PSY 1101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Aroma Compound, Thalamus, Monosodium Glutamate

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 1101
• Professor: Mark Dallas

Document Summary

Detecting a weak stimulus depends on signal"s strength and your psychological state (experience, expectations, motivation, alertness) Signal detection theory: predicts how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus amid background stimulation (noise). Assumes there is no signal absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person"s experience, expectations, motivations and alertness: measured as a ratio of hits to false alarms. 50% of stimuli are subliminal (below one"s absolute threshold for. Sometimes, you can be affected by stimuli so weak that you aren"t conscious awareness) even conscious of it. Priming: the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one"s perceptions, memory or response. We can evaluate a stimulus even if we are not aware of it. Only when a stimulus triggers synchronized activity in several brain: difference threshold: the minimum difference between 2 stimuli required for detection 50% of the time. We experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference areas foes it reach consciousness.