Psychology Chapter on Perception and ESP

The belief that people can sense things beyond their five senses, often referred to as 'psychic powers.'

A field of study that investigates paranormal phenomena, including ESP. It is not considered a legitimate branch of psychology.

The ability to predict future events through paranormal means, often without any scientific basis.

The ability to read another person's thoughts.

The ability to perceive objects or people hidden from view, often through paranormal means.

A network of neurons in the brainstem responsible for arousal, consciousness, and other bodily functions like cardiovascular control and pain signals.

A system within the reticular formation that controls levels of awareness and alertness, essentially acting as the 'on switch' for the brain.

The communication highway between the brain and the body, carrying sensory information from the body to the brain and motor commands from the brain to the body.

Neurons that transmit information from the body to the brain, informing about sensations such as touch, temperature, and pain.

Neurons that transmit commands and instructions from the brain to the muscles, controlling movement and action.

White objects reflect all wavelengths of light, making them appear bright and vibrant. Black objects absorb all light, making them appear dark.

The process of mixing different colored lights to create new colors. Think of a projector or a television. The more lights are added, the brighter and closer to white it becomes.

The process of mixing paints to create new colors.

The part of the eye that focuses light onto the retina. It changes shape to adjust for near or far objects.

A condition where the eye is too long, causing light to focus in front of the retina, blurring distant objects.

A condition where the eye is too short, causing light to focus behind the retina, blurring near objects.

A reflex that controls the amount of light entering the eye through the pupil.

The process of adjusting the lens to focus on objects at different distances. A flat lens focuses on distance objects, a round lens focuses on near objects.

The process of our bodies detecting external stimulation, converting it into neural signals, and transmitting those signals to the brain.

The conversion of external energy (stimuli) into electrical activity within neurons.

Specialized cells responsible for converting specific stimuli into neural signals.

The gradual decline in responsiveness of sensory receptors to a continuous stimulus.

The study of how humans perceive stimuli based on their physical characteristics.

The minimum level of a stimulus that an organism's nervous system can detect at least 50% of the time.

When multiple senses work together, they can sometimes misinterpret each other, leading to sensory illusions.

The difference between what our senses detect (sensation) and how our brains interpret that information (perception).

Objects that are physically close to each other are perceived as a unified whole.

Similar objects are grouped together or seen as related.

The tendency to perceive lines as continuous movements, even with interruptions.

The tendency to perceive incomplete figures or objects as complete.

Symmetrically arranged objects are perceived as a whole.

The tendency to separate elements of an image into a foreground and background.

The ability to judge distance and three-dimensional relations.

Stimuli that enable us to judge depth using one eye.

Distance information obtained by comparing the difference in the image location of our left and right eyes.

The degree to which the eyes converge inward provides information to estimate an object's distance.

The smallest detectable change in a stimulus. It's the amount a stimulus needs to be altered for us to notice a difference.

A law stating that the JND is proportional to the intensity of the original stimulus. The stronger the original stimulus, the larger the change needed to be noticed.

A theory explaining how we detect stimuli in different conditions. It considers the signal itself and the background noise.

The ratio of the strength of the signal to the strength of the background noise. A higher ratio makes it easier to detect the signal.

A measure of how accurately we detect stimuli. It's calculated as the percentage of correct responses out of all attempts.

A measure of sensitivity to a signal. It’s the difference in probability of a hit and a false alarm. A higher d-prime indicates more sensitivity to the signal.

A graphical representation plotting hits and false alarms against each other. It shows the relationship between sensitivity and decision criteria in signal detection.

Our brain's interpretation of raw sensory information we receive from our senses. It's a subjective personal experience.