AP Psych Unit 4 Flashcards
What is sensation?
Process in which special receptors detects stimulus energy and converts it into neural signals in the brain
What is top-down and bottom-up processing
Bottom-up processing: if you do not have prior knowledge of something, you take in sensory information and stimulus converts it into electrical impulses -> (detecting things like lines/angles/colors) to create a picture or understanding
Top-down: when we form perceptions based on what we already know, beginning with generalities, then moving on to specific
What is the absolute threshold?
The minimum amount of stimulus that might be emitted for human detection
What is the difference threshold
the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time
AKA: noticeable difference
How might thresholds vary from person to person?
the threshold may very from person to person depending on the context of the situation, one’s awareness etc.
What is signal detection theory? How might this theory explain the differing perception of pain?
Argues that there is no absolute threshold and that thresholds are not the same for every person, in every situation based on various factors (emotion/sounds) etc you might not detect a stimulus
Explain the just noticeable difference and Weber’s Law
same thing as different thresholds: a noticeable difference. Noticed by Weber; you need 5% to be added in order for you to notice it
What is sensory adaption? What happens to our ability to detect sensory stimuli after prolonged exposure? Provide examples for each sense.
While observing the same stimulus for a long period of time, we stop noticing it.
What is transduction?
The process from which sensory organs take in information such as sight, sounds and smell into neutral impulses that our brains can interpret
What is perception?
the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information;
What is selective attention? What is the benefit of this characteristic of our sensory abilities?
When we consciously focus on a particular stimulus, which distracts us from other sensory information
What is change blindness
When we do not notice changes after an interruption comes into the vision
What is a perceptual set? Understand how our knowledge, experiences, expectations, etc, influence the way in which we interpret sensory stimuli
that people have a tendency to perceive things in a certain way due to prior experience. It prevents us from actually perceiving the truth.
What is a schema? How does it help us interpret vague sensory information?
framework that helps us understand what we are looking at, and it helps us organize and interpret information (eg; we see faces in sinks)
What is context effect? why does the same stimulus produce different perceptions in different situations
the context of a stimulus influences the way we interpret information, thus the same stimulus can provoke different perception in different situations
