Chapter 4 Flashcards
Sensation
Process of receiving stimulus energy from the external environment and transforming it into electrochemical energy. Receptor cells register a stimulus and energy is converted to electrochemical impulse (action potential) that is relayed to the brain.
Perception
Process of organizing and interpreting sensory information so that it makes sense.
Bottom-up processing
Sensory receptors register information about the external environment and send it to the brain for interpretation.
Top-down processing
Starts with cognitive processing. We begin with some sense of what is happening and apply that framework (expectations) to the information we are getting from the world.
Sensory receptors
Specialized cells that detect stimulus information and transmit it to nerves and the brain.
What are some examples of sensory receptors?
Photoreception-sight
Mechanoreception-touch
Chemoreception-smell
Absolute threshold
The minimum amount of stimulus a person can detect.
Difference threshold
Degree of difference that must exist between two stimuli before the difference is detected (louder at 1 or 2)
Sensory Adaptation
Change in responsiveness of sensory system based on average level of surrounding stimulation
Subliminal perception
Detection of information below the level of conscious awareness. Only a weak effect.
Signal detection theory
Focuses on decision making under conditions of uncertainty. Fatigue, expectations, urgency
Attention
Process of focusing awareness on a narrow aspect of the environment.
Selective attention
The art of focusing on a specific aspect of experience while ignoring others. Attention is shiftable like the cocktail affect.
Perceptual set
A predispositionor readiness to perceive something in a particular way.
Stroop effect
Saying color of ink that a word is printed in, when the word itself is a different color (top-down processing).
