4.1 Sensation + Perception Flashcards
Sensation
the process of detecting external events with sense organs and turning those stimuli into neural signals
Perception
involves attending to, organizing, and interpreting stimuli that we sense
Transduction
when specialized receptors transform the physical energy of the outside world into neural impulses
Doctrine of specific nerve energies
the doctrine states that the different senses are separated in the brain
Sensory adaptation
the reduction of activity in sensory receptors with repeated exposure to stimulus
Psychophysics
the field of study that explores how physical energy such as light and sound and their intensity relate to psychological experience
Absolute threshold
the minimum amount of energy or quantity of a stimulus required for it to be reliably detected at least 50% of the time it is presented
Difference threshold
the smallest difference between stimuli that can be reliably detected at least 50% of the time
Weber’s law
states that the just noticeable difference between two stimuli changes as a proportion of those stimuli
Signal detection theory
states that whether a stimulus is perceived depends on both the sensory experience and the judgement made by the subject
Subliminal perception
perception below the threshold of conscious awareness
Priming
a technique in which previous exposure to a stimulus can influence that individual’s later responses, either to the same stimulus or to one that is related to it
Gestalt psychology
the whole is greater than the sum of its parts
Top-down processing
when our perceptions are influenced by our expectations or by our prior knowledge
Bottom-up processing
occurs when we perceive individual bits of sensory information and use them to construct a more complex perception
