AP Psychology Sensation & Perception Terminology

AP Psychology Sensation & Perception Terminology Sensation the raw data of experience; sensory stimulation; example are eyes only register light energy and ears only register wave energy Difference threshold Just Noticeable Difference (JND); the smallest change in stimulation that you can detect 50% of the time; differs from one person to the other (and from moment to moment); tells us the flexibility of sensory systems Perception the mental process of sorting, identifying, and arranging raw sensory data into meaningful patterns; Ex. how we distinguish between music and crying, how we take light and form a tree Oval window membrane between the middle and inner ear; attach to stirrup of middle ear and cochlea of the inner ear; since vibrations to the cochlea Decibel (dB) unit of measurement; measures loudness Round window located just below the oval window; equalize pressure in the inner ear Overtones tones that result from soundwaves that are multiples of the basic town; primary determinant of timbre; created by musical instruments Cochlea snail-shaped structure in the inner ear; contains fluid that vibrate; attach the oval window and basilar membrane Basilar membrane part of the inner ear; divides the cochlea lengthwise; stiff near the oval window but becomes flexible by the other end; as the fluid in the cochlea begins to move, the basilar membrane ripples in response Volley principle a modified or refined frequency theory; suggest that the auditory neurons fire in the sequence increasing to a rapid series of impulses; the complete pattern corresponds to the frequency of a soundwave Organ of Corti part of the inner ear; structure on service and basilar membrane that connects thousands of tiny hair cells (receptor cells) for hearing; each hair is taught by fibers that push and pull the vibrations of the basilar membrane and brain pools the information Olfactory epithelium patch of tissue in nasal cavity that contains receptor cells Auditory nerve bundle of axons from the organ of Corti to the brain Olfactory bulb axons of olfactory epithelium connects to olfactory bulb, which is considered the smell center of the brain; olfactory bulb records messages and send them to the temporal lobe and brain core Place theory one unto basic views of pitch discrimination; brain determines pitch by the place on the basilar membrane with the messages strongest; the highest frequency sounds cause the greatest vibrations at the stiff base of the basilar membrane