Translation of "Sensation" into Icelandic

1.1. Sensation and perception are central to, and often precede, almost all aspects of human behaviour and thought. There are many practical applications of our increased understanding of sensation and perception. 1.2. Gustav Fechner invented several clever methods for measuring the relationship between physical changes in the world and consequent psychological changes in observers. These methods remain in use today. Using Fechner’s methods, researchers can measure the smallest levels of a stimulus that can be detected (absolute threshold) and the smallest differences that can be detected (difference thresholds, or just noticeable differences).

1.3. A more recent development for understanding performance—signal detection theory—permits us to stimulate changes in the perceiver (e.g., internal noise and biases) in order to understand perceptual performance better. 1.4. We learn a great deal about perception by understanding the biological structures and processes involved. One early observation—the doctrine of specific nerve energies—expresses the fact that people are aware only of the activity of their nervous systems. For this reason, what matters is which nerves are stimulated, not how they are stimulated. The central nervous system reflects specialisations for the senses, from cranial nerves to areas of the cerebral cortex involved in perception.