PSYCO104 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Gustav Fechner, Absolute Threshold, Psychophysics
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Document Summary
Perception: the selection, organization, and interpretation of sensory input. Psychophysics: the study of how physical stimuli are translated into psychological experiences. Sensation begins with a stimulus any detectable input from the environment. In order for something to be detected, it must reach our absolute threshold. Absolute threshold: for a specific type of sensory input, the minimum amount of stimulation that an organism can detect. Arbitrarily defines as the stimulus intensity detected 50% of the time. A just noticeable difference (jnd) is the smallest difference in the amount of stimulation that a specific sense can detect (difference threshold) Weber"s law: the size of a jnd is a constant proportion of the size of the initial stimulus. Easier to detect a change in a really low stimulus. Everything is relative in perception we can"t measure things using absolute scales. Fechner"s law: states that subjective sensation is proportional to the logarithm of the stimulus intensity.
