PSYC 1001 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Detection Theory, Sensory Neuron, Auditory Cortex
Samuel Mohebban Chapter 6 Notes General Psychology
➢ Sensation- the detection of physical energy emitted or reflected by physical objects
o Sense organs- the cells that do the detecting (eyes, ears, tongue, skin, nose, and
internal body tissue)
▪ Produce an immediate awareness of sound, color, form, and other
building blocks of consciousness
➢ Perception- a set of mental operations that organizes sensory impulses into meaningful
patterns
➢ The body has more than just 5 senses
➢ Sense Receptors- cells located in the sense organs
o The receptors for smell, pressure, pain, and temperature are extensions
(dendrites) of sensory neurons
o The receptors for vision, hearing, and taste are specialized cells separated from
sensory neurons by synapses
o When sense receptors detect a stimulus, they convert the energy of the stimulus
into electrical impulses that travel along nerves to the brain
➢ Sensory receptors are like military scouts who scan the terrain for signs of activities.
These scouts cannot make many decisions on their own: they must transmit what learn
to field offiers, sensory neurons in the nerves of the peripheral nervous system. Field
officers must in turn report to the generals at a command center, the cells in the brain.
The generals are responsible for analyzing the reports, combining information brought
in by different scouts, and deciding what it all means.
➢ Neural Impulse- sensory-euos fo of ouiatio
➢ Doctrine of Specific Nerve Energies
o Written by Johannes Muller
o Different sensory modalities (vision and hearing_ exist because signals received
by the sense organs stimulate different nerve pathways leading to different
areas of the brain. Signals from the eye cause impulses to travel along the optic
nerve to the visual cortex. Signals from the ear cause impulses to travel along
the auditory nerve to the auditory cortex. Light & sound produce different
sensations because of anatomical differences.
o Says we see with the brain, not the eyes, and we hear with the brain, not the
ear.
➢ Synesthesia- in which the stimulation of one sense also consistently evokes a sensation
in another.
o Someone with this say that the color purple smells like a rose
o Sensory crossover
o A greater number of neural connection between two different sensory areas
than most people do
➢ Psychophysics- study which is concerned with how the physical properties of stimuli are
related to our psychological experience of them
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Samuel Mohebban Chapter 6 Notes General Psychology
Absolute Thresholds & Difference Thresholds
➢ Absolute Threshold- the smallest amount of energy that a person can detect reliably
(able to detect 50% of the time)
➢ Difference Thresholds- Involved with detecting a difference by a certain fixed stimulus.
(adding weight on a dumbbell)
➢ Response Bias- Whe ou ae i the shoe ad epetig a ipotat all, ou a
thik ou hea ou phoe ik he it didt)
➢ Signal Detection Theory- an observers response in a detection task can be divided into a
sensory process, which depends on the intensity of the stimulus, and a decision process,
which is influence by the observers response bias
➢ Naysayers are quicker to say no while yea-sayers are quicker to say yes when asked if
they detect stimulus. Naysays have more correct rejections
o detets a sigal that peset a hit
o “as the sigal as thee he it ast a false ala
o 3) false to detect the signal he it as peset a iss
o 4 oetl sas that the sigal as aset he it as aset oet
ejetio
➢ When a stimulus is repetitious, sensation often fades or disappears. Receptor or nerve
ells highe up i the seso sste get tied ad fie less feuetl.
➢ Sensory Adaption- The resulting decline in sensory responsiveness after exposure to a
repetitious stimulus.
o Causes us to not react to unimportant information, but can also be harmful.
➢ Sensory Deprivation
o When scientists isolated male volunteers from all pattern light and sound, many
of them felt edgy, disoriented, confused, grouchy, and restless. Some were
hallucinating and seeing things they would if they were outside. (squirrels, etc)
o Human brain requires a minimum amount of sensory information to function
properly.
o Why solitary confinement is severe punishment and lonely people have the TV
on.
Sensing Without Perceiving
➢ Selective Attention- The ability t focus on some parts of the environment and block out
others. Protects us from being overwhelmed by the countless sensory signals that are
constantly impinging on our sense receptors.
➢ Inattentional Blindness- Fail to consciously register objects that we are looking straight
at, a phenomenon. We look, but do not see.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
2
PSYC 1001 Full Course Notes
Verified Note
2 documents
Document Summary
Perception- a set of mental operations that organizes sensory impulses into meaningful patterns. The body has more than just 5 senses. Sensory receptors are like military scouts who scan the terrain for signs of activities. These scouts cannot make many decisions on their own: they must transmit what learn to (cid:862)field offi(cid:272)ers, sensory neurons in the nerves of the peripheral nervous system. Field officers must in turn report to the generals at a command center, the cells in the brain. The generals are responsible for analyzing the reports, combining information brought in by different scouts, and deciding what it all means. Doctrine of specific nerve energies: written by johannes muller, different sensory modalities (vision and hearing_ exist because signals received by the sense organs stimulate different nerve pathways leading to different areas of the brain. Signals from the eye cause impulses to travel along the optic nerve to the visual cortex.
