lecture 1 Flashcards
introspection
thinking about your own thoughts and feelings.
psychophysics
a scientific / mathematical approach to measuring the relationship between stimulus and perception
dualism
the idea that the mind and body are separate things, meaning mental and physical things exist independently.
materialism
the belief that only physical matter exists and that thoughts, consciousness, and emotions come from physical processes in the brain.
panpsychism
the belief that consciousness is a fundamental part of everything in the universe
absolute threshold
intensity that the observer can just barely detect
difference threshold
minimum intensity difference that is noticeable to the observer
method of adjustment
Participant adjust the level. Quick but dependent on participant’s attitude
threshold estimate
final intensity value
method of limits/staircase methods
level is adjusted according to behavior. Efficient but gives limited information
Dixon and Mood method
a way to find and remove unusual or extreme values (outliers) in data to make the results more accurate.
green maximum likelihood staircase
keeps changing the stimulus level in a smart way (based on the likelihood of correct answers) to quickly and accurately find the point where the person can just barely detect it.
interleaved staircase
a method where multiple staircases with different difficulty levels are used together, changing the stimulus up and down in a mixed order to find the detection threshold.
method of constant stimuli
uses defined levels and a fitted function. Time consuming but gives most information and accurate measures for individual points
threshold
a measure of how well a participant can perform a task
methods for measuring thresholds
-method of adjustment
-staircase methods/method of limits
-method of constant stimuli
Weber’s law
difference threshold is a constant proportion but changes with intensity. c=delta I / I
Fechner’s law
as the intensity of a stimulus increases, we perceive the change in intensity as smaller and smaller. S = K * log(I)
Stevens law
how we perceive the strength of something (like light or sound) changes at different rates depending on how strong it is. S = K * I ** a
magnitude estimation
participants can make reliable comparisons between random stimulus categories
signal detection theory
explains how you decide whether you actually heard a knock (a real signal) or if it was just the wind (background noise).
sensitivity
the difference between signal and noise distributions. D´ = mean signal - mean noise
bias
refers to a person’s tendency to say “yes, I detected the signal” or “no, I didn’t” based on their expectations or motivations, rather than just their ability to detect the signal.
ROC analysis
measures how well a system balances detecting real signals (hits) and avoiding false alarms.
