Pscychology - Module 18

Bottom-up processing

Information processing that starts with sensory receptors and moves up to the brain's integration of sensory information, allowing the detection of lines, angles, and colors.

Sensation

The process where sensory receptors and the nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from the environment.

Sensory receptors

Nerve endings that respond to stimuli.

Sensory systems

The process where senses receive sensory stimulation, transform it into neural impulses, and deliver the information to the brain.

Perception

The top-down process where the brain organizes and interprets sensory information to create meaning.

Prosopagnosia

Facial blindness, a condition where individuals struggle with facial recognition.

Transduction

The process of converting one form of energy into another that the brain can use.

Psychophysics

Studies the relationship between physical energy and its effects on psychological experiences.

Absolute Threshold

The minimum stimulus energy needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time.

Signal Detection Theory

Predicts when weak signals will be detected, considering a person's experience, expectations, motivations, and alertness.

Priming

A technique where a stimulus influences how someone responds to a related stimulus that follows.

Subliminal

Stimuli that cannot be consciously detected 50 percent of the time, below the absolute threshold.

Difference Threshold

The minimum stimulus difference a person can detect 50 percent of the time.

Weber’s Law

States that for an average person to perceive a difference, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage.

Sensory Adaptation

Diminished sensitivity due to constant stimulation, helping focus on important changes in the environment.

Perceptual Set

The use of past experiences and expectations to interpret sensory information, affecting what is perceived.

An area in the brain's _____ hemisphere helps us recognize faces in as little as one-_____ of a second

right; seventh