Absolute Thresholds and Difference Threshold

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ABSOLUTE THRESHOLDS AND DIFFERENCE THRESHOLD 1 Difference between absolute thresholds and difference thresholds Introduction to Psychology PSY 112 Professor Cotton March 23, 2014 ABSOLUTE THRESHOLDS AND DIFFERENCE THRESHOLDS 2 Difference between absolute thresholds and difference thresholds An absolute threshold is the smallest amount of a stimulus that a person can detect. This stimulus can be detected 50% of the time. A difference threshold or the just-noticeable difference is a minimal difference between two stimuli that can be reliably detected. During this paper I will show examples and share personal experiences. There are many examples given to display absolute threshold, (Nevid, 2012, p. 83) 3.1 table examines senses including vision, hearing, taste, touch and smell. There are different factors that influence absolute threshold including cognitive processes, sensory adaptation to the stimulus and individual motivations and expectations. Usually when I remember things from my child-hood, it’s through smells. It can be a perfume my mother wears the smell of trees or plants from my old neighbor hood or old friends from school. I had a friend in middle school that only wore coco butter lotion, at the time I really didn’t notice it but, now anytime that I smell coco butter lotion I always think of her. This example is called cognitive processing which help you remember memories through using your senses. Another example, of absolute threshold, frequencies of sound. Using a dog whistle, a human ear cannot hear a dog whistle because it is not designed for a human. Only dogs and other animals are able to hear the whistle because there stimulus are tuned into the frequency. Now if you are sitting in a room and the lights all of a sudden turn off you are still able to make out shapes. The amount of light necessary to see

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