PSYCH 2AA3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Visual Acuity, Hearing Loss, Cochlear Implant
27 Sep 2017
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The senses begin to function early in life. In each case, the sense organ translates the physical stimulation into nerve impulses that are sent to the brain. Since babies can"t tell us about their sensory experiences, researchers need to think of ways to find out what about them. Often, the investigator presents two stimuli to a baby and records the baby"s response, such as heart rate, facial expression, or eye movements. If the baby consistently responds differently to the two stimuli, the they must be distinguishing btwn them. Babies also prefer novel stimuli over familiar stimuli. Habituation: when a baby pays less attention to a stimuli as it becomes more familiar. Researchers use habituation to study perception by repeatedly presenting a stimulus until the infant barely responds. They then present a new stimulus, and if the baby responds, then we know that they can distinguish btwn the two stimuli.
