PSY 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Subliminal Stimuli, Electromagnetic Spectrum, Neural Adaptation
Document Summary
Sensation: detect stimuli- process of receiving, converting, and transmitting raw sensory information from external and internal environments to brain. A series of steps to just receive stimuli. Purpose of sensation is to react to your sensation and respond to your environment. Visual senses allow you to see these images. Refers to your interpretation of these images. Subliminal stimuli: stimuli below level of conscious awareness. Strong enough to activate sensory receptors, but not to be consciously aware of them. After detection: transduction: converts sensory stimuli into neural impulses (brain language, coding: converts neural impulses to specific sensation (visual, touch ) to different parts of brain (parietal, occipital ) Sensory reduction (during transduction/coding): filters and analyzes incoming sensations; which information to pass to brain. Absolute threshold: smallest amount of stimulus that be detected (hearing/eye exams) Difference threshold: minimal difference needed to detect stimulus change (change in lipstick colors) Thresholds vary by person, physiological state (lack of food, drugs, environment, age)
