ch. 3 Flashcards
sensation
the activation of the sense organs by a source of physical energy
perception
the sorting out, interpretation, analysis, and integration of stimuli by the sense organs and brain
stimulus
energy that produces a response in a sense organ
psychophysics
the study of the relationship between the actual physical aspects of a stimulus and our psychological experience of that stimulus
absolute threshold
the lowest intensity of a stimulus that an organism can detect
50% of the time
noise
background stimulation that interferes with perception of other stimuli
difference threshold
the smallest level of added or reduced stimulation required to sense that a change in stimulation has occurred
*jnd
Weber’s law
a basic law of psychophysics stating that a jnd is a constant proportion to the intensity of an initial stimulus (rather than a constant amount)
adaptation
an adjustment in sensory capacity after prolonged exposure to unchanging stimuli
The decline in sensitivity to sensory stimuli is due to…
the inability of the sensory nerve receptors to fire off messages to the brain indefinitely
wavelengths
distance between peaks of the lightwaves
sound localization
the process by which we identify the direction from which a sound is coming
sound
the movement of air molecules brought about by a source of vibration
olfaction allows
10,000+ diff smells
smells are strongly linked with
memory
pheromones
produce a social response in other members of the same species
5 basic tastes
sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami
receptor cells
located in taste buds, replaced every 10 days
skin senses
senses of touch, pressure, temperature, and pain
perceptual set
mental tendencies and assumptions that effect what we hear, smell, taste, and see
schema
a concept or framework that allows us to organize or interpret information
ex. slowing down when seeing a cop
perception
we go beyond the stimuli that are presented to us and attempt to construct a meaningful situation
gestalt laws of organization (5)
a series of classic principles in psychology that describe how we organize bits and pieces of information into meaningful wholes
closure
we usually group elements to form enclosed or complete figures rather than open ones
proximity
we perceive elements that are closer together as grouped together
similarity
elements that are similar in appearance, we perceive as grouped together
simplicity
when we observe a pattern, we perceive it in the most basic, straightforward manner we can
continuity
lines that are broken, interprets more of the continuous figure
top-down processing
perception is guided by higher level knowledge, experience, expectation and motivations
bottom-up processing
take stimuli and move it up to process through our perception
depth perception
ability to view the world in 3D and perceive distance
binocular disparity
difference in the images seen by the left and right eye
perceptual constancy
our understanding that physical objects are unvarying and consistent even though sensory input about them may vary
visual illusions
physical stimuli that consistently produces errors in perception
subliminal perception
the perception of messages about which we have no awareness
