Vocab
The process by which sensory systems receive stimuli from the environment.
What is sensation?
These light-sensitive cells in the retina are especially useful in dim light and detect black, white, and gray.
What are rods?
This process organizes and interprets incoming sensory information.
What is perception?
You stop noticing the feeling of your socks after wearing them for several minutes. What concept explains this?
What is sensory adaptation?
AS of 2026, this was voted the WORST halloween candy in the United States
Candy Corn
The process of converting physical stimuli, such as light or sound waves, into neural messages.
What is transduction?
This part of the eye contains photoreceptors and is where visual transduction occurs.
What is the retina?
You recognize a blurry word because the rest of the sentence helps you understand it. What type of processing is this?
What is top-down processing?
You fail to notice a person in a gorilla costume because you are focused on counting basketball passes. What is this called?
What is inattentional blindness?
Spider-Man
The minimum amount of stimulation needed to detect a stimulus about half the time.
What is the absolute threshold?
This nerve carries visual information from the eye toward the brain.
What is the optic nerve?
You identify an unfamiliar object by examining its shape, color, and individual features. What type of processing is this?
What is bottom-up processing?
You fail to notice that an object has moved between two nearly identical pictures. What is this called?
What is change blindness?
This famous horror movie was the first film in the horror genre to win an Academy Award for "Best Picture"
The Exorcist
The law stating that a detectable difference between stimuli depends on a constant minimum percentage of the original stimulus.
What is Weber’s law?
This sense helps you maintain balance and understand your body's orientation relative to gravity.
What is the vestibular sense?
You see an incomplete drawing and mentally fill in the missing parts to recognize the shape. Which Gestalt principle explains this?
What is closure?
A researcher secretly switches the option a person selected, and the person does not notice the change. What is this called?
What is choice blindness?
The famous Michael Myers mask is based on this actor, who gained popularity starring in the original "Star Trek"
William Shatner (Captain Kirk)
What are figure and ground?
Explain the difference between frequency and amplitude in sound waves.
Frequency determines pitch; amplitude determines loudness.
Explain how top-down and bottom-up processing differ, and provide an example of each.
Top-down uses prior knowledge and expectations (starts with finished puzzle)
Bottom-up begins with sensory details. (Starts with the pieces)
Explain how sensation and perception work together, including transduction and one reason perception may not perfectly represent reality.
Sensation receives stimuli, transduction converts them into neural messages, and perception interprets them. Attention, experience, and expectations can influence perception.
Stephen King, known as the "King of Horror" and possibly the most accomplished horror author ever, has written roughly how many horror novels?
30-35