PSU Psych 100 Exam 2 Questions With Verified Solutions

PSU Psych 100 Exam 2 Questions With Verified Solutions sensation - answerthe process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment perception - answerthe process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events bottom-up processing - answeranalysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information top-down processing - answerinformation processing guided by higher level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations transduction - answerconversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies, such as sights, sounds, and smells, into neural impulses our brain can interpret psychophysics - answerthe study of the relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity and our psychological experience of them absolute threshold - answerthe minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time signal detection theory - answera theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise). Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person's experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness. subliminal - answerbelow one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness priming - answerthe activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response difference threshold - answerthe minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time. Weber's Law - answerthe principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a given percentage sensory adaptation - answerdiminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation perceptual set - answera mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not the other wavelength - answerthe distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next. electromagnetic wavelengths vary from the short blips of cosmic rays to the long pulses of radio transmission hue - answerthe dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light; when we know as the color names intensity - answerthe amount of energy in a light or sound wave, which we perceive as brightness or loudness, as determined by the wave's amplitude pupil - answerthe adjustable opening in the center of the eye which light enters iris - answera ring of muscle tissue that forms the colored portion of the eye around the pupil and controls the size of the pupil opening lens - answerthe transparent structure behind the pupil that changes shape to help focus images on the retina retina - answerthe light-sensitive inner surface of the eye, containing the receptor rods and cones plus layers of neurons that begin the processing of visual information accomodation - answerthe process by which the eye's lens changes shape to focus near or far objects on the retina rods - answerretinal receptors that detect black, white, and gray; necessary for peripheral and twilight vision, when cones don't respond cones - answerretinal receptor cells that are concentrated near the center of the retina and that function in daylight or in well-lit conditions. The cones detect fine detail and give rise to color sensations.