PSYCH 1100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Detection Theory, Snellen Chart, Visual Acuity

• School: Ohio State University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYCH 1100
• Professor: Brian Siefke

Document Summary

Sensory signals face a lot of competition, or noise, which refers to all of the other stimuli coming from the internal and external environment i. 1. Sensory systems are noisy and when the signal is very small, senses provide only a fuzzy indicator of the state of the world i. 2. Signal detection theory- observation that response to a stimulus depends on both a person"s sensitivity to a stimulus in the presence of noise and on a person"s response criterion i. 1. a. Theory proposes a way to measure perceptual sensitivity-how effectively the perceptual system represents sensory events-separately from observer"s decision-making strategy i. 1. a. i. Practical application in medical diagnosis: sensory adaptation- sensitivity to prolonged stimulation tends to decline over time as an organism adapts to current conditions i. ii. Our perceptual systems emphasize change in responding to sensory events because changes often call for action. If adaptation did not occur, things that you consider mundane would be constant distractions throughout the day (ex.