The process of receiving stimulus energies from the external environment and transforming those energies into neural energy.

The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information so that it makes sense.

Sensory receptors register information about the external environment and send it up to the brain for interpretation.

Launched by cognitive processing at the brain's higher levels, that allows the organism to sense what is happening and to apply that framework to information from the world.

Specialized cells that detect stimulation information and transmit it to sensory (afferent) nerves and the brain.

Detection of light, perceived as sight.

Detection of pressure, vibration, and movement, perceived as touch,hearing, and equilibrium.

Detection of chemical stimuli, perceived as smell and taste.

The act of focusing on a specific aspect of experience while ignoring others.

A predisposition or readiness to perceive something in a particular way.

A change in the responsiveness of the sensory system based on the average level of surrounding stimulation (ex. the ability of the visual system to adjust to a darkened room)

The colored part of the eye.

Appears black, is the opening in the center of the iris. Opens to let in more light when it is needed and closing to let in less light when there is too much.

The multilayered light-sensitive surface in the eye that records electromagnetic energy and converts it to neural impulses for processing in the brain. (primary mechanism of sight)

The receptor cells in the retina that are sensitive to light but not very useful for color vision. (work well under low illumination)

The receptor cells in the retina that allow for color perception. (work well in daylight)

The structure at the back of the eye, made up of axons of the ganglion cells, that carries visual information to the brain for further processing.

Located in the occipital lobe, the part of the cerebral cortex involved in vision.

Theory stating that color perception is produced by three types of cone receptors in the retina that are particularly sensitive to different, but overlapping, ranges of wavelengths.

The outermost part of the ear, consisting of the pinna and the external auditory canal.

The part of the ear that channels and amplifies sound through the eardrum, hammer, anvil, and stirrup to the inner ear.

The part of the ear that includes the oval window,cochlea, basilar membrane and whose function is to convert sound waves into neural impulses and send them to the brain.

The nerve structure that receives information about sound from the hair cells of the inner ear and carries these neural impulses to the brains auditory areas.

Sensory nerve endings under the skin that respond to changes in temperature at or near the skin and provide input to keep the body's temperature at 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit.

The sensation that warns an individual of damage to the body.

Fibers connect directly with the thalamus and then to the motor and sensory areas of the cerebral cortex. Pathway transmit information about sharp, localized pain, as when you cut your skin.

Pain information travels through the limbic system, a detour that delays the arrival of information at the cerebral cortex by seconds

Rounded bumps above the tongue's surface that contain the taste buds, the receptors for taste.

The lining of the roof of the nasal cavity, containing a sheet of receptor cells for smell.

Senses that provide information about movement,posture, and orientation.

Sense that provides information about balance and movement.

Three fluid-filled circular tubes in the inner ear containing the sensory receptors that detect head motion caused when an individual tilts or moves the head and/or the body.

outer ear; funnel-shaped

a thin membrane, which sound waves vibrate, that marks the beginning of the middle ear

the three small bones in the middle ear that relay vibrations of the eardrum to the inner ear

a coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner ear through which sound waves trigger nerve impulses

A structure that runs the length of the cochlea in the inner ear and holds the auditory receptors, called hair cells.

information about the position of our limbs and body parts in relation to other body parts

Term used by William James to describe the mind as a continuous flow of changing sensations, thoughts, images, and feelings

An individuals awareness of external events and internal sensations under a condition of arousal

Thinking about your thoughts

Individuals understanding that they and others think, feel, perceive, and have private experiences

Individuals actively focus their efforts on attaining a goal, most alert state

Includes automatic processing that requires little attention, as well as daydreaming

Can be produced by drugs, trauma, fatigue, etc

Can occur when people are awake, as when as when sleeping and dreaming

According to Freud, a reservoir of unacceptable wishes, feelings, and thoughts that are beyond conscious awareness

Another state of consciousness that involves a low level of conscious effort, which lies between active consciousness and dreaming while asleep

Periodic physiological fluctuations in the body, such as rise and fall of hormones, and changes in brain cycle that can influence behavior

Daily behavioral or physiological cycles that involve the sleep/wake cycle, body temperature, blood pressure, and blood sugar level

A small brain structure that uses input from the retina to synchronize it's own rhythm with the daily cycle of light and dark; the body's way of monitoring change from day to night

stage at which vivid dreaming occurs, lasts about 10 minutes in first sleep cycle and up to 1 hour in the last

Neurotransmitters involved in sleep decrease in frequency as sleep begins

the inability to sleep suffered by as many as 1 in 5 adults. More common among women and older adults.

Formal term for sleep walking which occurs during the deepest stages of sleep

features sudden arousal from sleep and intense fear. Accompanied by rapid heart beat and breathing.

Sudden, overpowering urge to sleep that may involve problems with the hypothalamus and amygdala. Can happen while person is standing or talking. Immediately enter REM sleep rather than progressing.

disorder in which individuals stop breathing because the windpipe fails to open or because the brain processes involved in respiration fail to work

According to Freud, the surface content of a dream, containing dream symbols that disguise the dreams true meaning

According to Freud, a dreams hidden content. It's unconscious and true meaning

the hormone produced in the brain, secreted to increase sleepiness

Theory proposing that we can understand dreaming by applying the same cognitive concepts we use and studying the waking mind

Theory that dreaming occurs when the cerebral cortex synthesizes neural signals generated from activity in the lower brain and that dream result from the brains attempts to find logic and random brain activity occurs during sleep

An altered state of consciousness or a psychological state of altered attention and expectation in which the individual is unusually receptive to suggestions

The attainment of a peaceful state of mind which stop are not occupied by worry. The meditator is mindfully present to his or her thoughts and feelings but not consumed by them