Terms

Sensation

• Example: Feeling the warmth of the sun on your skin.

  • Definition: the process by which sensory receptors detect and respond to sensory information from the environment.

• Example: Getting used to the smell of a scented candle after being in the room for a while.

  • Definition: the diminished sensitivity to a constant stimulus over time.

• Example: Seeing a cloud that looks like a familiar object, like an animal.

  • Definition: a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.

• Example: The brightness of a light or the loudness of a sound.

  • Definition: the amount of energy in a light or sound wave, which we perceive as brightness or loudness.

Sensory Receptors

•     - Example: Noticing a slight change in the brightness of a room.
      - Definition: the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time.

•    - Example: Photoreceptors in the eyes detecting light.
     - Definition: specialized cells or neurons that detect sensory stimuli and convert them into neural impulses.

•     - Example: Flashing a message too briefly for conscious awareness.
      - Definition: refers to stimuli below the threshold of conscious perception.

•     - Example: The transparent outer covering of the eye.
      - Definition: the clear outer layer of the eye that helps to focus incoming light.

Perception

•     - Example: Identifying a faint sound in a noisy environment.
      - Definition: how we make decisions about ambiguous sensory stimuli, considering both the strength of the stimulus and the individual's psychological state.

•     - Example: Flashing a message too briefly for conscious awareness.
      - Definition: stimuli below the threshold of conscious perception.

•     - Example: Conducting experiments to study the relationship between physical stimuli and psychological experiences.
      - Definition: a German philosopher and physicist who founded psychophysics and introduced the concept of the absolute threshold.

•  - Example: Recognizing a familiar face in a crowd.
     - Definition: the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.

Bottom-Up Processing

•    - Example: Examining individual puzzle pieces to understand the overall picture.
     - Definition: involves building perceptions from sensory input without relying on prior knowledge or expectations.

•     - Example: Explaining color vision by the activation of three types of color receptors (cones) sensitive to different wavelengths.
      - Definition: suggests that the eye detects colors by responding to three different color receptors.

•     - Example: The central focal point in the retina where visual acuity is the greatest.
      - Definition: the central focal point in the retina, around which the eye's cones cluster.

•     - Example: Conducting pioneering research on the organization and function of the visual cortex.
      - Definition:: neuroscientists who received the Nobel Prize for their work on the visual system.

Top-Down Processing

•  - Example: Using previous experiences to interpret an ambiguous image.
     - Definition: using pre-existing knowledge and expectations to interpret sensory information.

•     - Example: The area of the retina where the optic nerve leaves, resulting in no receptor cells.
      - Definition: the point at which the optic nerve leaves the eye, creating a small gap in the field of vision.

•     - Example: Enabling color vision and detail in bright light.
      - Definition: are photoreceptor cells in the retina that are responsible for color vision and detailed visual acuity.

•     - Example: The lens changing shape to focus on objects at different distances.
      - Definition: the process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina.