4.1- Sensation and Perception at a Glance

Question 1

an absolute threshold

Answer 1

minimum amount of pressure, sound, light, or chemical required for detection

Question 2

bottom-up processing

Answer 2

occurs when we perceive individual bits of sensory information (ex: sounds) and use them to construct a more complex perception (a message) - something unfamiliar or difficult to recognize

Question 3

divided attention

Answer 3

paying attention to more than one stimulas or task at the same time

Question 4

difference threshold

Answer 4

the smallest difference between stimuli that can be reliably detected at least 50% of the time

Question 5

doctrine of specific nerve energies

Answer 5

the idea that the different senses are separated in the brain

Question 6

in-attentional blindness

Answer 6

a failure to notice clearly visible events or objects because attention is directed else where (the gorilla effect)

Question 7

perception

Answer 7

involves attending to, organizing, and interpreting stimuli that we sense (hearing someone + seeing someone walk towards you)

Question 8

priming

Answer 8

in which previous exposure to a stimulus can influence that individuals later responses, either to the same stimulus or to one that us related to it

Question 9

psychophysics

Answer 9

the field of study that explores how physical energy (light and sound) and their intensity relate to psychological experience

Question 10

selective attention

Answer 10

focusing on one particular event or task, such as studying, driving without distractions, or attentively listening to music

Question 11

sensation

Answer 11

the process of detecting external events with sense organs and turning those stimuli into neural signals

Question 12

sensory adaption

Answer 12

reduction of activity in sensory receptors (ex: traffic sounds becoming less intense after a few minutes)

Question 13

signal detection theory

Answer 13

states that whether a stimulus is perceived depends on both the sensory experience and the judgement made by the subject

Question 14

subliminal perception

Answer 14

meaning perception below the threshold of conscious awareness (messages presented to you so rapidly that you can’t consciously see them - influence behaviour)

Question 15

top-down processing

Answer 15

when our perceptions are influenced by our expectations or by our prior knowledge

Question 16

transduction

Answer 16

when specialized receptors transform the physical energy of the outside world into neural impulses

Question 17

webers law

Answer 17

states that the noticeable difference between 2 stimuli: changes as a portion of those stimuli (adding sugar to small coffee- notice… add sugar to venti coffee-do not notice)