Psychology 1000 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: Hearing Loss, Parallax, Vestibular System

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 1000
• Professor: Dr.Mike

Document Summary

Sensation: the stimulus-detection process by which our sense organs respond to and translate environmental stimuli into nerve impulses that are sent to the brain. Perception: making sense of what our senses tell us is the active process of organizing this stimulus input and giving it meaning. Five classical senses: vision, audition (hearing), touch, gestation (taste), and olfaction (smell) Human sensory systems are designed to extract from the environment the information that we need to function and survive. Psychophysics: studies relations between the physical characteristics of stimuli and sensory capabilities. Concerned with two kinds of sensitivity: the absolute limits of sensitivity, and the differences between stimuli. The absolute threshold for stimulus detection: how intense a stimulus must be before we can detect its presence. The absolute threshold: the lowest intensity at which a stimulus can be detected correctly 50 percent of the time. The lower the absolute threshold, the greater the sensitivity.