Psyc 2 ch. 5 - Summary Psychology PDF

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5.1 Sensation VS. Perception  Sensation: when sensory information is detected by a sensory receptor  Transduction: conversion from sensory stimulus energy to action potential  Absolute threshold: the minimum amount of stimulus energy that must be present for the stimulus to be detected 50% of the time  Subliminal message: message presented below the threshold of conscious awareness  Just noticeable difference: difference in stimuli required to detect a difference between the stimuli o Changes depending on the stimulus intensity  Perception: the way sensory information is organized, interpreted, and consciously experienced o Bottom-up processing: perceptions are built from sensory input o Top-down processing: interpretation of sensations is influenced by available knowledge, experience, and thoughts  Sensation is a physical process while perceptions is psychological  Sensory adaptation: not perceiving stimuli that remain relatively constant over prolonged periods of time  In attentional blindness: failure to notice something that is completely visible because of a lack of attention  Motivation can also affect perception o Ex. Waiting for a phone call and you think you hear it ring  Signal detection theory: ability to identify a stimulus when it is embedded in a distracting background  Perception can also be affected by beliefs, values, prejudices, expectations, and life experiences o Individuals who didn’t experience binocular vision during critical periods of development have trouble perceiving depth...