this is when our senory receptors...such as the nerves in our hands...feel some thing (senses something) and they  recieve and represent theses senses to perception part.

often these senses come from the outside environment...and these things are called stimuli: "A thing that rouses activity or energy in someone or something; a spur or incentive."

the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.

analysis that begins with sensory receptors and works up to brain's integration of sensory information.

so it means that this is the processing where the sensory (nerves in the fingers, sense of smell form the nose) sends its information from the part of the body that sensed the object up to the brain where it can then be precieved. 

information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations.

this is when our mind interrupts what our body is sensing and draws on it's cognitive memories ot conclude what the object is. It also interacts wiht the "bottom up processing" it's like the brain perception does not wait for the sensory input to reach the brain but instead it rushes ahead with a conclusion drawn on past experiance...and then "bottom-up processing" and "top-down processing" somehow meet in the middle. 

Psychophysics quantitatively investigates the relationship between physical stimuli and the sensations and perceptions they affect. 

this is a study on the physical properties of the stimuli that we can/do detect and then how these affect our psycholgical experiance/ reasoning. 

the study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli such as their intensity (like the rays of the sun and do we sense them) and our psychological experience (sense or not senseing) of them.

this is the smallest amount of a distinction or difference that a person can identify between two stimuli 50% of the time. 

the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time. We experience the different threshold as a just noticeable difference. (or JND)

the principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage. (rather than a constant amount)

so if we have 10 bags and i add 1 bag then i would need to add the same percentage to 100 bags.

100 bags don't add 1 add 10 in order for the minium difference to be seen. 

diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation.

ex. move oyur watch up one inch on your wrist...you will feel it there...but after a few moemnts your nerve cells will fire less quickly. 

our eyes convert light energy into neural messages that go to our brain and then help us process what we see.

There are two physical characteristics of light that help us determine our senses of them.

The wavelength is the distance form the peak of one light or sound-wave to the peak of the next.

Electromagnetic wavelengths vary form the short blips of cosmic rays to the long pulses of radio transmission.

this is the color we experiance...

the demention of color that is determined by the wave length of light; what we know as the color names blue, green, and so forth.

this is the other pyscial characteristic that helps us determine our sensory exerpiacne....

Intensity is the amount of energy in a light or sound wave, which we perceive as brightness or loudness, as determined by the waves amplitude.

the light sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing

1. the receptor rods and cones

 2. plus layers of neurons

that begin the processing of visual information.

retinal receptor cells that are

1. concentrated near the center of the retina and

2. that function in daylight or well lit conditions.

The cones detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations.

cones work well in the light...rods work well when twilight or darkness comes. 

the theory that a opposing retinal processes (red-green yellow-blue white-black) enables color vision. For example some cells are stimulated by green and inhibited by red; others are stimulated by red and inhibited by green.

basically saying that certain colors stimulate/ activate the response of certain cells. 

so certain colors repel certain cells and activate others so that it's color can be seen. 

the system for sensing the position and movement of individual body parts.

us sensing the movements and positions of our body through our joints, tendons, bones, skin...etc. 

the sense of body movements and positions, including the sense of balance.

monitors your head's, and tus your body's, postition and movement. helps wiht balance. 

this helps us wiht our postioning while kinestheis helps us know where we are positioned. 

the theory that the spinal cord contains a neurological "gate" that blocks pain signals or allows them to pass onto the brain. The "gate" is opened by the activity of pain signals traveling up small nerve fibers and is closed by activity in larger fibers or by information coming form the brain.

They say that the spinal cord contains small and large nerve fibers....they say that the small nerve fibers sontrol pain and send it when you are hurt...the large nerve fibers control sense and block off the sense of pain from reaching the brain. 

in vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field.

ex. mary had a

a little lamb. most people miss the repeated word.