BASICS
This is detecting information through your senses.
sensation
The colored part of your eye that controls pupil size.
iris
This part of the ear collects sound waves from the environment.
pinna
This condition refers to the complete loss of the sense of smell.
anosmia
When you stop noticing your perfume after wearing it for 10 minutes, this is happening.
sensory adaptation
The brain organizing and interpreting sensory information.
perception
These receptors detect black and white and work best in dim light.
rods
This tube carries sound waves from the outer ear to the eardrum.
ear canal
When you smell a dirty diaper, tiny particles in this state of matter are entering your nose.
gas (gaseous state)
This condition makes it difficult to distinguish certain colors due to cone deficiency.
color blindness
The smallest stimulus detected 50% of the time.
absolute threshold
The part of the brain that processes visual information.
occipital lobe
The snail-shaped structure in the inner ear.
cochlea
This sense, located in the inner ear, helps you maintain balance and detect head movement.
vestibular sense
This happens when you focus on one thing and ignore everything else.
selective attention
The smallest change between two stimuli that you can detect.
difference threshold (JND)
This clear outer layer of the eye protects it and bends light as it enters.
cornea
This membrane vibrates when sound waves hit it.
eardrum
This sense allows you to know where your body parts are and how they are moving without looking at them.
kinesthetic sense
This happens when you fail to notice something obvious because your attention is somewhere else.
inattentional blindness
This law says noticeable change depends on percentage, not exact amount.
Weber’s Law
The area with no receptors where the optic nerve exits.
blind spot
The three tiny bones in the middle ear.
malleus, incus, and stapes
Also acceptable: hammer (malleus), anvil (incus), and stirrup (stapes).
This “little man” brain map shows which body parts are most sensitive, such as the hands and lips.
homunculus
Seeing the opposite color after staring at something too long is called this visual phenomenon.
afterimage