PSY100Y5 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Visual Cortex, Visual Acuity, Color Vision

• School: UTM
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY100Y5
• Professor: Dax Urbszat

Document Summary

Sensation the stimulation of sense organs. Involves absorption of energy (light or sound waves) by sensory organs (ears, eyes) Perception the selection, organization, and interpretation of sensory input. Involves organization and translating sensory input into something meaningful. Psychophysics study of how physical stimuli are translated into psychological experience (gustav fechner: thresholds: looking for limits. Sensation begins with a stimulus (any detectable input from environment) Threshold a dividing point between energy levels that do and don"t have detectable effect: ex. you might not be able to detect a weak odour that is apparent to a dog. Fechner: as stimulus intensity increases subjects" probability of responding to stimuli gradually increases: weighing the differences: the jnd. Just noticeable difference (jnd) the smallest difference in the amount of stimulation that a specific sense can detect. Weber"s law: states that the size of a jnd is a constant proportion of the size of initial stimulus: this constant proportion weber fraction, applies to all our senses.