Psychology 1000 Chapter 5: Nov 12th - Chapter 5 Sensation&Perception Textbook Notes.docx

• School: Western University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: Psychology 1000
• Professor: Laura Fazakas- De Hoog

Document Summary

Sensation - is 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 or organizing this stimulus input and giving it meaning. What is the softest sound or the weakest salt solution that humans can detect. What is the smallest difference in brightness that we can detect, how much difference must there be in two tones before we can tell that they are not identical. Absolute threshold the lowest intensity at which a stimulus can be detected correctly 50 percent of the time. Thus the lower the absolute threshold, the greater the sensitivity. What kinds of personal and situational factors influence signal detection decision criteria. Decision criteria a standard of how certain they must be that a stimulus is present before they will say they detect it.