PSY 102 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Detection Theory, Chinese Whispers, Phosphene
17 Nov 2016
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Definitions
Chapter 4
Sensory Adaptation: process in which activation is greatest when a stimulus is first detected
Ex. sitting on a chair, after a while we no longer notice it. If we didn’t engage in this, we’d be
attending to everything around us all the time.
Transduction: is the process by which the nervous system converts an external stimulus like
light or sound into electrical signals within neurons
Absolute threshold: is the lowest level of stimulus we can detect 50% of the time. Ex.on a
clear night, our visual system can detect a single candle from 30 miles away
Signal Detection Theory: theory regarding how stimuli are detected under different conditions.
Ex. talking to friend on phone while there’s static & trying to figure out a way they can hear you
Phosphenes: sparks, multicoloured shapes that occur when you rub your eyes from being tired
Synthesia: people experience cross-modal sensations, like hearing sounds when they see
colours or even tasting or smelling colours
Selective attention: process of selecting one sensory channel and ignoring or minimizing
others. Ex. zoning in when reading a book or telephone game
Inattentional Blindness: failure to detect stimuli that are in pain sight when our attention is
focused somewhere else. Ex. kids passing ball and gorilla video
Rods: long and narrow and enable us to see basic shapes and forms
Cons: small cones that gives us colour vision
Shape Constancy: we perceive a door as a door whether it appears as a rectangle or a
trapezoid(open or close)
Size Constancy: the ability to perceive an object as the same size no matter how far away they
are(looking at a painting)
Proximity: objects physically close to each other tend to be perceived as a unified wholes
Similarity: All things being equal, seeing objects composing a whole
Continuity: We still perceive objects as wholes even if other objects are blocking them
Closure: When partial visual information is present, our brains fill in what’s missing
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Document Summary
Sensory adaptation: process in which activation is greatest when a stimulus is first detected. Ex. sitting on a chair, after a while we no longer notice it. If we didn"t engage in this, we"d be attending to everything around us all the time. Transduction: is the process by which the nervous system converts an external stimulus like light or sound into electrical signals within neurons. Absolute threshold: is the lowest level of stimulus we can detect 50% of the time. Ex. on a clear night, our visual system can detect a single candle from 30 miles away. Signal detection theory: theory regarding how stimuli are detected under different conditions. Ex. talking to friend on phone while there"s static & trying to figure out a way they can hear you. Phosphenes: sparks, multicoloured shapes that occur when you rub your eyes from being tired. Synthesia: people experience cross-modal sensations, like hearing sounds when they see colours or even tasting or smelling colours.
