PSYC 1020H Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Absolute Threshold, Retina, Neural Adaptation
12 Jan 2018
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Synesthesia where cognitive activities or perceptual trigger exceptional experiences. Sensation is the stimulation of sense organs. Perception is the selection, organization & interpretation of sensory input. Psychophysics: the study of how physical stimuli are translated into psychological experience (130) Threshold is a dividing point btw energy levels that do and do not have a detectable effect a. Absolute threshold is the minimum amount of external stimulation a organism can detect half the time. Jnd is the smallest difference in the amount of stimulation that a speci c sense can detect. Weber"s law states that size of jnd is a constant proportion of the size of the initial stimulus. Signal detection theory: detection of stimuli involves decision processes as well as sensory processes. Noise: irrelevant stimuli in the environment; more noise = harder detection of weak stimuli. Perception without awareness: registration of sensory input without conscious awareness. Sensory adaptation: gradual decline of sensitivity due to prolonged stimulation.
