Unit 3: Sensation and Perception

• Absolute Threshold - Gustav Fechner

  • Know something is there 50% of the time
• Difference Threshold - JND

  • Can tell the difference between two stimuli 50% of the time
• Weber's Law

  • Linked to JND, if the stimulus is larger there will be a larger JND
• Signal Detection Theory

  • Expectation plays the biggest role
• Sensory Adaption

  • Fading of stimulus over time
• Gate Control Theory of Pain

  • Neurological gates in the spinal cord open or close to transmit pain signals
• Gestalt

  • Organization of pieces into wholes, Gestalt principles are: proximity, closure, continuity, similarity
• Perceptual Set

  • What we expect to see/hear/feel actually influences what we do sense
• Selective Attention

  • One perception of a stimulus at a time