PSYA01H3 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Subliminal Stimuli, Unconscious Mind, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder
PSYA01 – Lecture 10: Sensation & Perception – Subliminal
Las Vegas incident – what does the brain do?
- People there:
o See/hear/smell something odd, then suddenly amygdala early warning system to detect
danger
Short-term – sympathetic NS; survival fight or flight.
Long-term – Hippocampus; PTSD memory what was around my before that
scary event happened? Next time you sense those things before that event, the
hippo. Triggers the sympathetic NS to predict the danger.
PERCEPTION
- In the 60s, interested in the mind and smoking pot.
- Perception was a scientific approach in studying the mind; focusing on how the mind inputs info
Difference VS Absolute Thresholds
- Max Weber
o ‘slight differences’ – process of determining ones’ perception by finding difference
thresholds (the point where participants can notice a difference)
o Showed differences were a common constant fraction; these ratios provided
mathematical analysis - proof for perception.
- Absolute Threshold – smallest lvl of energy required by an external stimulus to be detectable to
the human senses (vision, hearing, taste, smell + touch).
Subliminal Perception
Subliminal psychology – cds/tracks that theoretically, sends subliminal messages that would
help you achieve certain goals. relates back to Freud about the unconscious mind
o ABSOLUTE THRESHOLD – are there 2 thresholds? one that gets into our mind and the
other in our conscious mind. Is there a state in between?
Subliminal seduction -
o USED in advertisements to subliminally entice viewers’ stimuli (associations/classical
conditioning) bombarded on a daily basis
o Explicit messages also incorporated
BURGERKING – burger ad; highly sexualized with raunchy connotations
