Sensation: Sensing The
World Around Us
Sensation
The activation of the sense organs by a source
of physical energy.
Perception
The process by which the brain organizes and
interprets sensory information.
Both involve the study of how information is
extracted and interpreted from the
environment.
Stimulus: Energy that produces a response in a sense
organ.
Stimuli vary in both type and intensity
Different types of stimuli activate different sense
organs
Psychophysics
The study of the relationship between physical
characteristics of stimuli and our psychological
experience of them.
Light- Brightness, Sound- Volume, Taste-
Sweetness
Absolute threshold
The smallest intensity of a stimulus that must be present
for the stimulus to be detected.
Difference threshold (just noticeable difference)
The smallest level of added or reduced stimulation
required to sense that a change in stimulation has
occurred.
Absolute Sensory Thresholds
Vision:
A single candle flame from 30 miles on a
dark, clear night
Hearing:
The tick of a watch from 20 feet in total quiet
Smell:
1 drop of perfume in a 6-room apartment
Touch:
The wing of a bee on your cheek, dropped
from 1 cm
Taste:
1 tsp. Sugar in 2 gal. water
Perception:
Constructing
View of Our World
Perception
process by which we become aware of objects and events in
the external world.
process of making sense of the world around us.
Many people ignore the fact that all of us are different and that these
differences equip us to view the world from our very own vantage
points. Usually we spend more energy defending our own position than
understanding others.
Top-down processing:
Perception that is guided by higher-level
knowledge, experience, expectations, and
motivations.
We perceive by filling the gaps in what
we sense.
I _ant ch_co_ate ic_ cr_am.
Bottom-up processing
Perception that consists of the
progression of recognizing and processing
information from individual components
of a stimuli and moving to the perception
of the whole.
Factors Influences on Perception
Physiological (biological, neurological) Influences
Senses, age, health, fatigue, hunger, biological
cycles
Social Influences
Cultural Differences
o Nonverbal behaviors, odors, speech, silence,
space
Social Roles
o Sex roles, gender roles, occupational roles
Self-Concept
o Self-esteem, locus of control, attribution
(attaching meaning to behavior)
Gestalt Laws of Organization
A series of principles that describe how we organize bits and
pieces of information into meaningful wholes.
Figure and Ground Relationship
Our first perceptual decision is what is the image is the figure
and what is the background.
Proximity (group objects that are close together as being part
of same group)
Similarity (objects similar in appearance are perceived as
being part of same group)
Continuity (objects that form a continuous form are
perceived as same group)
Closure (fill gaps in if we can recognize it)
Depth and Distance Perception
The ability to view the world in three
dimensions and to perceive distance.
Binocular Cues:
– Visual cues to depth or distance that require the
use of both eyes.
– Convergence: Turning inward of the eyes, which
occurs when they focus on a nearby object.
– Retinal Disparity: The slight difference in
lateral separation between two objects as seen by
the left eye and the right eye.
Monocular Cues:
Visual cues to depth or distance that can be used by one eye alone.
Perceptual constancy
phenomenon in which physical objects are perceived as
unvarying and consistent despite changes in their
appearance or in the physical environment.
Shape Constancy
Size Constancy
Brightness Constancy
Location Constancy
Color Constancy
When the moon is near the horizon, we do not see it by
itself and perceptual constancy leads us to take into
account a misleading sense of distance.
Motion Perception
When do we perceive motion?
the movement of an object across
the retina is typically perceived relative
to some stable, unmoving background.
Moreover, if the stimulus is heading
toward us, the image on the retina will
expand in size, filling more and more of
the visual field. In such cases, we
assume that the stimulus is approaching
to us.
Illusion
Misleading or distorted perceptions of stimuli that actually
exists
Muller-Lyer Illusion: Two equal-length lines topped
with inward or outward pointing V’s appear to be of
different length; based on experience with edges and
corners
Pitfalls of Perception
1. Halo effect
We select the first (positive or negative) “obvious” or
“dominant” characteristic of a person
2. Primary (first things) & Recency (last things) Theory
The mind privileges things that come first and last in a set,
list, or encounter
3. Self-Serving Bias (attributional error)
We alter our interpretations to favor ourselves & to “cheat”
others
4. Selective Processes
The mind likes consistency, simplicity, & balance. Any
information that could “disrupt the peace” is seen as
dangerous.
Perceptual issues
• Illusion- faulty vision
• Delusion- faulty thought
• Hallucination- faulty perception
Extra sensory perception
Telekinesis
Metacognition
telepathy
