PSY 1101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Detection Theory, Absolute Threshold, Neural Adaptation

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 1101
• Professor: Laine John

Document Summary

Sensation- the process through which the senses pick up visual, auditory and other sensory stimuli and transmit them to the brain- sensory info that has been registered in the brain but has not been interpreted. Perception- the process by which sensory info is actively organized and interpreted by the brain. Signal detection theory- the view that detection of a sensory stimulus involves both discriminating a stimulus from background noise and deciding whether the stimulus is actually present. Sensory adaptation- the process of becoming less sensitive to an unchanging sensory stimulus over time. Adapting to the smell of cigarette smoke as a smoker. Absolute threshold: the exact tipping point between a stimulus that is picked up by the senses, and that that is not. Difference threshold: the amount of change needed in the level/intensity of a stimulus in order for the body to detect the change.