PSYC 100 Lecture Notes - Absolute Threshold, Neural Coding, Fundamental Frequency

• School: Queen's University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYC 100
• Professor: Ingrid Johnsrude

Document Summary

Study of how sensation relates to perception sensory thresholds - point at which a stimulus triggers start of an afferent nerve impulse difference threshold - jnd between two stimuli. Min. change required in intensity of something to detect it is stronger or weaker. Size of the jnd of a stimulus divided by its initial intensity is a constant. But different sensory domains have different constants. Does not hold at the extremes of intensity. Each step in jnd represents an equal step in the psychological magnitude of a sensation. So changes in stimulus can be compared across sensory domains. Proposed relationship between magnitude of a stimulus and its perceived intensity. Detecting faint signals absolute threshold - minimum value of a stimulus that can be detected. Eg. faintest sound a person can hear, gentlest touch a person can feel, etc. Usually the stimulus level where observers detect stimulus on 50% of trials.