Unit 4

Sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment

Organizing and interpreting sensory information enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory info

Info processing guided by higher-level mental processes

Focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

Failing to notice changes in the environment

Study of relationships b/w physical characteristics of stimuli: intensity, psychological experience

Minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time

When we will detect weak signals, measured as our ration of “hits” to “false alarms”

Below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness, activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one’s perception, memory or response

Principle that to be perceived as different, 2 stimuli must differ by a constant percentage (rather than a constant amount)

Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

Conversion of one form of energy into another-transforming of stimulus energies: sight sound…etc into neural impulses

Distance from one wave peak to the next

Dimension of color that is determined by the wavelength of light