Sensation and Perception

Sensation: your window to the world
-Sensation is the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive stimulus from the environment

Perception: interpreting what comes in your window
-perception is essentially an interpretation and elaboration of sensation. Therefore, a sensation refers to the initial steps in the processing of a stimulus
-the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

Bottom-up processing: analysis that beings with the sense receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information

Top-down processing: information processing guided by higher level mental processes
-we when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations

Absolute threshold: the minimum stimulation needed to detect a stimulus 50% of the time

Difference threshold
-the minimum difference that a person can detect between two stimuli
-also known as just noticeable disease

Weber's law: the idea that to perceive different two stimuli they must differ

Signal detection theory:
-we detect a stimulus and other stimuli
-assumes that we do not have an absolute threshold
-we detect stuff based on our experiences, new motivations and fatigue level

Transduction: transforming signals into neural impulses. Information does from the senses to the thalamus. Then to the various areas of the brain
-conversion of one form of energy to another

Sensory adaptation: diminished sensitivity as a result of constant stimuli

Selective attention: focused of conscious awareness in a particular way

Cocktail party effect: ability to listen to notice among many

Wavelength: the distance from the peak of one light wave to the peak of the next
-the distance determines the hue (color) of the light we perceive

Short wavelength = high frequency

Intensity: the amount of energy in a light wave. Determined by the height of the wave; the higher the wave the more intense the light is

Parallel Processing: the processing of several aspects of a problem simultaneuously

•  color
• motion
• form
• depth

Young-helmholtz trichromatic (three color) theory: realized that any color can be created by combining the light waves of three primary colors: red, green, blue

Rods facilitate black and white vision

Cones facilitates color vision

Opponent process theory: we cannot see certain colors together in combination (red green, blue yellow, and white black) these are antagonist/opponent colors