Sensation

Question 1

What is sensation?

Answer 1

The stimulus detection process by which oh sense organs respond to and translate environmental stimuli into nerve impulses that are sent to the brain

Question 2

What is perception?

Answer 2

The active process of organising the stimulus input and giving it meaning

Question 3

What is psychophysics?

Answer 3

The scientific area that studies relations between the physical characteristics of stimuli and sensory capabilities

Question 4

What is the absolute limit of sensitivity?

Answer 4

The minimum amount of stimulus we are able to detect

Question 5

What is the other main interest of psychophysics?

Answer 5

How much of a difference there has to be between two stimuli before we can detect that there is a difference

Question 6

What is the absolute threshold?

Answer 6

The lowest intensity at which a stimulus can be detected 50% of the time

Question 7

What is the decision criterion?

Answer 7

A standard of how certain an individual must be that a stimulus is present before they will admit to detecting it

Question 8

What is signal detection theory?

Answer 8

The idea that different factors can influence sensory judgments

Question 9

Give four factors that can affect sensory judgements

Answer 9

Fatigue
Expectation
Significance of the stimulus
Life circumstances

Question 10

What are the four different possible responses in signal detection experiments?

Answer 10

Hit
Miss
False Alarm
Correct Rejection

Question 11

What does increasing the reward for hits or the cost for misses result in?

Answer 11

Lower detection thresholds

Question 12

What does increasing the cost for false alarms result in?

Answer 12

Higher detection thresholds

Question 13

What is a subliminal stimulus?

Answer 13

A stimulus that is so weak or brief that although it is received by the senses, it cannot be perceived consciously

Question 14

Explain Todorov & Bargh’s 2002 study

Answer 14

Students were subliminally presented with words that were either aggressive or non aggressive - they were then asked to watch scenes containing behaviours that could be interpreted as aggressive, and it was found that the aggressive words group was more likely to interpret the scenes as being aggressive - after this they were also given the chance to be aggressive by giving others hot sauce, and it was again found that the aggressive words group was more likely to give others more hot sauce

Question 15

What is the difference threshold?

Answer 15

The smallest difference between two stimuli that people can perceive 50% of the time

Question 16

What is Weber’s Law?

Answer 16

The difference threshold is directly proportional to the magnitude of the stimulus with which the comparison is being made

Question 17

What happens when we are exposed to an unchanging stimulus for a prolonged amount of time?

Answer 17

Our sensitivity to it diminishes

Question 18

Explain Pritchard’s 1961 study

Answer 18

Participants wore an eyepatch on one eye and had a camera attached to the other so that whenever their eye moved, the picture moved with it, forcing it to continually look at the same thing - eventually parts of the image would start to fade out - this is because the neurons get tired and stop responding to the stimulus, and when they eventually recover, other neurons get tired and stop responding

Question 19

How is sensory adaptation adaptive?

Answer 19

It allows our senses to pick up informative changes in the environment that could be important to our survival