PSY 166 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: Absolute Threshold, Electric Shock, Comparator

• School: Hofstra University
• Department: Psychology (PSY)
• Course: PSY 166
• Professor: Dr. Ploran

Document Summary

Difference minimum amount of energy to see change o is a comparison between two things. Absolute minimum amount of energy for detection. We are trying to figure out the perception of the stimulus. Asking observer to indicate how much stimulus energy they perceive. All of these will be above the absolute threshold (has to be hard enough or loud enough to be perceived) o. Asking them to quantify how much stimulus energy is there (cid:862)sta(cid:374)da(cid:396)d(cid:863) ex: has a value of 10 (cid:862)(cid:272)o(cid:373)pa(cid:396)ato(cid:396)(cid:863) . Give people an estimation between a standard (desk lamp) and a comparator (studio light) and then asking people how much brighter is the studio lamp. Its good to perceive things but it gets us part of the way there. We have to recognize what that stimulus is. Heavily reliant on top-down processing (knowledge, experience) Humans can perceive stimulus; animals go through physiology and observe the stimulus; mri uses physiology to perceive things.