1. Sensation

2. The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive stimulus from the environment.

3. Perception The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.

4. Bottom-Up v. Top-Down Processing NUMBER 70

5. What if we could sense everything? Life would hurt. So we can only take in a window of what is out there. This is the study of psychophysics: relationship between physical stimuli and our psychological experiences to them.

6. Absolute Threshold The minimum stimulation needed to detect a stimulus 50% of the time.

8. Difference Threshold The minimum difference that a person can detect between two stimuli. Also known as Just Noticeable Difference

9. Can you tell the difference?

10. Weber’s Law The idea that, to perceive a difference between two stimuli, they must differ by a constant percentage; not a constant amount.

11. Signal Detection Theory Predicts how we detect a stimulus amid other stimuli. Assumes that we do not have an absolute threshold. We detect stuff based on our experiences, motivations and fatigue level. Signal Detection Theory

13. Subliminal Stimulation Below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness. Show clip Does this work? Yes and No Slide studies showed some emotional reactivity (called priming a response). The effects are subtle and fleeting.

14. Sensory Adaptation Diminished sensitivity as a result of constant stimulation.

15. The concept of sensory adaptation applies to all of our senses.

16. We do not perceive the world how it really is, but as it is useful for us to perceive it.

17. Selective Attention The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus.

18. An example of selective attention is: Cocktail Part Effect: ability to listen to one voice among many.