Intro to Psych: Chapter 5 Vocab 1-12

The process of recessing stimulus energies from the environment

The brain's process of organizing and interpreting sensory information to give it meaning

Processing that begins with sensory receptors registering environmental information and sending it to the brain for analysis and interpretation

Processing of perceptual information that starts out with cognitive processing at the higher levels of the brain

Specialized cells that detect stimulus information and transmit it to sensory (afferent) nerves and the brain

The field that studies links between the physical properties of stimulus and a person's experience of them

The minimum amount of stimulus energy that a person can detect

The smallest difference in stimulation required to discriminate one stimulus from another 50% of the time; also called just noticeable difference;

The principle that two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount) to be perceived as different

The theory about perception that focuses on decision making about stimuli in the presence of uncertainty; detection depends on a variety of factors besides the physical intensity of the stimulus and the sensory abilities of the observer

A change in the responsiveness of the sensory system based on the average level of surrounding stimulation