MYER'S PSYCHOLOGY FOR AP (UNIT 4)
1.sensation: the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous
system receive and represent stimulus energies from our
environment
2.perception: the process of organizing and interpreting sensory
information, en- abling us to recognize meaningful objects and events
3.bottom-up processing: analysis that beings with the sensory
receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory
information
4.top-down processing: information processing guided by higher-level
mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our
experience and expectations
5.selective attention: the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular
stimulus
6.inattentional blindness: failing to see visible objects when our attention
is direct- ed elsewhere
7.change blindness: failing to notice changes in the environment
1/
8
, 8.psychophysics: the study of relationships between the physical
characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological
experience of them
9.absolute threshold: the minimum stimulation needed to detect a
particular stim- ulus 50 percent of the time
10.signal detection theory: a theory predicting how and when we detect
the presence of a faint stimulus amid background stimulation (noise).
Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection
depends partly on a person's experience, expectations, motivation,
and alertness
11.priming: the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations,
thus pre- disposing one's perception, memory, or response
12.difference threshold: the minimum difference between two stimuli
required for detection 50 percent of the time. We experience the
difference threshold as a just noticeable difference
13.weber's law: the principle that, to be perceived as different, two
stimuli must differ by constant percentage (rather than a constant
amount)
2/
8
1.sensation: the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous
system receive and represent stimulus energies from our
environment
2.perception: the process of organizing and interpreting sensory
information, en- abling us to recognize meaningful objects and events
3.bottom-up processing: analysis that beings with the sensory
receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory
information
4.top-down processing: information processing guided by higher-level
mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our
experience and expectations
5.selective attention: the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular
stimulus
6.inattentional blindness: failing to see visible objects when our attention
is direct- ed elsewhere
7.change blindness: failing to notice changes in the environment
1/
8
, 8.psychophysics: the study of relationships between the physical
characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological
experience of them
9.absolute threshold: the minimum stimulation needed to detect a
particular stim- ulus 50 percent of the time
10.signal detection theory: a theory predicting how and when we detect
the presence of a faint stimulus amid background stimulation (noise).
Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection
depends partly on a person's experience, expectations, motivation,
and alertness
11.priming: the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations,
thus pre- disposing one's perception, memory, or response
12.difference threshold: the minimum difference between two stimuli
required for detection 50 percent of the time. We experience the
difference threshold as a just noticeable difference
13.weber's law: the principle that, to be perceived as different, two
stimuli must differ by constant percentage (rather than a constant
amount)
2/
8
