Term
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Definition
The processes that organize information in the sensory image
and interpret it as having been produced by properties of objects or
events in the external, three-dimensional world. |
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Term
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Definition
The process by which stimulation of a sensory receptor gives
rise to neural impulses that result in an experience, or awareness, of
conditions inside or outside the body. |
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Term
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Definition
The processes that put sensory information
together to give the perception of a coherent scene over the whole
visual field. |
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Term
| identification and recognition |
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Definition
Two ways of attaching meaning to
percepts. |
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Term
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Definition
In the processes of perception, the physical object in the
world, as contrasted with the proximal stimulus, the optical image on
the retina. |
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Term
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Definition
The optical image on the retina; contrasted with the
distal stimulus, the physical object in the world. |
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Term
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Definition
The study of the correspondence between physical
simulation and psychological experience. |
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Term
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Definition
The minimum amount of physical energy needed to
produce a reliable sensory experience; operationally defined as the
stimulus level at which a sensory signal is detected half the time. |
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Term
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Definition
A graph that plots the percentage of detections of
a stimulus (on the vertical axis) for each unit of stimulus intensity (on
the horizontal axis). |
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Term
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Definition
A phenomenon in which receptor cells lose their
power to respond after a period of unchanged stimulation; allows a
more rapid reaction to new sources of information. |
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Term
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Definition
The systematic tendency as a result of nonsensory factors
for an observer to favour responding in a particular way. |
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Term
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Definition
A systematic approach to the problem of response
bias that allows an experimenter to identify and separate the roles of
sensory stimuli and the individual’s criterion level in producing the
final response. |
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Term
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Definition
The smallest physical difference between two stimuli
that can still be recognized as a difference; operationally defined as the
point at which the stimuli are recognized as different half of the time. |
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Term
| just noticeable difference |
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Definition
The smallest difference between two sensations
that allows them to be discriminated. |
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Term
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Definition
An assertion that the size of a difference threshold is
proportional to the intensity of the standard stimulus. |
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Term
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Definition
Transformation of one form of energy into another; for
example, light is transformed into neural impulses. |
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Term
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Definition
Specialized cells that convert physical signals into
cellular signals that are processed by the nervous system. |
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Term
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Definition
1. The process by which the ciliary muscles change the
thickness of the lens of the eye to permit variable focusing on near and
distant objects. 2. According to Piaget, the process of restructuring or
modifying cognitive structures so that new information can fit into
them more easily; this process works in tandem with assimilation. |
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Term
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Definition
The layer at the back of the eye that contains photoreceptors and
converts light energy to neural responses. |
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Term
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Definition
| Receptor cells in the retina that are sensitive to light. |
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Term
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Definition
Photoreceptors concentrated in the periphery of the retina that are
most active in dim illumination; rods do not produce sensation of
colour. |
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Term
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Definition
Photoreceptors concentrated in the centre of the retina that are
responsible for visual experience under normal viewing conditions for
all experiences of colour. |
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Term
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Definition
The gradual improvement of the eyes’ sensitivity after a
shift in illumination from light to near darkness. |
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Term
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Definition
Area of the retina that contains densely packed cones and forms the
point of sharpest vision. |
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Term
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Definition
Nerve cells in the visual system that combine impulses from
many receptors and transmit the results to ganglion cells. |
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Term
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Definition
Cells in the visual system that integrate impulses from
many bipolar cells in a single firing rate. |
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Term
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Definition
The cells that integrate information across the retina;
rather than sending signals toward the brain, horizontal cells connect
receptors to each other. |
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Term
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Definition
Cells that integrate information across the retina; rather
than sending signals toward the brain, amacrine cells link bipolar cells
to other bipolar cells and ganglion cells to other ganglion cells. |
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Term
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Definition
The axons of the ganglion cells that carry information from
the eye toward the brain. |
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Term
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Definition
The area of the visual field to which a neuron in the visual
system responds. |
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Term
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Definition
The dimension of colour space that captures the qualitative
experience of the colour of light. |
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Term
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Definition
The dimension of colour space that captures the purity and
vividness of colour sensations. |
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Term
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Definition
The dimension of colour space that captures the intensity of
light. |
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Term
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Definition
Colours opposite each other on the colour circle;
when additively mixed, they create the sensation of white light. |
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Term
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Definition
The theory that there are three types of colour
receptors that produce the primary colour sensations of red, green, and
blue. |
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Term
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Definition
The theory that all colour experiences arise
from three systems, each of which includes two “opponent” elements
(red versus green, blue versus yellow, and black versus white). |
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Term
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Definition
