PSYC 1100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Electromagnetic Spectrum, Necker Cube, Inattentional Blindness

• School: UConn
• Department: Psychological Sciences
• Course: PSYC 1100
• Professor: Alexandra Paxton

Document Summary

Psyc 1100 lecture 10 sensation and perception i. Sensation: detecting and taking in sensory information from the world around us. Transduction: converting sensory information to action potential. Absolute threshold: the minimum amount of a stimulus that must be present to detect 50% of the time. Ex: a candle flame 30 miles away. Just-noticeable difference: the difference in stimuli that is required to detect a change. Five basic senses: vision, hearing (audition), smell (olfaction), taste (gustation), and touch (somatosensation) Oversimplified we have additional senses, such as balance (vestibular sense), body position and movement (proprioception and kinesthesia), pain (nociception), and temperature (thermoception) Perception: how we make organize, interpret and experience sensory information. Our perceptions are influenced by pre-existing knowledge, experiences and expectations. Inattentional blindness: failing to notice something that is completely visible due to a lack of attention. Example of a top-down effect on perception. Related to change blindness not noticing a difference in the environment due to a lack of attention.