Sensation Basics
The process of receiving and detecting energy from the environment through sensory organs.
What is sensation?
Photoreceptors that allow us to see color.
What are cones?
The snail-shaped structure in the inner ear where transduction of sound occurs.
What is the cochlea?
The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information.
What is perception?
The principle that we separate objects from their background.
What is figure-ground?
The process of converting sensory stimuli like light or sound waves into neural signals.
What is transduction?
Photoreceptors that allow us to see in dim light.
What are rods?
The number of cycles completed by a sound wave in a second, determining pitch.
What is frequency?
Processing that starts with raw sensory input and builds upward.
What is bottom-up processing?
The principle that groups objects close together as belonging together.
What is proximity?
This principle states that sensory systems become less responsive after prolonged exposure to an unchanging stimulus.
What is sensory adaptation?
The point where the optic nerve exits the eye, creating an area without photoreceptors.
What is the blind spot?
Hearing loss caused by damage to the cochlea’s hair cells.
What is sensorineural hearing loss?
Recognizing a door as rectangular even when viewed at an angle is an example of this.
What is perceptual constancy (shape constancy)?
The principle that groups objects that look alike.
What is similarity?
The minimum amount of stimulation needed to detect a stimulus at least 50% of the time.
What is the absolute threshold?
The part of the eye where light is focused and transduction occurs.
What is the retina?
The three small bones in the middle ear that transmit vibrations.
What are the hammer, anvil, and stirrup?
What are the malleus, incas, and stapes?
Processing that relies on prior knowledge, context, and expectations.
What is top-down processing?
The principle that makes us see smooth, continuous patterns instead of broken ones.
What is continuity?
This term refers to the smallest detectable difference between two stimuli.
What is the difference threshold or just noticeable difference (JND)?
This theory of color vision explains afterimages by suggesting opposite pairs of colors.
What is the opponent-process theory?
The physical strength or height of a sound wave, perceived as loudness.
Cues that require both eyes, such as retinal disparity and convergence, are known as what?
What are binocular cues?
The Gestalt law that states we perceive the simplest, most stable form possible.
What is the Law of Prägnanz?