PS101 Chapter Notes -Ames Room, Depth Perception, Color Blindness
Document Summary
The detection of physical energy emitted or reflected by physical objects. Occurs when energy in the external environment or the body stimulates receptors in the sense organs. Process by which the brain organizes and interprets sensory information. Specialized cells that convert physical energy in the environment or the body to electrical energy that can be transmitted as nerve impulses to the brain. Dendrites of sensory neurons responsible for smell, pressure, pain, and temperature. Principle that different sensory modalities exist because signals received by the sense organs stimulate different nerve pathways leading to different areas of the brain. Sensory crossover also occurs in synesthesia where stimulation of one sense consistently evokes a sensation in another. Field concerned with the physical properties of stimuli are related to our psychological experience of them. Commonly relies on measuring absolute threshold, difference, and applying signal-detection theory. The smallest quantity of physical energy that can be reliably detected by an observer (50% of the time)
