Psychology 1000 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Cochlear Nerve, Semicircular Canals, Basilar Membrane

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 1000
• Professor: Laura Fazakas- De Hoog

Document Summary

Perception - selection, organization & interpretation of sensory input. Psychophysics - the study of how physical stimuli are translated into psychological experience. Sensory and perceptual processes proceed from the reception and translation of physical energies into nerve impulses to the active process by which the brain receives the nerve impulses, organizes and confers meaning on them, and constructs a perceptual experience. Stimulus - information in the environment that is picked up by the receptors in our nervous system (ns) Absolute threshold - detected 50% of the time. Difference threshold - the minimal amount the stimulus needs to be increased (or decreased) to be judged as different from the original stimulus (aka just noticeable different - jnd) Certain stimuli are so low they do not register in our nervous system. Weber"s law - the difference threshold or jnd is directly proportional to the magnitude of the stimulus with which the comparison is being made.