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Chapter 4:

Sensation & Perception

Sensation and perception


Attention

Announcement
Quiz 1 , this Sunday, 11:59pm
Writing Assignment 1, this Thursday,
11:59pm

***1. Identify the basic principles that apply to all the senses.
(transduction, receptors, thresholds, doctrine of specific nerve
energies)
***2. Track how our minds build up perceptions. (primary-sensoryassociation cortex, top-down vs. bottom-up, figure-ground,
parallel processing)
3. Analyze the scientific support for and against ESP.
***4. Explain how the eye starts the visual process.
**5. Identify the different kinds of visual perception (shape, color,
motion)
**6. Describe different visual problems (blindness, colorblindness,
blindsight)
***7. Explain how the ear starts the auditory process.
***8. Identify the different kinds of auditory perception
**9. Identify how we sense and perceive odors and tastes.
**10. Describe the three different body senses (touch, body
position, balance)
11. Describe the field of psychology called human factors.

Sensation

Senses gather information about the


world by detecting energy
Then

send that info to the brain

Sensation is the detection of physical


energy by our sense organs

Perception

The brains interpretation of raw sensory


data

Sensation allows us to pick up signals


from our environment,

Perception allows us to assemble the


signals into something meaningful

Sensation and Perception

Are they the same?

No!

Sensation
The detection of physical energy by our sense organs
which then goes to the brain

Perception

the brains interpretation of raw sensory date

Brain uses only a subset of sensory information and


fills in the rest
Illusions happen when these two dont match up

When Senses Meet the Brain

After being transduced, our brains then


organize the sensory data into meaningful
concepts

Our brains piece together


A)

Whats in our sensory field


B) What was there a moment ago
C) What we remember from our past

Processing in the brain

Parallel processing
The

ability for the brain to process multiple

sensory attributes at once


Receive

information across different neural

pathways simultaneously

The Multitasking Brain

Bottom-Up Processing: sensory


information comes to the brain and the
brain pieces it together
Constructing

a whole from the parts

The Multitasking Brain

Top-Down Processing: make sense of


things using our experience and
background knowledge
Understand

general meaning by context

Demonstration
Right side close eyes
Left side open eyes

Demonstration

Right side open eyes

Left side close eyes

What Are We Looking At?


A woman
A duck
A trained seal
A mans face
A mountaintop

Reveal

Top-Down Processing

The Multitasking Brain

Top-Down Processing: recognition


depends on higher-level cognition such
as expectations

Perceptual Set: a readiness or


predisposition to perceive a stimulus in
a certain way

Steps in the Sensation Process

Accessory Structure: Collect energy from world


Sense receptor: Turns energy into neural activity
(Transduction)

Sensation

Transduction: The process of converting


external energy into neural activity
Allows

the brain to understand that energy


Almost like the information is being translated

Sense Receptors are specialized cells that


convert the energy to neural activity
Different

for each sensory system

Steps in the Sensation Process

Accessory Structure: Collect energy from


world
Sense receptor: Turns energy into neural
activity (Transduction)
Sensory Neurons
Thalamus
Cerebral Cortex (Perception)

Sensation

Sensory Adaptation: process where we


respond strongly to a stimulus at first, but
then get used to it after time
Our

receptors begin to respond less to save


energy

E.g.,

sitting on a chair

What

would be the evolutionary explanation


for this?

Doctrine of Specific Nerve


Energies

The sensation we experience is determined


by the sense receptor, not the stimulus
Sense

receptors = cells in our eyes, ears,


fingertips,etc
Stimulus = light, sound, touch, etc

Measuring Sensation

Psychophysics: the study of how we perceive stimuli based on


their physical characteristics
Absolute Threshold
Lowest level of a stimulus needed for the nervous system to
detect it 50% of the time

Just Noticeable Difference


(JND)

The smallest change in the intensity


of a stimulus that we can detect
50% of the time
Webers law
Constant proportional relationship
between the JND and original
stimulus
Webers law WHEN you can
detect a change

Signal Detection Theory

Signal Detection Theory: describes how we


detect stimuli under uncertain conditions

Response Bias: how likely someone is to


make one type of guess over another when
theyre in doubt.

Signal-Detection Theory
Ones Decision:

Ringing of
the phone

Respond YES

Respond NO

Stimulus
Present

True Positive

False Negative

(Hit)

(Miss)

Stimulus
Absent

False Positive /

True Negative

(False Alarm)

(Correct Rejection)

Signal Detection Theory

Theory regarding how stimuli are detected


under different conditions
Signal-to-noise ratio

Basically how difficult is it to detect a signal under


uncertain conditions

Different situations
require a different
response bias

I-Clicker
Participants in a study are watching a computer screen,
which displays randomly appearing dots of different colors.
Each time participants see a red light they press enter.
When participants are told they will lose $1 every time they
incorrectly indicate they have seen a red light, their number
of __________ will increase.
A. True Negatives
B. False Negatives
C. True Positives
D. False Positives

Signal-Detection Theory
Ones Decision:

Ringing of
the phone

Respond YES

Respond NO

Stimulus
Present

True Positive

False Negative

(Hit)

(Miss)

Stimulus
Absent

False Positive /

True Negative

(False Alarm)

(Correct Rejection)

I-Clicker
Pierre is a new father who worries that he will be unable to
hear his infant daughter cry at night. He often thinks that he
hears her crying and runs to her bedroom only to find that
she is sleeping soundly. However, when she really does cry
at night, Pierre always hears her and runs to pick her up.
According to signal detection theory, Pierres
_____________ is very low, which results in many
_____________
A. Response Bias ; False Positives (False Alarms)
B. Response Bias ; False Negatives (Misses)
C. Sensitivity ; True Positives (Hits)
D. Sensitivity ; True Negatives (Correct Rejections)

Signal-Detection Theory
Ones Decision:

Ringing of
the phone

Respond YES

Respond NO

Stimulus
Present

True Positive

False Negative

(Hit)

(Miss)

Stimulus
Absent

False Positive /

True Negative

(False Alarm)

(Correct Rejection)

I-Clicker
Participants in a study are watching a computer screen,
which displays randomly appearing dots of different colors.
Each time participants see a red light they press enter.
When participants are told they will be given $1 every time
they correctly indicate they have seen a red light, their
number of __________ will increase.
A. True Negatives
B. False Negatives
C. True Positives
D. False Positives

Signal-Detection Theory
Ones Decision:

Ringing of
the phone

Respond YES

Respond NO

Stimulus
Present

True Positive

False Negative

(Hit)

(Miss)

Stimulus
Absent

False Positive /

True Negative

(False Alarm)

(Correct Rejection)

Attention

Selective Attention: process of


focusing on a specific aspect of
experience while ignoring others
Cocktail

Party Effect

Directing Attention
Inattentional Blindness: when your
attention is focused on something, other
stimuli in the environment may be
ignored
Change blindness: a failure to detect
obvious changes in ones environment

Video1:
http://www.dansimons.com/videos.html
Video 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voAntzB7EwE

Subliminal
Subliminal perception: the processing of
sensory information that occurs below the
conscious awareness
Subliminal persuasion: subthreshold
influences over decision making

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