The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information

Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information.

Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations.

The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus. Also known as the cocktail party effect.

Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere.

Failing to notice changes in the environment. Ex. The bearded man not noticing that the man giving directions was replaced by someone else after the board passed by.

The study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them.

The minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time.

Predicts how and when we detect the presence of a faint stimulus (signal) amid background stimulation (noise). This theory assumes there is no single absolute threshold and that detection depends partly on a person’s experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness.

our awareness of ourselves and our environment.

something that is not in our conscious, but can be easily pulled into consciousness, such as memories.

according to Sigmund Freud, it’s a reservoir of mostly unacceptable thoughts, wishes, feelings, and memories. According to contemporary psychologists, it’s information processing of which we are unaware.

things happening in your body of which you are not aware, such as hormone secretion.

the periodic physiological fluctuations our bodies go through.

cycles that occur every month. Ex. a woman’s menstrual cycle.

the relatively slow brain waves of a relaxed, awake state.

a sleep-inducing hormone. The SCN causes the brain’s pineal gland to decrease its production of melatonin in the morning or to increase it in the evening.

the first stage that lasts about 5 minutes, emit theta waves, may experience hallucinations and hynagogic sensations

a sleep disorder in which a person has recurring problems in falling or staying asleep.