Chapter 3: Sensation and Perception

Müller Lyer

________ illusion**: illusion of line length that is distorted by inward- turning or outward- turning corners on the ends of the lines, causing lines of equal length to appear to be different.

Vestibular Sense

________**: the awareness of the balance, position, and movement of the head and body through space in relation to gravitys pull.

Auditory

________ canal**: a short tunnel that runs from the pinna to the eardrum.

snail shaped structure

Cochlea**: ________ of the inner ear that is filled with fluid.

visual illusions

Reversible Figures**: ________ in which the figure and ground can be reversed.

special receptors

Sensation:** the process that occurs when ________ in the sense organs are activated, allowing various forms of outside stimuli to become neural signals in the brain.

Habituation

________**: the tendency of the brain to stop attending to constant, unchanging info.

visual stimuli

Dark Adaptation**: the recovery of the eyes sensitivity to ________ in darkness after exposure to bright lights.

monocular depth

Texture Gradient**: ________ perception cue, the tendency for textured surfaces to appear to become smaller and finer as distance from the viewer increases.

Gustation

________:** the sensation of taste.

meaningful fashion

Perception**: the method by which the sensations experienced at any given moment are interpreted and organized in some ________.

Volley Principle

________**: theory of pitch that states that frequencies from about 400 Hz to 4000 Hz cause the hair cells (auditory neurons) to fire in a volley pattern, or take turns in firing.

apparent brightness

Brightness Constancy**: the tendency to perceive the ________ of an object as the same even when the light conditions change.

visual sensation

Afterimage**: images that occur when a(n) ________ persists for a brief time even after the original stimulus is removed.

Signal Detection Theory

________**: provides a method for assessing the accuracy of judgments or decisions under uncertain conditions; used in perception research and other areas.

individual features

Top- Down Processing**: the use of preexisting knowledge to organize ________ into a unified whole.

visual sensory receptors

Rods**: ________ found at the back of the retina, responsible for noncolor sensitivity to low levels of light.

Cones

________**: visual sensory receptors found at the back of the retina, responsible for color vision and sharpness of vision.

outside stimuli

Transduction**: the process of converting ________, such as light, into neural activity.

binocular depth

Binocular Disparity**: ________ perception cue, the difference in images between the two eyes, which is greater for objects that are close and smaller for distant objects.

perceive objects

Figure- Ground**: the tendency to ________, or figures, as existing on a background.

visual stimuli

Light Adaptation**: the recovery of the eyes sensitivity to ________ in light after exposure to darkness.

monocular depth

Relative Size**: ________ perception cue, perception that occurs when objects that a person expects to be of a certain size appear to be small and are, therefore, assumed to be much farther away.

Auditory

________ nerve**: bundle of axons from the hair cells in the inner ear.

monocular depth

Aerial (atmospheric) perspective**: ________ perception cue, the haziness that surrounds objects that are farther away from the viewer, causing the distance to be perceived as greater.

monocular depth

Interposition**: ________ perception cue, the assumption that an object that appears to be blocking part of another object is in front of the second object and closer to the viewer.

monocular depth

Linear Perspective**: ________ perception cue, the tendency for parallel lines to appear to converge on each other.