Sensation and Perception

Signal detection theory→Perception results from both sensory information and making a judgment

response bias→Person’s readiness to report detecting a stimulus

hits, misses, false alarms, correct rejections→These are the four possible outcomes in a signal detection task.

hits→A stimulus that activates a sensory receptor.

misses→A failure to detect a stimulus that is present.

false alarms→False alarms are incorrect identifications of a stimulus that is not present.

correct rejections→Correct rejections are when a participant correctly identifies a stimulus as absent.

what factors affect response bias→Response bias is affected by factors like expectations, motivation, and the context of the situation.

expectations→Expectations influence how we perceive the world.

motivation→Motivation is the force that propels goal-directed behavior.

gestalt approach→We perceive objects as a whole rather than as a sum of the individual parts

figure ground perception→We inherently distinguish between object and background

grouping principles→Principles that help us organize sensory information into meaningful patterns.

proximity→The tendency to group objects together that are close to each other.

similarity→The tendency to perceive things that share common features as belonging together.

continuity→The tendency to perceive a continuous pattern even when it is interrupted.

closure→The tendency to perceive incomplete figures as complete.

perceptual constancy→The tendency to perceive objects as stable and unchanging despite changes in sensory input.

color constancy→Consistent perception of color of objects although the amount of light changes

lightness constancy→Consistent perception of shade of objects although the amount of light changes

shape constancy→Perception that object’s shape remains constant despite changing shape of retinal image

size constancy→Perception that the size of objects remain constant despite different sizes of images on retina