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The minimum amount of stimulation needed for a person to detect a stimulus 50% of the time
Absolute threshold
The process of converting physical energy from the environment (like light or sound) into neuralchemical signals that the brain can understand and interpret.
Transduction
The smallest amount by which two stimuli must differ for a person to perceive them as different 50% of the time.
Just-Noticeable Difference (JND)
The process where sensory systems become less sensitive to a constant, unchanging stimulus over time
Sensory Adaptation
Neurological condition where one sense triggers another, such as seeing colors when hearing music.
Synesthesia (Sensory interaction)
Light-sensitive layer at the back of the eye that contains photoreceptor cells (rods and cones)
Retina
The sensation of pain or other feelings in an amputated limb
The ability of an organism to discover the location of something producing sound waves based on things like intensity and timing.
Sound Localization
Chemical substances secreted by animals (including humans) that have an effect on behavior or physiology within their own species.
Pheromones
The system responsible for balance and movement. It uses fluid-filled structures in the inner ear.
Vestibular sense
A permanent hearing impairment caused by damage to the inner ear's hair cells or the auditory nerve
Sensorineural deafness
The sense of taste
Gustation: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami,
oleogustus (fat)
A vision condition where distant objects appear blurry because the eye focuses images in front of the retina instead of directly on it.
Nearsightedness
Small area in the retina where there are no photoreceptor cells there
Blind Spot
The process where the eye becomes more sensitive to light when moving from a bright to a dim environment
Dark Adaptation
How the visual system processes color in three opposing pairs: red-green, blue-yellow, and black-white.
Opponent-Process theory
Visual sensations that persist after the original stimulus has been removed
Afterimages
Photoreceptor cells in the retina responsible for color vision and sharp, detailed perception in bright light
Cones
The central pit in the retina that provides the sharpest, most detailed vision.
Fovea
Proposes that color vision is made possible by three types of cone receptors in the retina, each sensitive to different wavelengths of light: red, green, and blue
Trichromatic Theory
The highness or lowness of a sound, determined by its frequency
Pitch
The theory which suggests the brain perceives pitch based on the speed at which neurons in the auditory system fire to match the frequency of sound waves.
Frequency Theory
A type of color vision deficiency where an individual can only perceive two out of the three color pairs
Dichromatism
The theory which suggests that we perceive sound pitch based on the location of hair cell stimulation along the basilar membrane in the cochlea.
Place theory
The theory which proposes that pain is modulated by a "gate" in the spinal cord that can be opened or closed by a combination of physical and psychological factors
Gate Control Theory