Week 4- Chapter 4- Sensation, Attention, and Perception

What is transduction

Conversion of physical energy into neural signals.

Absolute threshold

Minimum energy detected 50% of the time.

Difference threshold

Smallest detectable change between stimuli.

Four ways senses reduce information

No transducers, restricted range, sensory adaptation, feature detection.

Three dimensions of light

Hue, saturation, brightness.

Accommodation

Lens changes shape to focus light.

Cones vs rods

Cones = color/detail; Rods = dim light/peripheral.

Trichromatic vs opponent-process

Three cones vs color pairs.

Frequency vs amplitude

Pitch vs loudness.

Conductive vs sensorineural loss

Outer/middle ear vs inner ear/nerve damage.

Frequency vs place theory

Firing rate vs location on cochlea.

Two chemical senses

Smell and taste.

Three somesthetic senses

Skin, kinesthetic, vestibular.

Gate control theory

Pain signals compete at spinal cord gate.

Selective attention

Focusing on specific input.

Inattentional blindness

Missing something due to focus elsewhere.

Four factors influencing attention

Intensity, contrast, personal importance, goals.

Bottom‑up vs top‑down

Sensory‑driven vs experience‑driven.

Perceptual constancies

Shape, size, brightness.

Monocular vs binocular cues

One eye vs two eyes.

Verbal vs nonverbal communication

Words vs body language/eye contact.