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| The elementary components, or building blocks, of an experience |
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| The collection of processes used to arrive at a meaningful interpretation of sensations |
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| The small part of the electromagnetic spectrum that is processed by the visual system |
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| The dimension of light that produces color; hue is typically determined by the wavelength of light reflecting from an object |
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| The aspect of the visual experience that changes with light intensity; in general, as the intensity of light increases, so does its perceived brightness |
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| The process by which external messages are translated into the internal language of the brain |
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| The transparent and protective outer covering of the eye |
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| The flexible piece of tissue that helps focus light toward the back of the eye |
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| The hole in the center of the eye that allows light to enter |
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| The ring of colored tissue surrounding the pupil |
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| In vision, the process through which the lens changes its shape temporarily to help focus light on the retina |
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| The thin layer of tissue that covers the back of the eye and contains the light sensitive receptor cells for vision |
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| Receptor cells in the retina, located mainly around the sides, that transduce light energy into neural messages; these visual receptors are highly sensitive and are active in dim light. |
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| Receptor cells in the central portion of the retina that transduce light energy into neural messages; they operate best when light levels are high and they are primarily responsible for the ability to sense color |
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| The central pit area in the retina where the cone receptors are located |
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| The ability to process fine detail in vision |
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| In vision, the portion of the retina that, when stimulated, causes the activity of higher order neurons to change |
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| The point where the optic nerve leaves the back of the eye- there is no room for visual receptor cells here and so we cannot see objects that are in that area of our sight |
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| The process through which the eyes adjust to dim light- after about 7 or 8 minutes of being in the dark the rods take over |
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| Cells in the visual cortex that respond to very specific visual events, such as bars of light at particular orientations |
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| A theory of color vision proposing that color information is extracted by comparing the relative activations of three different types of cone receptors |
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| A theory of color vision proposing that cells in the visual pathway increase their activation levels to one color and decrease their activations levels to another color- for example, increasing red but decreasing green |
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| Processing that is controlled by the physical message delivered to the senses |
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| Processing that is controlled by one's beliefs and expectations about how the world is organized |
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| Gestalt Principles of Organization |
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| The organizing principles of perception proposed by the Gestalt psychologists. These principles include the laws of proximity, similarity, closure, continuation, and common fate |
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| Recognition by Components |
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| The idea proposed by Biederman that people recognize objects perceptually via smaller components called geons. |
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| Cues for depth that require input from only one eye |
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| Cues for depth that depend on comparisons between the two eyes |
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| A binocular cue for depth that is based on location differences between the images in each eye |
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| A binocular cue for depth that is based on the extent to which the two eyes move inward, or converge, when looking at an object |
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| An illusion of movement that occurs when stationary lights are flashed in succession |
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| Perceiving the properties of an object to remain the same even though the physical properties of the sensory message are changing |
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| Inappropriate interpretations of physical reality. perceptual illusions often occur as a result of the brain's using otherwise adaptive organizing principles |
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| The physical message delivered to the auditory system; a mechanical energy that requires a medium such as air or water in order to move |
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| The external flap of tissue normally referred to as the ear; it helps capture sounds |
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| The eardrum, which responds to incoming sound waves by vibrating |
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| The portion between the eardrum and the cochlea containing three small bones that help to intensify and prepare the sound vibrations for passage into the inner ear |
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| The bony, snail shaped sound processor in the inner ear where sound is translated into nerve impulses |
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| A flexible membrane running through the cochlea that, through its movement, displaces the auditory receptor cells, or hair cells |
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| The idea that the location of auditory receptor cells activated by movement of the basilar membrane underlies the perception of pitch |
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| the idea that pitch perception is determined partly by the frequency of neural impulses traveling up the auditory pathway |
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| Neurons that respond to a cooling of the skin by increasing the production of neural impulses |
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| Neurons that respond vigorously when the temperature of the skin increases |
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| An adaptive response by the body to any stimulus that is intense enough to cause tissue damage |
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| The idea that neural impulse generated by pain receptors can be blocked, or gated, in the spinal cord by signals produced in the brain |
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| In perception, the ability to sense the position and movement of ones body parts |
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| A receptor system attached to the inner ear that responds to movement and acceleration and to changes in upright posture |
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| Organs of the inner ear that contain receptors thought to be primarily responsible for balance |
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| Receptor cells that react to invisible molecules scattered about in the air or dissolved into liquids, leading to the senses of smell and taste |
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| Term used to describe the gustatory experience. Flavor is influenced by taste, smell, and the visual appearance of food, as well as expectations |
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| The receptor cells on the tongue |
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| A field of psychology in which researchers search for ways to describe the transition from the physical stimulus to the psychological experience of that stimulus |
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| The level of intensity that lifts a stimulus over the threshold of conscious awareness; it's usually defined as the intensity level at which people can detect the presence of the stimulus 50% of the time |
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| A technique used to determine the ability of someone to detect the presence of a stimulus |
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| The smallest detectible difference in the magnitude of two stimuli |
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| The principle stating that if the magnitude of a stimulus is already high, it will take a large increase in that magnitude to notice any change (ex: hard to notice when two candles are lit in a bright room) |
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| The tendency of sensory systems to reduce sensitivity to a stimulus source that remains constant |
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