Psychology 1000 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Retina, Inner Ear, Oval Window

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 1000
• Professor: Dr.Mike

Document Summary

Perception: in people w/ synesthesia, cross-wiring so activity in one part of the brain evokes a response in another part dedicated to another sense. One theory: pruning of neural connections that occurs in infancy has not occurred (brain retains connections others don"t have) Humans have many senses: vision, audition (hearing), touch, gustation (taste), olfaction (smell) Senses that provide info about balance & body position, touch divided into many senses (temperature, pressure, pain), sensory functions to detect foreign invaders in immune system. Psychophysics studies relations between physical characteristics of stimuli and sensory capabilities. Concerned with 2 kinds of sensitivity (absolute limits of sensitivity & differences between stimuli) Absolute threshold the lowest intensity at which a stimulus can be detected correctly 50% of the time. (lower the threshold, greater the sensitivity) No single point on the intensity scale that separates nondetection from detection.