Nvcc PSY 200-E43L exam 2
studyguide “NVCC PSY 200 Exam 2
Mastery: Core Psychological
Concepts & Applications
What is sensation? ✔✔Simple stimulation of a sense organ
What is synesthesia? ✔✔is a neurological phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or
cognitive pathway leads to stimulation of another sensory or cognitive pathway
What is perception? ✔✔The way the mind organizes, interprets and identifies sensations in
order to form mental representation
What is transduction? ✔✔The way sensory receptors communicate with the brain in which the
body converts physical signals from the environment and encodes them into neural signals thay
are then sent to the CNS
What is psychophysics? ✔✔A method that measures the strenght of a stimulus and someones
sensitivity to that stimulus
What is an absolute threshold? ✔✔The minimal intensity need to just barely detect a stimulis
in 50% of the trials
What is the just noticable difference? ✔✔The minimal chance in stimulus that can just barely
be noticed. Not a fixed quantifty, and is roughly proportional to the intensity of the stimulus
,What is webers law? ✔✔The just noticable difference of a stimulus is a constant proportion
despite variation in intensity
What is signal detection theory? ✔✔The response to a stimulus depends both on a person
sensitivity to the stimulus in the presence of noise and on a persons decision criterian
What is sensory adaption? ✔✔When you adapt to a condition because your expose was so
prolonged
We "see" light waves. What are the three properties of light waves and what do they
determine? ✔✔The length of a light wave determines its hue or what we see ass color, the
intensity or amplitude of a light wave (how high the peaks are) determine what we see as
brightness, and the purity is the number of distinct wavelengths that make up the light or what
we percieve as saturation
What is the cornea? ✔✔A clear smooth outer tissue thay light first passes through
What is the pupil? ✔✔A hole in the colored part of the eye which light goes through after the
cornea
Whay is the iris? ✔✔The colored part of the eye that is translucent donut shaped muscle that
controls the size of the pupil and hense the amount of light that passes through the eye
What is the retina? ✔✔Light sensitive tissue lining the back of the eyeball that recieves light
from the lens
What is accomidation ✔✔The process in which the eye maintains a clear image of the retina.
The lens flattens for things further away and rounds for things closer
, What are cones? ✔✔Cones detect color, operate under normal daylight conditions and allow us
to focus on fine detail
What are rods? ✔✔Rods becoms active under low light conditions for night vision. Much more
sensitive then cones
What is the fovea? ✔✔An area in the retina where vision is the clearest and there are no rods
at all, which reduces sharpness in reduced light
How does transduction occur (how does the light wave become a neiral impulse)? ✔✔the
bipolar cells collect neural signals from the rods and cones and transmit them to the retinal
ganlion cells which then organize the signals and send it to the brain through the optic nerve.
Why do we have a blind spot? ✔✔Because there is a lack of rods and cones where the optic
nerves and the blood vessels leave the eye
There are three types of cones- what color of wavelengths do they respond to? ✔✔Red (long
wavelengths) , green (medium wavelenghts) , or blue (short wavelengths) light
How do we see more than three colors? ✔✔Because objects selectively absorb some
wavelenghts of light and reflect others
What is color afterimaging and why does it occur? ✔✔When you stare at a color too long it
fatigues the cones that respond and you will probably see a tint of that color for a while
What are feature detectors? ✔✔Neurons that respond to specific orientations of edges
studyguide “NVCC PSY 200 Exam 2
Mastery: Core Psychological
Concepts & Applications
What is sensation? ✔✔Simple stimulation of a sense organ
What is synesthesia? ✔✔is a neurological phenomenon in which stimulation of one sensory or
cognitive pathway leads to stimulation of another sensory or cognitive pathway
What is perception? ✔✔The way the mind organizes, interprets and identifies sensations in
order to form mental representation
What is transduction? ✔✔The way sensory receptors communicate with the brain in which the
body converts physical signals from the environment and encodes them into neural signals thay
are then sent to the CNS
What is psychophysics? ✔✔A method that measures the strenght of a stimulus and someones
sensitivity to that stimulus
What is an absolute threshold? ✔✔The minimal intensity need to just barely detect a stimulis
in 50% of the trials
What is the just noticable difference? ✔✔The minimal chance in stimulus that can just barely
be noticed. Not a fixed quantifty, and is roughly proportional to the intensity of the stimulus
,What is webers law? ✔✔The just noticable difference of a stimulus is a constant proportion
despite variation in intensity
What is signal detection theory? ✔✔The response to a stimulus depends both on a person
sensitivity to the stimulus in the presence of noise and on a persons decision criterian
What is sensory adaption? ✔✔When you adapt to a condition because your expose was so
prolonged
We "see" light waves. What are the three properties of light waves and what do they
determine? ✔✔The length of a light wave determines its hue or what we see ass color, the
intensity or amplitude of a light wave (how high the peaks are) determine what we see as
brightness, and the purity is the number of distinct wavelengths that make up the light or what
we percieve as saturation
What is the cornea? ✔✔A clear smooth outer tissue thay light first passes through
What is the pupil? ✔✔A hole in the colored part of the eye which light goes through after the
cornea
Whay is the iris? ✔✔The colored part of the eye that is translucent donut shaped muscle that
controls the size of the pupil and hense the amount of light that passes through the eye
What is the retina? ✔✔Light sensitive tissue lining the back of the eyeball that recieves light
from the lens
What is accomidation ✔✔The process in which the eye maintains a clear image of the retina.
The lens flattens for things further away and rounds for things closer
, What are cones? ✔✔Cones detect color, operate under normal daylight conditions and allow us
to focus on fine detail
What are rods? ✔✔Rods becoms active under low light conditions for night vision. Much more
sensitive then cones
What is the fovea? ✔✔An area in the retina where vision is the clearest and there are no rods
at all, which reduces sharpness in reduced light
How does transduction occur (how does the light wave become a neiral impulse)? ✔✔the
bipolar cells collect neural signals from the rods and cones and transmit them to the retinal
ganlion cells which then organize the signals and send it to the brain through the optic nerve.
Why do we have a blind spot? ✔✔Because there is a lack of rods and cones where the optic
nerves and the blood vessels leave the eye
There are three types of cones- what color of wavelengths do they respond to? ✔✔Red (long
wavelengths) , green (medium wavelenghts) , or blue (short wavelengths) light
How do we see more than three colors? ✔✔Because objects selectively absorb some
wavelenghts of light and reflect others
What is color afterimaging and why does it occur? ✔✔When you stare at a color too long it
fatigues the cones that respond and you will probably see a tint of that color for a while
What are feature detectors? ✔✔Neurons that respond to specific orientations of edges
