01:830:301 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Absolute Threshold, Cash Register, Psychophysics
Document Summary
Shape, color, size, etc. are attributes computed by the brain. Starting with the pattern of light on the retina. Understanding perception involves understanding the rules of construction . Information processing - figuring the mapping of inputs and outputs of a system. Computational analysis - analyzing the function that is computed via a system. Multiple approaches: theoretical (computational, psychological (behavioral, biological (neuroscience) Psychophysics - study of relationship between physical world and psyche . It"s subjective, there"s no objective value - a patch is only as bright or as dark as you perceive it to be. Minimum change in intensity that leads to a noticeably different stimulus. Boundary between look the same and look different . Light bulb experiment - 100 units and 110 units, 300 units and 330 units, thresholds change with different units. Intensity 1 (i), intensity 2 (i+di), difference threshold (di) Weber"s law - the difference threshold is proportional to stimulus intensity, di = k*i, k= weber fraction .
