Psychology Chapter 4

  1. Sensation
    A physical process: the stimulation of our sense organs by features of the outer world.
  2. Perception
    • A psychological process: the act of organizing and interpreting sensory experiences.
    • Ex. Recognize Language
  3. Sensory Adaption
    process by which our sensitivity diminishes when an object constantly stimulates our senses.
  4. Transduction
    When we know to attend to something; conversion of physical into neural information.
  5. Psychophysics
    • study of how people psychologically perceive physical stimuli.
    • Ex: light, sound, touch, taste.
  6. Absolute Threshold
    • lowest intensity level of a stimulus we can detect half of the time.
    • Ex: detect one teaspoon of sugar in two gallons of water.
  7. Signal Detection Theory
    the viewpoint that takes into account both stimulus intensity and the decision making processes people use when say whether they detect a stimulus.
  8. Difference Threshold
    also known as Just Noticeable Difference; smallest amount of change between two stimuli that a person can detect.
  9. Weber's Law
    the size of the JND is a constant fraction of the intensity of the stimuli.
  10. Perceptual Set
    • refers to the effect of frame of mind on perception. Our frame of mind which is coded in the brain, can impact how we perceive things.
    • Ex. Bruner & Minturn
    • depending on seeing a series of letters or number prior the person perceived "13" or "B"
  11. Cornea
    clear hard over that protects the lens; light enters here.
  12. Pupil
    light passes through liquid until it reaches a hole
  13. Iris
    the colored part of the eye & it adjusts the pupil to control the amount of light entering the eye.
  14. Lens
    bends the light into rays
  15. Accommodation
    the process by which the muscles control the shape of the lens to adjust to viewing objects at different distances.
  16. Retina
    • the thin layer of nerve tissue that lines the back of the eye.
    • -consists of several layers of cell
  17. Photoreceptors
    convert light energy into neural energy.
  18. Rods
    night vision; works the best at low illumination
  19. Dark Adaption
    the process of adjustment to seeing in the dark.
  20. Cones
    color vision; works the best in bright light.
  21. Visual Acuity
    our ability to see clearly depends on our cones
  22. Optic Nerve
    • carries visual information from the eye to the brain.
    • -Ganglion Cells
    • -Blind Spot
    • -Optic Chiasm
  23. Blind Spot
    point where optic nerve exits the eye.
  24. Optic Chiasm
    point at which strands of the optic nerve from half of each eye cross over to the opposit side of the brain.
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19838
Card Set
Psychology Chapter 4
Description
The terms used in Chapter 4 Psychology 201.
Updated