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Unit 3: Sensation and Perception

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In the field of Sensation and Perception, what does "Sensation" mean?

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Terms in this set (80)

In the field of Sensation and Perception, what does "Sensation" mean?

Sensation is the process of gathering sensory information from our environment. (Seeing, hearing, touching, smelling...)

In the field of Sensation and Perception, what does "Perception" mean?

Perception is how we interpret the sensory information we gather from our environment. (recognizing objects or events, judging distance, stereotyping,...)

What is the difference between "bottom up" and "top down" processing

Bottom-up processing starts with sensory information and makes sense of the information without preconceived ideas.Top-down processing starts with preconceived ideas that shape how we view our sensory information

Selective Attention

Where our conscious awareness is focused. We can only focus on a very relatively small amount of information at a time.

Cocktail Party Effect

Even in a crowd of people talking, we can successfully shift our attention to a single group of people talking, and listen in on their conversation.

Selective Inattention

We can become consciously "blind" to the information that we are not consciously focused on.

Change Blindness

Change blindness is when a person becomes unaware of changes made to the stimuli around them.

Psychophysics is a branch of psychology that studies how our mind ("psycho") interprets the physical ("physics") environment around us.

Absolute Threshold

The absolute threshold is the smallest amount of a stimulus that is still detectable 50% of the time.

Signal Detection Theory

Signal Detection Theory states that the absolute threshold depends on our psychological state, and the situation around us. (i.e. it may increase or decrease depending on context)

Any stimulus is presented below the absolute threshold - A stimulus that is present, but consciously undetectable

A stimulus that is above the absolute threshold

What does it mean if a person is "primed" by subliminal stimuli?

Priming is the unconscious activation of certain associations. (i.e. a person presented with a subliminal picture of Coke may be more likely to select Coke for their next drink)

Difference Threshold

Difference threshold is the absolute threshold for change between two stimuli.

Weber's Law says that the absolute threshold of any stimuli varies by a percentage of what it is being compared with, not by a fixed amount.