PSYC 1010 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Stirrup, Dominant Wavelength, Phi Phenomenon

• School: York University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 1010
• Professor: Myriam Mongrain

Document Summary

Perception: selection, organization and interpretation of sensory input translating sensory info into something meaningful. Psychophysics: study of how physical stimuli are translated into psychological experience. Gustav fechner wanted to determine for any given sense, the threshold: dividing point between energy levels that do and do not have detectable effect. Absolute threshold: specific type of sensory input that is minimum amount of stimulation an organism can detect: no single intensity where subject can jump from detected to completely detected. Therefore as stimulus intensity increases, su(cid:271)je(cid:272)ts" pro(cid:271)a(cid:271)ilit(cid:455) of respo(cid:374)di(cid:374)g gradually increases. Researchers redefined it to be when stimulus intensity is detected 50% of the time. Just noticeable difference (jnd): smallest difference in amount of stimulation a certain sense can detect. Signal-detection theory: detection of stimuli involves decision processes as well as sensory processes, which are both influenced by a variety of factors, not only intensity.