Sensation & Perception
This is the process of detecting information from the environment through sensory receptors.
What is sensation?
This property of light determines the color we see.
What is wavelength?
This is the psychological term for the sense of hearing.
What is audition?
These senses provide information about touch, temperature, pain, and body position.
What are the somatosenses?
These are the two chemical senses responsible for detecting odors and flavors.
What are olfaction and gustation?
This is the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information to give it meaning.
What is perception?
These photoreceptors help us see in dim lighting but do not detect color.
What are rods?
This property of a sound wave determines its loudness or intensity.
What is amplitude?
This system in the inner ear helps maintain balance and understand the body's position and movement.
What is the vestibular system?
These small structures on the tongue contain taste buds.
What are papillae?
This process converts sensory information into neural signals that the brain can interpret.
What is transduction?
These photoreceptors allow us to see color and fine details.
What are cones?
This is the external part of the ear that collects sound waves and directs them into the auditory canal.
What is the pinna?
Touch information travels through this structure after leaving the skin and before reaching the somatosensory cortex.
What is the spinal cord?
Unlike most neurons, these sensory cells have the ability to regenerate throughout a person's life.
What are olfactory receptor neurons?
This type of processing uses prior knowledge, expectations, and experiences to interpret sensory information.
What is top-down processing?
These depth cues can be used with only one eye and include linear perspective and relative size.
What are monocular cues?
This spiral-shaped structure in the inner ear contains fluid and plays an important role in hearing.
What is the cochlea?
This theory suggests that pain signals can be blocked or reduced by other sensory information.
What is gate theory?
This structure in the brain receives information from the olfactory nerve and helps process smell.
What is the olfactory bulb?
This is the minimum intensity of a stimulus that can be detected 50% of the time
What is the absolute threshold?
This theory explains color vision through three types of cones that respond to different wavelengths of light.
What is the trichromatic theory?
This theory explains pitch perception based on where vibrations occur along the basilar membrane.
What is place theory?
This effect occurs when someone experiences an improvement in symptoms because they believe a treatment will work, even if the treatment has no active medical effect.
What is the placebo effect?
These two brain structures help explain why smells can trigger strong emotional memories.
What are the amygdala and hippocampus?