Psychology of
Sensation and Perception
BY
Prof. Hossam Khalifa
Professor of psychiatry
Learning objectives :
1-Understanding the difference between
sensation and perception.
2-Identify the effect of sensory adaptation
,attention and motivation on perception.
3-Understanding the Gestalt principles of
perception.
4- Identifying the disorders of perception.
Sensation:
• The processes by which sense organs receive
information from the environment.
• In addition to the well known five senses ,vision,
hearing (audition) ,smell (olfaction), taste
(gustation) and touch (somatosensation),we have
also sensory systems, that provide information
about balance(vestibular sense) ,body position and
movement (proprioception and kinesthesia), pain
(nociception)and temperature (thermoception) .
Perception:
• The processes of organizing , interpretation,
analysis ,and integration of stimuli involving
sense organs and the brain.
• In simple words, sensation is an initial
response to the stimulus ( a physical
phenomena) ,while perception is what our
mind make of that stimulus ( a psychological
phenomena) .
Vision:
• Light waves cross the cornea and enter the eye at the
pupil. The eye's lens focuses the light so that the image is
focused on the fovea. The fovea contains cones that
possesses high levels of visual acuity and operates best in
bright light conditions .Rods are located throughout the
retina and operate best in dim light conditions.
• Visual information leaves the eye through the optic nerve.
Information from each visual field is sent to the opposite
side of the brain at the optic chiasm. Visual information
then moves through a number of brain area ,before
reaching the occipital lobe where it is processed.
Hearing:
Sound waves are funneled into the auditory
canal, and cause vibrations of the ear drum,
these vibrations move the ossicles, the stapes
press against the oval window of the cochlea,
which causes fluid inside the cochlea to move
As a result , hair cells embedded in the basilar
membrane become enlarged, which sends
neural impulses to the brain via the auditory
nerve.
Other senses:
• Taste ( gustation) and smell ( olfaction),are
chemical senses ,that are detected by receptors
on the tongue and in the nose , that bind directly
with taste and odor molecules in order to
transmit information to the brain for processing.
• The ability to perceive touch , temperature and
pain are mediated through a number of
receptors and free nerve endings , that are
distributed throughout the skin and various
tissues of the body.
• The vestibular sense helps maintain sense of
balance ,through the response of hair cells in
the saccule , and semi-circular canals, that
responds to head position and gravity .
• Proprioceptive and kinesthetic systems provide
information about body positions and body
movements through receptors that detect
stretch and tension in muscles, joints ,tendons
and skin.
Factors that affect sensation and
perception:
1)Sensory adaptation:
Although our perceptions are built from
sensations ,not all sensations result in
perception. In fact we often don't perceive
stimuli that remain relatively constant as a
decrease in sensitivity occur with repeated
exposure. This is known as sensory adaptation.
Example: -Upon entering a lecture , with a big clock
ticking on the wall, first upon entering the room you
hear ticking of the clock ,as you begin to engage
with the professor you no longer perceive the sound
,although sensory information (hearing),still affect
sensory receptors of the auditory system.
-Jumping in cold water might be temporarily
unpleasant, but eventually a person will get used to
the temperature.
2)Attention:
• Attention plays an important role in determining
what is sensed and what is perceived .
• Example: You are in a bus station and you met an
old friend ,and were involved in an interesting
conversation, and you tune out all the background
noise and scenes ,If someone interrupted to ask
you if the bus has already left the station , you
probably , would be unable to answer the question.
• Failure to notice something that is completely
visible because of lack of attention, is called
inattentional blindness.
3)Motivation:
• Motivation to detect a meaningful stimulus ,can
shift our ability to discriminate between a true
sensory stimulus and a background noise.
• Example: expecting a visit from a friend ,you think
the door bell is ringing ,only to discover it is not.
• The ability to identify a stimulus when it is
embedded in a distracting environment is called
signal detection theory.
• Example: The mother is awakened by a very low cry
of her baby ,but not by other sounds while she is
asleep.
• Other factors : Our perception ,can be also
affected by our beliefs, values ,prejudices,
expectations and life experiences.
• Although the sensory information remains the
same , your interpretation vary .
Gestalt principles of perception:
• The word gestalt literally means a pattern or a form .
• A group of German psychologists in the early 1900s
set forth a series of principles that describe how we
organize bits and pieces of information into
meaningful wholes.
• They discovered a number of important principles
that are valid for visual as well as auditory stimuli.
• Their principles reflect the idea that the whole is
different from the sum of its parts i.e. the brain
creates a perception that is more than simply the
sum of the available sensory information.
1-Figure ground relationship:
• According to this principle we tend to segment
our visual world into figure and ground .The
figure is the object or person in focus. The
ground is the background.
2-Proximity:
• This principle suggest that elements that are
closer together are grouped together.
3-Similarity:
• This principle suggests that elements that are
similar in appearance are grouped together.
4-Continuity :
• The principle of continuity suggests that we
tend to perceive ,continuous smooth flowing
lines ,rather than jagged ,broken lines.
5-Closure:
• This principle suggests that groupings are usually
made in terms of enclosed or complete figures
,rather than open ones.
(3) Disorders of Perception
I- Sensory Distortion:
•Change in Intensity e.g.
hyperaesthesia, hypoaesthesia,
hyperacusis and hypoacusis.
•Change in Quality e.g. Xanthopsia and
erythropsia.
•Change in Form e.g. micropsia and
macropsia.
II- Sensory Deception:
•Illusion: false perception of existing objects.
Occurs in normal persons and in delirium.
•Pseudohallucination: is a type of mental
images that occurs in the inner subjective
space. It is known to be not real perceptions
coming from within, not from outside.
•Hallucination: perception without a stimulus.
It has the full force and impact of a real
perception, cannot be readily controlled by
the patient and is usually intrusive.
Differences between hallucination and
pseudohallucination
Item Hallucinatio Pseudohallucinati
on
n
Experienc concrete, objective, mental image
real
e
Location Outer objective space Inner subjective
space
Insight Has quality of Has quality of idea
perception
Types of hallucinations:
•Auditory hallucinations
•Visual hallucinations
•Tactile hallucinations
•Olfactory
•Gustatory hallucinations
Causes of hallucinations:
•Intense emotions
•Suggestion
•Disorders of sense organs.
•Sensory deprivation
•Disorders of CNS
•Schizophrenia
•Hypnagogic and hypnapompic
