Intro to Sensation Notes

What is the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment?

Sensation

What is the term for the minimum stimulus difference a person can detect half of the time?

Difference threshold

According to Weber's law, for an average person to perceive a difference, two stimuli must differ by __________.

a constant minimum percentage

What is the phenomenon called when we become less aware of a constant stimulus due to constant exposure?

Sensory adaptation

Which theory predicts when we will detect weak signals and assumes there is no single absolute threshold?

Signal detection theory

What are stimuli that you cannot consciously detect 50% of the time called?

Subliminal stimuli

What do we call the processes that allow sensory information to be converted into a form the brain can use?

Transduction

What type of processing begins with sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information?

Bottom-up processing

In the context of sensation and perception, what distinguishes the two processes?

Sensation is the reception of stimuli, while perception is the organization and interpretation of sensory information.

What did Gustav Fechner study in relation to our awareness of faint stimuli?

Absolute threshold