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ThinkPsychology CH05
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Sensory system | is the part of the nervous system responsible for processing sensory information. |
| Sensation | describes the process through which we detect physical energy from the environment and code that energy as neural signals. |
| Perception | the way a person selects, organizes, and interprets sensory information |
| Absolute threshold | is the smallest amount of energy needed for a person to detect a stimulus 50 percent of the time. |
| Difference threshold or just noticeable differences (jnd) | is the medium difference between two stimuli deeds to detect the difference 50 percent of the time. |
| Receptor cell | a specialized cell that responds to a particular type of energy |
| Sensory neuron | a neuron that carries information from the sensory receptors to the brain as a coded signal |
| Transduction | a process through which physical energy such as light or sound is converted into an electrical charge |
| Sensory adaptation | a process in which sensory receptor cells become less responsive to an unchanging stimulus |
| Parallel processing | the process of doing several things at the same time |
| Inattentional blindness | the failure to perceive a given stimulus |
| Change blindness | the failure to detect drastic visual changes in a scene |
| Cocktail party effect | a phenomenon in which selective attention allows a person to concentrate on one voice and ignore many others |
| Pop-out stimulus | a stimulus that is important or interesting to a person |
| Multitasking | the act of juggling independent sensory inputs |
| Perceptual adaptation | a process in which a person adjusts to changes in the environment by adjusting sensory input |