Module 17 Flashcards
sensation
sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from environment
sensory receptors
sensory nerve endings that respond to stimuli
perception
process of organizing and interpreting sensory info, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events
prosopagnosia
face blindness
phonaganosia
inability to recognize familiar voices
color contrast
perception of a color of an object depends on surrounding colors via neural connections in retina and visual cortex
color constancy
allowing perceived color of familiar object to stay constant even when light changes
bottom-up processing
starts at sensory receptors and works up to higher levels of processing
top-down processing
constructs perceptions by drawing on experience, expectations, prior knowledge, and context clues
transduction
energy conversion into a form that brain can use
path of sensual information to brain
reception, transduction, transmission
psychophysics
studies the relationships between the physical energy we can detect and its effects on our psychological experiences
absolute threshold
minimal stimulation necessary to detect a stimulus 50% of the time
signal detection theory
predicts how/when we detect faint stimulus (signal) among background commotion (noise); assumes no absolute threshold and that detection partly depends on person’s psych state; seeks to understand why people react differently to a stimulus and why one person’s reactions vary as circumstances change
subliminal
below one’s absolute threshold needed for conscious awareness; shows we can evaluate a stimulus even when not consciously aware of it; can test via priming
difference threshold (jnd)
minimal difference a person can detect between any 2 stimuli 50% of the time; increases with stimulus size
Weber’s Law
states that to be perceived as different, 2 stimuli must differ by a constant minimum % which varies depending the stimulus
constant of 2 lights
8% difference
constant of 2 objects (weight)
2% difference
constant of 2 tones (frequency)
0.3% difference
sensory adaptation
diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation; allows freedom to focus on informative changes in environment; explains tendency to check notifications, etc; shows we perceive world as it is useful for us to perceive it; extends to emotions and facial expressions
perceptual set
mental disposition to perceive one thing and not the other; accounts for illusions; affected by context clues, expectations/schemas
schemas effect on perception
related to perceptual sets; affect how we interpret ambiguous sensations via top-down processing; includes gender schemas
