2. AP PSYCH

Sensation

The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system RECIEVE AND REPRESENT STIMULUS ENERGIES from our environment

Perception

The process by which we organize and interpret sensory information in order to RECOGNIZE MEANINGFUL OBJECTS.

Selective attention

Process of focusing on a particular object in the environment for a certain period of time, allowing us to tune out unimportant details and focus on what matters.

“Ability to focus on ONE THING over another”

Change Blindness

FAILING TO NOTICE even obvious changes

this is due to selective attention

EX: You wait at a stop sign and blink, you fail to notice the light has changed

Sensory Adaptation

Decreasing responsiveness to stimuli due to constant stimulation

EX: Adapting to noise levels in an environment

Inattentional blindness

FAILING TO SEE visible objects when our ATTENTION is DIRECTED ELSEWHERE

“We FOCUS ON ONE THING, we MAY NOT NOTICE SOMETHING ELSE”

Pop-out

(PHENOMENON) Something DIFFERENT popping out to get our attention

Cocktail-party

(PHENOMENON) We DETECT ONE VOICE among many

Threshold

the MINIMUM LEVEL of stimulation required to trigger a neural impulse

Absolute Threshold

MINIMUM amount of STIMULUS REQUIRED for DETECTION

**50% of the time

Difference Threshold

MIMINUM STIMULUS between TWO REQURIED STIMULI for a CHANGE in detection

Subliminal

Defense mechanism by which people re-channel their unacceptable impulses into socially approved activities.

**UNDER ABSOLUTE THRESHOLD

Priming

Activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response.

Exposure to ONE stimulus influences a response of a SUBSEQUENT stimulus

EX: When watchin a superhero movie, your Primed on self-imporvement

Weber’s Law

Percentage of change (DIFFERENCE) is what LEADS TO DETECTION

OUTCOME: The percentage of change is what matters

EX: its easier to DETECT the difference of light with two dim light bulbs, versus two bright light bulbs

Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic theory

(3 TYPES OF COLORS) We have cells sensitive to Green, Blue and Red

Opponent-process theory

(3 PAIRS OF CONES) red & green, yellow & blue, black & white pairs

Color Blindness

The inability to distinguish between certain colors

Monochromatic (shades of gray)'

Dichromatic (Only TWO cones function well)

Figure-ground

FIRST PERCEPTUAL DECISIONS OUR MINDS MAKE;

What part of the image is a FIGURE and what part is the GROUND / Background

**Optical illusions play with this rule

Perceptual set

a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.

Top down

(POCESSING) How our brians MAKE USE of information already brought into the brain by one or more of the sensory systems

Bottom Up

(PROCESSING) Sensory perception of the STIMULI BEING PROCESSED in the particular part of the brain, is responsible for that sense

Signal detection

Detection of a stimulus DEPENDS ON BOTH Intensity and Physical / psychological state of an individual

“If you SENSE it, you’ll DETECT it”

Gestalt rules

(AKA WHOLE GROUP) Closure, proximity, continuity, similarity, connectedness

Constancy

Shape, size, Color

Retinal disparity

The left and right FOV (fields of vision) provide slightly different visual images when focusing on a single object.