Sound quality of highness or lowness; primarily dependent on the
frequency of the sound wave. |
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Term
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Definition
A perceptual dimension of sound influenced by the amplitude
of a sound wave; sound waves in large amplitudes are generally
experienced as loud and those with small amplitudes as soft. |
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Term
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Definition
The dimension of auditory sensation that reflects the complexity
of a sound wave. |
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Term
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Definition
The primary organ of hearing; a fluid-filled coiled tube located in
the inner ear. |
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Term
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Definition
A membrane in the cochlea that, when set into
motion, stimulates hair cells that produce the neural effects of auditory
stimulation. |
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Term
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Definition
The nerve that carries impulses from the cochlea to the
cochlear nucleus of the brain. |
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Term
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Definition
The theory that different frequency tones produce
maximum activation at different locations along the basilar membrane,
with the result that pitch can be coded by the place at which activation
occurs. |
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Term
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Definition
The theory that a tone produces a rate of vibration in
the basilar membrane equal to its frequency, with the result that pitch
can be coded by the frequency of the neural response. |
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Term
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Definition
An extension of frequency theory, which proposes that
when peaks in a sound wave come too frequently for a single neuron to
fire at each peak, several neurons fire as a group at the frequency of the
stimulus tone. |
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Term
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Definition
The auditory processes that allow the spatial origins of
environmental sounds. |
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Term
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Definition
The centre where odour-sensitive receptors send their
signals, located just below the frontal lobes of the cortex. |
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Term
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Definition
Chemical signals released by an organism to communicate
with other members of the species; pheromones often serve as
long-distance sexual attractors. |
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Term
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Definition
The skin senses that register sensations or pressure,
warmth, and cold. |
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Term
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Definition
The sense that tells how one’s own body is oriented in the
world with respect to gravity. |
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Term
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Definition
The sense concerned with bodily position and
movement of the body parts relative to one another. |
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Term
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Definition
The body’s response to noxious stimuli that are intense enough to
cause, or threaten to cause, tissue damage. |
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Term
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Definition
A theory about pain modulation that proposes that
certain cells in the spinal cord act as gates to interrupt and block some
pain signals while sending others to the brain. |
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Term
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Definition
Sensations that appear to originate in a limb that has
been amputated. |
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Term
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Definition
A state of focused awareness on a subset of the available
perceptual information. |
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Term
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Definition
A determinant of why people select some parts of
sensory input for further processing; reflects the choices made as a
function of one’s own goals. |
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Term
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Definition
A determinant of why people select some parts
of sensory input for further processing; occurs when features of
stimuli—objects in the environment—automatically capture attention,
independent of the local goals of a perceiver. |
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Term
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Definition
An experimental technique in which a different
auditory stimulus is simultaneously presented to each ear. |
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Term
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Definition
Objectlike regions of the visual field that are distinguished from
the background. |
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Term
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Definition
The backdrop or background areas of the visual field, against
which figures stand out. |
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Term
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Definition
A school of psychology that maintains that
psychological phenomena can be understood only when viewed as
organized, structured wholes, not when broken down into primitive
perceptual elements. |
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Term
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Definition
The simplest form of apparent motion: the movement
illusion in which one or more stationary lights going on and off in
succession are perceived as a single moving light. |
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Term
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Definition
The displacement between the horizontal positions of
corresponding images in the two eyes. |
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Term
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Definition
The degree to which the eyes turn inward to fixate on an
object. |
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Term
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Definition
A source of information about depth in which
the relative distances of objects from a viewer determine the amount
and direction of their relative motion in the retinal image. |
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Term
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Definition
The ability to retain an unchanging percept of an
object despite variations in the retinal image. |
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Term
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Definition
The ability to perceive the true size of an object despite
variations in the size of its retinal image. |
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Term
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Definition
The ability to perceive the true shape of an object despite
variations in the shape of the retinal image. |
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Term
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Definition
The tendency to perceive the whiteness, greyness, or
blackness of objects as constant across changing levels of illuminations. |
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Term
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Definition
Property of perceptual object that may have more than one
interpretation. |
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Term
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Definition
An experience of a stimulus pattern in a manner that is demonstrably
incorrect but shared by others in the same perceptual environment. |
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Term
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Definition
Perceptual analyses based on the sensory data
available in the environment; results of analysis are passed upward
toward more abstract representations. |
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Term
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Definition
Perceptual processes in which information from an
individual’s past experience, knowledge, expectations, motivations, and
background influence the way a perceived object is interpreted and
classified. |
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Term
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Definition
A temporary readiness to perceive or react to a stimulus in a particular
way. |
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