unit 3 Flashcards
(70 cards)
the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment
sensation
Sensory nerve endings that respond to stimuli
Sensory receptors
the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events
perception
analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information.
bottom-up processing
information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations. constructs perceptions from this sensory input by drawing on your experience and expectations.
Top-down processing
the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus.
selective attention
What captures our limited attention?
Things we deem important
your ability to attend to one voice among a sea of other voices.
cocktail party effect
failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere. The stupid gorilla basketball video coach Taylor showed us
inattentional blindness
a form of inattentional blindless where you fail to notice changes in the environment.
change blindness
All our ___ receive sensory stimulation, transform that stimulation into neural impulses, and deliver the neural information to our brain.
senses
The 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.
transduction
the study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them.
Psychophysics
German scientist and philosopher that studied the edge of our awareness of these faint stimuli, which he called their absolute thresholds.
Gustav Fechner (1801-1887):
the minimum stimulus energy needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time
Absolute thresholds
a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background noise. Assumes there is no single absolute threshold, and that detection depends partly on a person’s experience. Expectations, motivation, and alertness.
Signal detection theory
why people respond differently to the same stimuli (have you noticed that some teachers are more likely than others to detect students texting during class?), and why the same person’s reactions vary as circumstances change—as when creaking sounds trigger fear for someone home alone after watching a scary movie.
Signal detection theorists
below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness.
Subliminal
the minimum different between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time. We experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference)
Difference threshold (noticeable difference):
Ernst Weber in the 1800s, the principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount).
Weber’s law
diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation
sensory adaption
a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another, affects, top-down, what we hear, taste, feel, and see.
Perceptual set
you assume based on the context you are given. “eel on a wagon” would make you assume it was “wheel” but “eel on an orange” would make you assume “peel.” They can bias our interpretations of neural stimuli.
context
give us energy as we work toward a goal. They can bias our interpretations of neural stimuli. (a hill looks bigger when you have a heavy backpack)
motivation
