Perception & Senatation Vocab Part 1

Define Sensation

• The process by which our brain organizes and interprets sensory information, enabling us to recognize objects and events as meaningful 

• The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment

• The study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them.

• The minimum stimulus energy needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time

Define Sensory receptors

• Sensory nerve endings that respond to stimuli 

• The process by which our brain organizes and interprets sensory information, enabling us to recognize objects and events as meaningful 

• Information processing that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information

• Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perception drawing on our experience and expectations.

Define Perception

• The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment

• The process by which our brain organizes and interprets sensory information, enabling us to recognize objects and events as meaningful 

• Conversion of one form of energy into another. 

• The study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them.

Define Bottom-up processing

• Information processing that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information

• Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perception drawing on our experience and expectations.

•  The minimum stimulus energy needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time

• The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment

Define top-down processing

• A theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus amid background stimulation

• The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment

• Information processing that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information

• Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perception drawing on our experience and expectations.

Define Transduction

• The study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them.

• Conversion of one form of energy into another. 

• The minimum stimulus energy needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time

• A theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus amid background stimulation

Define Psychophysics

• The study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them.

• The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage. (rather than a constant amount)

• The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment

• The distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next. Electromagnetic wavelengths vary from the short gamma eaves to the long pulses of radio transmission.

Define Absolute threshold

• The minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time.

• A theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus amid background stimulation

• The minimum stimulus energy needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time

• The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage. (rather than a constant amount)

Define Signal detection theory

• The study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them.

• The minimum stimulus energy needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time

• A theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus amid background stimulation

• The principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage. (rather than a constant amount)

Define Difference threshold

• The minimum stimulus energy needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time

• Conversion of one form of energy into another. 

• The distance from the peak of one light or sound wave to the peak of the next. Electromagnetic wavelengths vary from the short gamma eaves to the long pulses of radio transmission.

• The minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time.