PS101 Lecture Notes - Detection Theory, Inattentional Blindness, Absolute Threshold
Document Summary
Picks up physical energy. it could be a sound wave, a light wave, or a smell: sensory neuron/nerves, Send the information to the brain for interpretation: brain. Different sensations: doctrine of specific nerve energies. Says we have different anatomy for different sensations. Anatomical coding: thalamus sends the information along different pathways: sensory crossover (synesthesia) Too many connections in your brain and things collide. One sense evokes another. (e. g. 7 = red) Too many connections have haven"t been pruned. But can"t explain differences within a sensation: functional coding. When some cells fire, and some don"t. It is the pattern of firing that provides the distinctions. Anatomical coding can"t explain the differences within a sensation, but functional coding can. Sensory adaptation (getting used to a sensation) after prolonged exposure to a sensation, neurons fire less frequently and sensitivity goes down: exceptions: Intensity your sensitivity is not going to decrease for strong smells, temperature, and pain.
