Psychology Chapter 4

The processes that organize information in the sensory image and interpret it as having been produced by properties of objects or events in the external, three-dimensional world.

The process by which stimulation of a sensory receptor gives rise to neutral impulses that result in an experience, or awareness, of conditions inside or outside the body.

The processes that put sensory information together to give the perception of a coherent scene over the whole visual field.

Two ways of attaching meaning to percepts.

In the processes of perception, the physical object in the world, as contrasted with the proximal stimulus, the optical image on the retina.

The optical image on the retina; contrasted with the distal stimulus, the physical object in the world.

The study of teh correspondence between physical simulation and psychological experience.

The minimum amount of physical energy needed to produce a reliable sensory experience; operationally defined as the stimulus level at which a sensory signal is detected half the time.

A graph that plots the percentage of detections of a stimulus (on the vertical axis) for each stimulus intensity (on the horizon axis).

A phenomenon in which receptor cells lose their power to respond after a period of unchanged stimulation; allows a more rapid reaction to new sources of information.