PSY 499 3 & 4

Raw information from the senses

Process through which people take raw sensations from the environment and give them meaning, using knowledge, experience, and understanding of the world

• 1st step in sensations process
• Structures, such as the outer part of the eye, that modify a stimulas

• 2nd step in processing senstation 
• Process of converting incoming physical energy into neural activity
• takes place at the receptors

Cells specialized to detect certain types of energy and covert it into neural activity.

• Decreasing responsiveness to an unchanging stimuli
• example: eye glasses, wristwatch, smells

Translates the physical properties of a stimulus,   such as the loudness of a sound, into a pattern of neural activity that tells us what those physical properties are.

• Minimum amount of stimulus energy that can be detected 50 percent of the time.
• Varies because of internal noise and response criterion

Spontaneous, random firing of nerve cells that occurs because the nervous system is always active.

Internal rule a person uses to decide whether or not to report a stimulus.

Mathematical model of what determines a person's report of a near-threshold stimulus.

Ability to detect a stimulus

Law stating that the smallest detectable difference in stimulus energy (just-noticeable difference) is a constant fraction of the intensity of the stimulus.

Smallest detectable difference in stimulus energy

Distance between peaks in a wave of light or sound.

Number of complete waves or cycles, that pass a given point per unit of time.

Distance between the peak and the baseline of a wave.

Curved, Transparent, protective layer through which light rays enter the eye

Opening in the eye, just behind the cornea, through which light passes

Part of the eye that gives it its color and adjusts the amount of light entering it

part of the eye directly behind the pupil

surface at the back of the eye onto which the lens focuses light rays

Cornea -> Pupil --> Iris--> Lens--> retina--> fovea--> blind spot

Photoreceptors in the retina that allow sight even in dim lit but cannot discriminate colors

Photoreceptors in the retina that are less light-sensitive than rods but that can distinguish colors

Region in the center of the retina; where the eye focuses incoming light

Bundle of fibers that carries visual information to the brain

point at which the optic nerve exits the blindspot

Cells in the cortex that respond to a specific feature of an object

Essential color determined by the dominant wavelength of light

Theory of color vision stating that information from 3 types of visual elements combines to produce the sensation of color

Theory of color vision stating that the visual elements sensitive to color are grouped into red-green blue-yellow, and black-white pairs

How high or low a tone sounds; pitch depends on the frequency of a sound wave

Quality of a sound that identifies it

Crumbled part of the outer ear that collects sound waves

Tightly stretched membrane in the middle ear that generates vibrations that match sound waves striking it. Also known as the tympanic membrane

Fluid-Filled spiral structure in the inner ear in which auditory transduction occurs

Floor of the fluid-filled duct that runs through the cochlea

• Hammer (Malleus)
• Anvil (Incus)
• Stirrup (Strapes)

Theory of hearing stating that hair cells at a particular place on the basilar membrane respond most to a particular frequency of sound

Theory of hearing stating that the firing rate of an auditory nerve matches a sound waves frequency also know at the frequency-matching theory

Brain structure that receives messages regarding smell

Structures in the mouth on which taste buds are grouped

Theory suggesting the presence of a gate in the spinal cord that either permits or blocks the passage of pain impulses to the brain

Reduction in the sensation of pain in the presence of a normally painful stimulus

Referring to sensory systems that tell us about the location of our body parts and what each id doing.

Proprioceptive sense that tells us where the parts of the body are with respect to one another

Depth cue resulting when the eyes rotate to project the image of an object on each retina

Depth cue based on the difference between the retinal images received by each eye

Motion cue whereby rapid expansion in the size of an image fills the available space on the retina

Illusion in which light or images flashed in rapid succession are perceived as moving

Aspects of recognition guided by higher level cognitive processes and psychological factors such as expectations

Aspects of recognition that depend first on information about stimuli that come up to the brain from sensory systems