The Basics of Sensation
The process by which sensory receptors and the nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.
What is sensation?
The part of the eye that controls the amount of light entering.
The pupil (controlled by the iris).
The part of the ear that collects sound waves?
What is the outer ear (pinna)?
The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus.
What is selective attention?
Perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent color, shape, size) even as illumination and retinal images change.
What is perceptual constancy?
The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.
What is perception?
The light-sensitive inner surface of the eye containing receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin processing visual information.
What is the retina?
A coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear where sound waves trigger nerve impulses.
What is the cochlea?
Name two Gestalt grouping principles.
Examples: proximity, similarity, continuity, connectedness, closure.
The ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or inverted visual field.
What is perceptual adaptation?
The conversion of one form of energy into another — in sensation, transforming stimulus energies into neural impulses our brain can interpret.
What is transduction?
The point where the optic nerve leaves the eye — no receptor cells are located there.
What is the blind spot?
What is frequency and amplitude in sound?
Frequency determines pitch; amplitude determines loudness.
The ability to see objects in three dimensions, allowing us to judge distance.
What is depth perception?
A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another; influenced by expectations and experiences.
What is perceptual set?
The minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time.
What is absolute threshold?
What do rods and cones detect?
Rods detect black, white, and gray (for night vision); cones detect fine detail and color (function in daylight).
Different sound waves trigger activity at different places along the cochlea’s basilar membrane.
What is the place theory of hearing?
What is the Gestalt principle of figure-ground?
The organization of the visual field into objects (figures) that stand out from their surroundings (ground).
How do context effects influence perception?
The same stimulus can be perceived differently depending on its surroundings or situation.
A theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus amid background stimulation (depends on experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness).
What is signal detection theory?
The brain’s specialized neurons respond to specific features of the stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement.
What is feature detection?
What are kinesthesia and vestibular sense?
Kinesthesia senses position and movement of body parts; vestibular sense monitors head and body position (balance).
What are binocular vs. monocular cues?
Binocular cues depend on two eyes (e.g., retinal disparity); monocular cues depend on one eye (e.g., relative size, linear perspective).
How do culture and emotion affect perception?
Culture and emotional state can shape what we notice and interpret in sensory information.