4.1 We Experience Our World Through Sensation Flashcards

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1
Q

hertz

A

vibrations per second

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2
Q

Psychophysics

A

the branch of psychology that studies the effects of physical stimuli on sensory perceptions and mental states

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3
Q

Gustav Fechner (1801–1887)

A

he was a German psychologist who founded the field of psychophysics

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4
Q

absolute threshold

A

(of a sensation) is defined as the intensity of a stimulus that allows an organism to just barely detect it

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5
Q

Signal detection analysis

A

a technique used to determine the ability of the perceiver to separate true signals from background noise

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6
Q

hit

A

occurs when you, as the listener, correctly say “yes” when there is a sound

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7
Q

false alarm

A

occurs when respond “yes” to no signal

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8
Q

miss

A

occurs when you say “no” when there is a signal

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9
Q

correct rejection

A

occurs when you say “no” and there was no signal

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10
Q

sensitivity

A

refers to the true ability of the individual to detect the presence or absence of signals

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11
Q

response bias

A

refers to a behavioral tendency to respond “yes” to the trials, which is independent of sensitivity

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12
Q

difference threshold

A

(or just noticeable difference [JND]), refers to the change in a stimulus that can just barely be detected by the organism

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13
Q

German physiologist Ernst Weber (1795– 1878)

A

he made an important discovery about the JND—namely, that the ability to detect differences depends not so much on the size of the difference but on the size of the difference in relationship to the absolute size of the stimulus

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14
Q

Weber’s law

A

maintains that the just noticeable difference of a stimulus is a constant proportion of the original intensity of the stimulus

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15
Q

blindsight

A

a condition in which people are unable to consciously report on visual stimuli but nevertheless are able to accurately answer questions about what they are seeing

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16
Q

subliminal advertising

A

Research has found that stimuli can influence behavior even when they are presented below the absolute threshold (i.e., subliminally). The effectiveness of subliminal advertising, however, has not been shown to be of large magnitude