Vocabulary | Vision | Other Senses | Perception | Stump's Stumpers |
---|---|---|---|---|
What is Sensation
The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.
|
What is Rods
Retinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don’t respond.
|
What is Taste
Along with smell, one of the two chemical senses.
|
What is Shape Constancy
Perceiving objects as having the same shape from different angles.
|
What is Red, Blue, Green
According to the Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic Theory, the retina has color receptors for these three colors that work together to perceive all other colors.
|
What is Perception
The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.
|
What is Retina
The light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information.
|
What is Cochlea
A coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger neural impulses.
|
What is Size Constancy
Perceiving objects as having the same size from different angles.
|
What is Sweet, Salty, Sour, Bitter, Umami
The five basic tastes.
|
What is Bottom-Up Processing
Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information.
|
What is Opponent-Process Theory
The theory that opposing retinal processes (red-green, yellow-blue, white-black) enable color vision; some cells are stimulated by one color and inhibited by its opposite.
|
What is Limbic System
Our sense of smell is a powerful trigger for memories because it is linked to this system of the brain.
|
What is Lightness Constancy
Perceiving objects as having the same brightness in different lighting.
|
What is Frequency
The number of complete wavelengths that pass a point in a given time; affects pitch in sound waves.
|
What is Top-Down Processing
Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations.
|
What is Fovea
The central focal point in the retina, around which the eye’s cones cluster.
|
What is Absolute Threshold
Sensing the tick of a watch at 20 feet under quiet conditions is an example of this for hearing.
|
What is Convergence
A binocular cue for perceiving depth by comparing images from the retinas in the two eyes; also known as retinal disparity.
|
What is Weber’s Law
The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant percentage.
|
What is Inattentional Blindness
Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere.
|
What is Cornea
The transparent protective coating over the front part of the eye.
|
What is Vestibular Sense
The sense of body movement and position, including the sense of balance.
|
What is Precognition
Perceiving future events; part of the claim that extrasensory perception (ESP) exists.
|
What is Gate-Control Theory
The theory that the spinal cord blocks pain signals or allows them to pass on to the brain.
|