psych 22

the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time.

• Amplitude

• Binocular cues

• Absolute threshold

• Difference threshold (Just noticeable difference)

Match the following

• Subliminal sensation

• monocular cue for depth perception; a gradual change from course, distinct texture to fine, indistinct texture signals increasing distance

• Texture gradient

• conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies into neural impulses

• Transduction

• information processing guided by higher-level mental process, as when we construct perceptions drawing out our experience and expectation.

• Top-down processing

• when one sort of sensation (such as hearing a sound) produces another (such as seeing color)

• Synaesthesia

• detection of stimuli below absolute threshold

Match the following

• Sensory receptors

• Gestalt grouping principle; we group similar figures together

• Signal detection theory

• diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.

• Sensory adaptation

• the process by which our receptors receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.

• Sensation

• a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimuli ("signal") amid background stimulation ("noise").

• Similarity

• Specialized structures that detect specific types of environmental stimuli and transduce them into neural signals

Match the following

• Retinal disparity

• a binocular cue for perceiving depth; by comparing the images of the retinas of the two eyes, the brain computes distance. The greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object

• Relative height

• monocular cue for depth perception; as we move, stationary objects seem to "move" as well. Objects above a fixation point move "with" us, objects below the fixation point move "past" us.

• Relative size

• ability to attend to only a limited amount of sensory information at one time

• Selective attention

• monocular cue for depth perception; if we assume two objects are similar in size, most people perceive the one that casts the smaller retinal image to be farther away

• Relative motion

• monocular cue for depth perception; we perceive objects higher in our visual field to be farther away. Explanation for why the "bottom" of a figure-ground illusion usually is interpreted as the "figure"

Match the following

• Psychophysics

• inability to recognize or perceive faces

• Prosopagnosia

• monocular cue for depth perception; objects that seem "fuzzier" or less clear are perceived to be farther away.

• Proximity

• Gestalt grouping principle; we group nearby figures together

• Priming

• the study of relationship between the physical characteristic of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them.

• Relative clarity

• Activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response

Match the following

• Phi phenomenon

• perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent shapes, size, lightness, and color) even as illumination and retinal images change

• Perceptual constancy

• an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in rapid succession

• Perceptual set

• mental predisposition to perceive a specific stimulus as one thing and not another (for example, due to suggestion or expectations based on prior learning)

• Perceptual adaptation

• the ability to adjust to an altered perceptual reality; in vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or inverted visual field (as when wearing visual displacement goggles).

the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information; enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.

• Perceptual set

• Perceptual adaptation

• Perceptual constancy

• Perception

Match the following

• Monocular cues

• monocular cue for depth perception; if one object partially blocks our view of another object, we perceive it as closer

• Light and shadow

• monocular cue for depth perception; nearby objects reflect more light to our eyes...thus, given two identical objects, the dimmer one seems farther away. Also, shading produces a sense of depth consistent with our assumption that light comes from above.

• Interposition

• depth cues that only require input from one eye; often used in 2D art to create illusion of depth

• Linear perspective

• monocular cue for depth perception; parallel lines, such as railroad tracks, appear to converge with distance. The more they converge, the greater the perceived distance

• Parapsychology

• the study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis

the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups

• Weber’s law

• Continuity

• Parapsychology

• Grouping

the controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input; includes telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition

• Depth perception

• Interposition

• Extrasensory perception (ESP)

• Perception