PSY 102 Chapter 4: Chapter 4 Psychology Textbook Notes
13 Feb 2017
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* sensation: detection of physical energy by our sense organs (eyes, ears, skin, nose, tongue) when they relay information to the brain. * perception: the brain"s interpretation of the sensory inputs. * sensation picks up signals in environment, perception assembles them into something meaningful. Two sides of the coin: sensation and perception. * transduction: the process by which the nervous system converts an external stimulus into electrical signals within neurons with the help of a sense receptor, or specialized cell. * sensory adaptation: declined strength in response after initial detection of stimulus (ex. after a few seconds of sitting on a chair, you don"t notice it anymore) * psychophysics: study of how we perceive sensory stimuli based on their physical characteristics. * absolute threshold: lowest level of stimulus we can detect on 50% of the trials when no other stimuli of that type are present.
