Download Unit 4 Study Guide

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Name:____________________________________________ Hour:____________ Date:____________
Unit 4 Sensation and Perception
Use SQ3R: Survey, Question, Read, Rehearse, and Review every section you read.
Introduction and Sensing the World: Some Basic Principles (pp 114-124)
1: Contrast sensation and perception, and explain the difference between bottom-up and top-down
processing.
2: Discuss how our perceptions are directed and limited by selective attention, noting how we may or
may not be affected by unattended stimuli.
3. Distinguish between absolute and difference thresholds, and discuss whether we can sense and be
affected by subliminal or unchanging stimuli.
Define in 5 words or less:
Sensation:
Perception:
Bottom-up processing:
Top-down precession:
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Psychophysics:
Change blindness:
Inattentional blindness:
Selective Attention:
Absolute Threshold:
Signal Detection Theory:
Subliminal:
Priming:
Difference threshold:
Weber’s law:
Sensory adaptation:
Gustav Fechner:
Ernest Weber:
Vision (pp 124-133)
4: Describe the characteristics of visible light, and explain the process by which the eye converts light
energy into neural messages.
5: Discuss the different levels of processing that occur as information travels from the retina to the
brain’s cortex.
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6: Define parallel processing, and discuss its role in visual information processing.
7: Explain how the Young-Helmholtz and opponent-process theories help us understand color vision.
Define in 5 words or less:
Transduction:
Wavelength
Hue:
Intensity:
Pupil:
Iris:
Lens:
Retina:
Accommodation:
Rods:
Cones:
Optic nerve:
Blind spot:
Fovea:
Feature detectors:
Parallel processing:
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Young-Helhholtz Trichromatic (three-color theory) Theory:
Opponent-Process Theory:
David Hubel & Torsten Wiesel:
Hearing (pp 133-140)
8: Describe the auditory process, including the stimulus input and the structure and function of the ear.
9: Contrast place and frequency theories, and explain how they help us to understand pitch perception.
10: Describe how we pinpoint sounds, and contrast the two types of hearing loss.
11: Describe how cochlear implants function, and explain why Deaf culture advocates object to these
devices.
Define in 5 words or less:
Audition:
Frequency:
Pitch:
Middle ear:
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Cochlea:
Inner ear:
Place theory:
Frequency Theory:
Conduction hearing loss:
Sensorineural hearing loss:
Cochlear implant:
Other Senses (pp 141-150)
12: Describe the sense of touch, and distinguish between kinesthesis and the vestibular sense.
13: State the purpose of pain, and describe the biopsychosocial approach to pain.
14: Describe the senses of taste and smell, and comment on the nature of sensory interaction.
Define in 5 words or less:
Kinesthesis:
Vestibular sense:
Sensory interaction:
Gate-control theory:
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Perceptual Organization (pp 151-159)
15: Describe Gestalt psychology’s contribution to our understanding of perception, and identify
principles of perceptual grouping in form perception.
16: Explain the binocular and monocular cues we use to perceive depth.
17: State the basic assumption we make in our perceptions of motion, and explain how those perceptions
can be deceiving.
18: Explain how perceptual constancies help us to organize our sensations into meaningful.
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Define in 5 words or less:
Kinesthesis:
Vestibular sense:
Sensory interaction:
Gate-control theory:
Gestalt:
Figure-ground:
Grouping:
Depth perception:
Visual cliff:
Binocular cues:
Retinal disparity:
Convergence:
Monocular cues:
Relative size:
Interposition:
Relative clarity:
Texture gradient:
Relative height:
Relative motion:
Linear perspective:
Light and shadow:
Phi phenomenon:
Perceptual constancy:
Color constancy:
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Perceptual Interpretation (pp 159-165)
19: Describe the contributions of restored-vision, sensory deprivation, and perceptual adaptation
research to our understanding of the nature-nurture interplay in our perception.
20: Define perceptual set, and explain why the same stimulus can evoke different perceptions in different
contexts and different psychological states.
Use mnemonics, real life applications or personal definition for the following terms:
Perceptual adaptation:
Perceptual set:
Is There Extrasensory Perception? (pp 166-173)
21: Identify the three most testable forms of ESP, and explain why most research psychologists remain
skeptical of ESP claims.
Define in 5 words or less:
Parapsychology:
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