Chapter 1-introduction Flashcards
sensation
the ability to detect a stimulus and, perhaps, to turn that detection into a private experience, getting info in
perception
act of giving meaning to a detected sensation, internal endpoint, manifestation
transduction
conversion, neural energy
who studies sensations and perceptions
multidisciplinary-psychology, biology, computer science, linguists, etc.
study of sensations and perceptions is a _____ pursuit and requires _____ methods
scientific
thresholds
finding the limits of what can be perceived, tool
scaling
measuring private experience, report of “more” or “less”
are your qualia (private experiences) the same as others
signal detection theory
decision making in the presence of noise (neuronoise, external noise)
sensory neuroscience
the biology of sensation and perception, sensory receptors and nerves
neuroimaging
image of the mind, tool
relationship between mind and body using math-who?
Fechner
psychophysics
the science of defining quantitative relationships between physical and psychological (subjective) events
perceive motion/change with more or less luminance
high
psychophysics example
2 point touch threshold
just noticeable difference
smallest detecable difference between 2 stimuli, or the minimum change in a stimulus that can be correctly judged as different from a reference stimulus. are they the same or different?
another term for JND
difference threshold
absolute threshold
minimum amount of stimulation necessary for a person to detect stimulus 50% of the time
is the absolute threshold fixed
no, varies slightly based on noise (neural, sensory)
who discovered that they smallest change in astimulus that can be detected is a constant proportion of the stimulus level
Ernst Weber
Weber’s law
the principle describing the relationship between stimulus and resulting sensation that says the JND is a constant fraction of the comparison stimulus
JND example
lifting weights, 1 stays the same while the other increases. better at detecting a difference when the standard weight is lighter
what stimulus values have larger JNDs?
what stimulus values have smaller JNDs?
larger
smaller