Unit 3 - Sensation and Perception Flashcards
Sensation
The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.
Perception
The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.
Bottom-Up Processing
Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information. Ex. Stubbing toes on a chair.
Top-Down Processing
Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perception drawing on our experience and expectations. Ex. Interpreting an image’s meaning
Selective Attention/Cocktail Party Effect
The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus.
Inattentional Blindness
Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere.
Change Blindness
Failing to notice changes in the environment.
Transduction
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.
Absolute Threshold
The minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time.
Signal Detection Theory
A theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise). Assumes that there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person’s experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness.
Subliminal Threshold
When stimuli are below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness. Ex. dog whistle
Priming
The activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one’s perception, memory, or response.
Difference Threshold/Just Noticeable Difference (JND)
The minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time. We experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference.
Weber’s Law
The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount).
Figure and Ground
The organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground)
Phi Phenomenon
An illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights turn on and off in quick succession.
Perceptual Constancy
Perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent shapes, size, brightness, and color) even as illumination and retinal images change.
Color Constancy
Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object.
