Psychology 2015A/B Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Musical Tone, Sound, Atmospheric Pressure

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 2015A/B
• Professor: Patrick Brown

Document Summary

Sound is the traveling air pressure change in the outside world, as well as the internal perception. Physical stimulus neural response sound perception. Physical: sound is a moving pressure wave in ait or any other medium which allows the wave to be transmitted. Perceptual: sound is the experience we have when we hear. Our experience of a sound is a function of these characteristics: amplitude, wavelength, and frequency. We will distinguish pure tones and complex tones by the shape of the wave, and amplitude and energy. A sound wave is a change in air pressure moving by at a single point of observation. Air pressure exists because the air is made of molecules and as air pressure increases there are more molecules per area. Graph on slide 10 shows how the ait pressure changes at one point in space over time.