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Sensation
the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment
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Perception
the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events
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Bottom-Up Processing
analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information
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Top-Down Processing
Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations
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Psychophysics
the study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them
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Absolute Threshold
the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time
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Signal Detection Theory
- a theory predicting how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise)
- Assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person's experience, expectations, motivation, and level of fatigue
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Subliminal
below one's absolute threshold for conscious awareness
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Priming
the activation, often unconsciously, of certain associations, thus predisposing one's perception, memory, or response
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Difference Threshold
- the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50% of the time
- We experience the difference threshold as a just noticeable difference
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Weber's Law
the principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage rather than a constant amount
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Sensory Adaptation
diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation
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Feature Detector
nerve cells in the rain that respond to specific features of stimulus, such as shape, angle, or movement
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Parallel Processing
- the processing of many aspects of a problem simultaneously
- the brain's natural mode of information processing for many functions, including vision
- Contrasts with the step-by-step processing of most computers and of conscious problem solving
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Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic (three-color) Theory
the theory that the retina contains three different color receptors--one most senstitive to red, one to green, and one to blue -- which, when stimulated in combination, can produce the perception of any color
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Opponent-Process Theory
- the theory that opposing retinal processes (red/green, yellow/blue, white/black) enable color vision
- For example, some cells are stimulated by green and inhibited by red; others are stimulated by red and inhibited by green
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Audition
the sense or act of hearing
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