Module 17: Basic Concepts of Sensation and Perception

Question 1

Sensation

Answer 1

The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.

Question 2

Sensory receptors

Answer 2

Sensory nerve endings that respond to stimuli.

Question 3

Perception

Answer 3

The process by which our brain organizes and interprets sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.

Question 4

Bottom-up processing

Answer 4

Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information

Question 5

Top-down processing

Answer 5

Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations.

Question 6

Transduction

Answer 6

Conversion of one form of energy into another. In sensation, the transforming of stimulus energies, such as sights, sounds, and smells, into neural impulses our brain can interpret.

Question 7

Psychophysics

Answer 7

The study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them.

Question 8

Absolute threshold

Answer 8

The minimum stimulus energy needed to detect a particular stimulus percent of the time

Question 9

Signal detection theory

Answer 9

A theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise). Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person’s experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness.

Question 10

Subliminal

Answer 10

Below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness.

Question 11

Difference threshold

Answer 11

The minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time. We experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference

Question 12

Weber’s law

Answer 12

The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount)

Question 13

Priming

Answer 13

The activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one’s perception, memory, or response.

Question 14

Sensory adaptation

Answer 14

Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

Question 15

Perceptual set

Answer 15

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.