PSY 105 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Gestalt Psychology, Absolute Threshold, Kurt Koffka
Document Summary
Sensation - the act of using our sensory systems to detect environmental stimuli. Sensory receptor cells - specialized cells that convert a specific form of environmental stimuli into neural impulses. Sensory transduction - the process of converting a specific form of sensory data into a action potential (neural impulse) The environmental input (smell, sound, etc) is transduced into the brain and moves onward into more complex brain regions. The perception that occurs by transducing environmental stimuli into neural impulses that move into successively more complex brain regions. Use previously learned information to help recognize and interpret the environmental data entering you brain. Perception processes led by cognitive processes, such as memory or expectations. We organize small pieces of sensory experience into meaningful entities (researchers: wetheimer, koffka, kohler) The whole is more than the sum of its parts. Perceptual set - the readiness to interpret a certain stimulus in a certain way.
