PSYC 1001 Chapter 4: ch 4 - sensation & perception

• School: Carleton University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 1001
• Professor: Peter Aubin

Document Summary

Involves the absorption of energy (e. g. light/sound waves) by sensory organs (e. g. Involves the absorption of energy (e. g. light/sound waves) by sensory organs (e. g. ears/eyes) Perception: the selection, organization, & interpretation of sensory input. Involves organizing & translating sensory input into something meaningful. Psychophysics: the study of how physical stimuli are translated into psychological experience. Stimulus: any detectable input from the env"t. Threshold: a dividing point b/w energy levels that do & do not have a detectable effect. Absolute threshold: the minimum amount of stimulation that an organism can detect for a specific type of sensory input. Just noticeable difference (jnd): the smallest difference in the amount of stimulation that a specific sense can detect. Absolute threshold is the jnd from nothing (no stimulus input) Weber"s law: states that the size of a just noticeable difference is a constant proportion of the size of the initial stimulus: constant proportion = weber fraction, applies to all of the senses, e. g.