Sensation And Perception

The process by which the brain selects, organises and interprets sensations

The process by which the sense organs gather information about the environment

The process of converting physical energy into neural impulses

Branch of psychology that studies the relationship between attributes of the physical world and the psychological experience of them

Specialised cells in the nervous system that transform energy in the environment into neural impulses that can be interpreted by the brain

The minimum amount of physical energy (stimulation) needed for an observer to notice a stimulus

The theory that experiencing a sensation means making a judgement about whether a stimulus is present or absent

In signal detection theory, the participants readiness to report detecting a signal when uncertain; also called decision criterion

The smallest difference in intensity between two stimuli that a person can detect

The smallest difference in intensity between two stimuli that a person can detect

The perceptual law proposedby Ernst Weber that states that for two stimuli to be perceived as differing in intensity, the second must differ from the first by a constant proportion

The law of psychophysics proposed by Gustav Fechner, that the subjective magnitude of a sensation grows as a proportion of the logarithm of the stimulus

A law of sensation proposed by S. S. Stevens, which states that the subjective intensity of a stimulus grows as a proportion of the actual intensity raised to some power

The tendency of sensory systems to respond less to stimuli that continue without change

Misleading ‘sensations’ from missing limbs

Theory that emphasises the role of the central nervous system in regulating pain

That sense that provides information about the movement and position of the limbs and other parts of the body; receptors in joints transduce information about the position of the bones, and receptors in the tendons and muscles transmit messages about muscular tension

Senses that provide information about body position and movement; the two proprioceptive senses are kinaesthesia and vestibular sense

The sense that provides information about the position of the body in space by sending gravity and movement

The process of integrating sensations into meaningful perceptual units

Meaningful perceptual units, such as images of particular objects

The organisation of sensations into meaningful shapes and patterns

A fundamental rule of perception described by Gestalt Psychology that states that people inherently differentiate between figure (the object they are viewing/sound they are listening) and ground (background).

A Gestalt rule of perception which states that the brain tends to group similar elements within a perceptual field