PSYC 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Detection Theory, Gustav Fechner, Absolute Threshold

• School: Simon Fraser University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100
• Professor: A.George Alder

Document Summary

Sensation: strictly involves the stimulation of the sense organs. Perception: involves selection, organization and interpretation of sensory inputs: psychophysics. Thresholds: dividing point between energy levels that do and do not have a noticeable e ect. Absolute threshold: minimum amount of stimulation than an organism can detect for a speci c sensory input. Di erence threshold: minimum di erence between two stimuli for the person to be able to detect them as di erent aka jnd. Vision: candle ame at 50 kilometers on a clear night. Hearing: tick of a watch at 6 metres in a quiet room. Taste: one teaspoon of sugar in 2 gallons of water. Smell: 1 drop of perfume in a 3 room apartment. Touch: the wing of bee falling on your cheek from 1 centimeter. Signal detection theory and the diagnosis of learning disabilities. Wavelength: related to frequency of sound (humans can hear 20 hz/s - 20,000 hz/s) Timbre: related to the purity of sound.