Sensation & Perception

Question 1

Sensation

Answer 1

This is the process where our senses like sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch pick up information from the world around us.

Question 2

Perception

Answer 2

Processing of the sensory information to make sense of its significance

Question 3

What is threshold
How many types of thresholds are there ?

Answer 3

This is the smallest amount of something (like light sound taste that we can sense). Is below this level, we won’t notice it

Minimum amount of stimulus that renders the difference in perception

3 types : Absolute threshold, threshold of conscious perception, difference threshold

Question 4

Absolute threshold

Answer 4

Minimum of stimulus energy that is needed to activate a sensory system.
How bright, loud, or intense stimuli must be before it is sensed

Question 5

Threshold of conscious perception

Answer 5

If something is below this threshold, our census picking up, but it doesn’t get picked up by parts of our brain that make us aware of it
Also called subliminal perception

Question 6

Difference threshold

Answer 6

Refers to the minimum difference in magnitude between two stimuli before one can perceive this difference

Question 7

proximal stimuli

Answer 7

directly interacts with sensory receptors such as photoreceptors

Question 8

Distal stimuli

Answer 8

stimuli outside the body (fire)

Question 9

Weber’s law

Answer 9

perception of intensity of a stimulus grows at a slower rate than the actual physical intensity

our ability to detect changes in a stimulus depends on the initial intensity of that stimulus
the ability to detect differences depends on the starting point (initial intensity) and the proportion of change

Question 10

Signal detection theory

Answer 10

Stimulus perception is dependent also on experience, expectationsand motives

Question 11

Trials of signal detection theory
RESPONSE BIAS

Answer 11

how people make decisions under certain conditions (such as in noisy or uncertain environments)

Question 12

Trials of signal detection theory
CATCH TRIAL

Answer 12

Trial in which the signal is presented

Question 13

Trials of signal detection theory
NOISE TRAIL

Answer 13

no signal trial

Question 14

Trials of signal detection theory
HIT
CORRECT NEGATIVE

Answer 14

Identifying the signals when it is presented

Correctly identifying that signal was not present

Question 15

Trials of signal detection theory
MISS
FALSE ALARM

Answer 15

Missing a signal

Saying yes when the signal was not present

Question 16

Adaptation

Answer 16

Getting used to to a stimuli so much that you do not feel it

This could also be constricting or dilating the pupils

Question 17

psychophysics

Answer 17

Study of the relationship between the physical nature of stimuli and the sensations and perceptions they evoke