
24. Intensity- The brightness of a light
25. Pupil- The adjustable opening in the center of the eye through which light enters
26. Iris- A ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening
27. Lens- The transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina
28. Retina- Contains sensory receptors that process visual information and sends it to the brain
29. Accommodation- The process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina
30. Optic nerve- the nerve that carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain
31. Fovea- The central focal point in the retina, around which the eye's cones cluster
32. Feature detectors- nerve cells in the brain that respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement
33. Parallel processing- The processing of several aspects of a problem simultaneously; the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions, including vision. Contrasts with the step-by-step (serial) processing of most computers and of conscious problem solving.
34. Young-Helmholtz trichromatic (three color) theory- The theory that the retina contains three different color receptors—one most sensitive to red, one to green, one to blue—which combined can produce the perception of any color
35. Opponent process theory- The theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision. For example, some cells are stimulated by green and inhibited by red; others are stimulated by red and inhibited by green
36. Audition- the sense or act of hearing
37. Frequency- How many waves can pass a given point per second, measured in Hertz (Hz)
38. Pitch- How high or low a sound is
39. Middle ear- the chamber between the eardrum and cochlea containing three tiny bones (hammer, anvil, and stirrup) that concentrate the vibrations of the eardrum on the cochlea's oval window
40. Conduction hearing loss- hearing loss caused by damage to the mechanical system that conducts sound waves to the cochlea
41. Sensorineural hearing loss- hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea's receptor cells or to the auditory nerves; also called nerve deafness
42. Cochlear implant- a device for converting sounds into electrical signals and stimulating the auditory nerve through electrodes threaded into the cochlea
43. Inner ear- the innermost part of the ear, containing the cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs
44. Place theory- in hearing, the theory that links the pitch we hear with the place where the cochlea's membrane is stimulated
45. Frequency theory- in hearing, the theory that the rate of nerve impulses traveling up the auditory nerve matches the frequency of a tone, thus enabling us to sense its pitch
46. Kinesthesis- the system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts
47. Vestibular sense- the sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance
48. Sensory interaction- the principle that one sense may influence another, as when the smell of food influences its taste
49. Gestalt- an organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.
50. Figure-ground- the organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground).
51. Grouping- the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups
52. Depth perception- the ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance
53. Visual cliff- a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals
54. Binocular cues- depth cues, such as retinal disparity, that depend on the use of two eyes
55. Retinal disparity- a binocular cue for perceiving depth; by comparing images from the two eyeballs, the brain computes distance - the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the close the object
56. Monocular cues- depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either eye alone
57. Phi phenomenon- an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession
58. Perceptual constancy- perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change
59. Color constancy- perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object
60. Perceptual adaptation- in vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field
61. Perceptual set- a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another
62. Extrasensory perception (ESP)- The controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input. Said to include telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition
63. Parapsychology- the study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis

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