Sensation Basics
What is the process by which sensory receptors convert physical energy into neural impulses?
What is transduction?
What part of the eye controls the amount of light entering?
What is the pupil?
The sense of hearing.
What is audition?
The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information.
What is perception?
The sense of taste.
What is gustation?
This refers to the minimum stimulation needed to detect a stimulus 50% of the time.
What is the absolute threshold?
These photoreceptors are responsible for color vision and fine detail.
What are cones?
The fluid-filled, snail-shaped structure that converts sound vibrations into neural signals.
Processing that begins with sensory receptors and works up to the brain
What is bottom-up processing?
The sense of smell.
What is olfaction?
The smallest difference between two stimuli that can be detected 50% of the time.
What is the difference threshold?
These photoreceptors are most sensitive in dim light and detect black, white, and gray.
What are rods?
The theory that explains pitch perception based on where the cochlea is stimulated.
What is the place theory?
Processing influenced by expectations, experiences, and prior knowledge.
What is top-down processing?
The five basic taste sensations recognized by psychologists
What are sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami?
What is another name for the difference threshold?
What is the just noticeable difference (JND)?
The area of the retina where cones are densely packed, allowing sharp vision.
What is the fovea?
DAILY DOUBLE: What are the three tiny bones amplify sound vibrations in the middle ear?
What are the hammer (malleus), anvil (incus), and stirrup (stapes)?
Focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus while ignoring others
What is selective attention?
This explains why adding 1 pound is noticeable to a 5-pound weight but not to a 50-pound weight
What is Weber's law?
What is the principle stating that the JND is a constant proportion of the original stimulus?
What is Weber’s Law?
The point where the optic nerve exits the eye, creating a blind spot.
What is the optic disc?
This structure vibrates when sound waves hit it, beginning the hearing process.
This theory explains how we detect signals amid noise, considering hits, misses, and false alarms.
What is signal-detection theory?
Becoming less aware of a smell after being exposed to it for a long time is an example of this
What is sensory adaptation?