Pg 191-215

How do we construct our representation of the external world?

Sensation

Detect physical energy (a stimulus) from the environment and convert it into
neural signals
Perception

Select, organize, and interpret our sensations

Bottom up process

Analysis of the stimulus begins with sense receptors and works up to the level of
the brain and mind
Top down processing

Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes as we construct

perceptions, drawing on our experience and expectations
Psychophysics

A study of the relationship between physical characteristics of stimuli and our

psychological experience with them
Physical world

Psychological world

Light

Brightness

Sound

Volume

Pressure

Weight

Sugar

sweet

Thresholds
Absolute threshold - minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of
the time
Weber's Law

Two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a

constant amount), to be perceived as different

Sensory adaptation

Diminishing sensitivity to an unchanging stimulus

o
Benefit - freedom to focus on informative changes without uninformative
background stimulation
o
We perceive the world not as it actually is, but as it is useful for us to
perceive
Vision

Transduction
o
In sensation, the transformation of stimulus energy (sights, sounds,
smells) into neural impulses

Stimulus input: Light energy

Wavelength (Hue
o
Hue (color) is the dimension of color determined by the wavelength of the
light
o
Wavelength is the distance from the peak of one wave to the peak of the
next
o
Short wavelength _ high frequency (bluish colors, high pitched sounds)
o
Long - low (reddish colors, low- pitched sounds)
o
Different wavelength of light result in different colors

Intensity (brightness)
o
Amount of energy in wave determined by amplitude
o
Great amplitude (bright colors, loud sounds)
o
Small (dull colors, soft sounds)
Optic nerve, blind spot & fovea

Made up of cones (detail and color)

Rodes (black and white and movement)

Lenses focuses light on the fovea

Rods are more common

Rods are sensitive to light

Visual information processing

Optic nerves connect to the thalamus in the middle of the brain, and the thalamus
connects to the visual cortex (occipital lobe)

Shape detection
o
Specialized neurons responsive to only certain stimuli

Processing of several aspects of the stimulus simultaneously is called

PARALLEL PROCESSING. The brain divides a visual scene into subdivisions such
as color, depth, form, movement, etc.
Color vision

Three Color Theory (Young-Helmholtz Trichromatic)

o
There are 3 types of color receptor cones; red, green, and blue. All the
colors we perceive are created by light waves stimulating combinations of
these cones
Opponent process theory
o
Refers to the neural process of perceiving white as the opposite of
perceiving black; similarly yellow vs blue, red vs. green are opponent
processes
o
Color blindness -people lack function of red and green

Perceptual organization

How do we form meaningful perceptions from sensory information>

o
Gestalt psychology: "form" or "whole", totality is different than "sum of
parts"
o
The same physical stimulus can be interpreted differently

Context

Expectations
Law of Pragnanz

Meaningfulness, minimum principle of perception

Grouping
Law of proximity

Group things that close to each other

Similarity

Group in simple way

Continuity

See things as continuous

Connectedness

Similar or the same

Depth perception

Enables us to judge distances

Binocular Cues

Retinal disparity
o
Image from 2 eyes differ
Monocular Cues

Relative size: similar object producing smaller image is father away

Interposition: objects blocking another are closer

Relative height: higher objects are father away

Linear perspective: more parallel lines converge, the greater distance away

Light and shadow: nearby objects reflect more light, so dimmer ones appear to
be farther away

Perceptual constancy

Perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change

Lightness constancy

Size-distance relationship