Psychology 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Buoyancy, Somatosensory System, Nociception

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

Document Summary

Absolute threshold of sensation: the minimum intensity of stimulus needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time. At low levels of stimulus, some subjects can detect and some can"t. Not the same as the difference threshold (jnd just noticeable difference) that"s the smallest difference that can be detected 50% of the time. Absolute threshold can be influenced by a # of factors. Particularly, it is influenced by a variety of psychological states: expectations ex. Are you expecting a text: experience (how familiar you are with it) ex. Are you familiar of the phones text vibration sound: motivation ex. Are you interested in the response of the text: alertness are you awake our drowsy. You will notice text if you are awake. Subliminal stimuli stimuli below the absolute threshold of sensation. Receive information about the types of somatosensation, the intensity, timing, and location. Types: temperature (thermoception), pressure (mechanoception), pain (nociception), and position (proprioception)