PSY100Y5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Detection Theory, Sensory Memory, Optical Illusion

• School: UTM
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY100Y5
• Professor: Dax Urbszat

Document Summary

The primacy effect is the fact that we do better with recalling the first items in a list. It exists because we have already established, with the available time/sufficient practice, good ltm. The primacy effect can be reduced when items are presented too quickly to be able to encode or when longer lists are provided. Signal detection theory proposes that the detection of the stimulus involves decision processes and sensory processes, which are both influenced by factors besides stimulus intensity. There are four types of signal detection; hits, misses, false alarms and correct rejection. A hit is when the stimulus is present and the subject"s response is correct. Miss is when the stimulus is present and the subject"s response is incorrect (the answer is wrong). A false alarm is when the stimulus is absent and the subject"s response is incorrect. Correct rejection is when the stimulus is absent and the subject"s response is correct.