INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY (PSYCH 111): CHAPTER 3 – SENSATION AND PERCEPTION

• Cones: These are your color detectors. They

CHAPTER 3 need more light to work, but they let you see the
vibrant world around you. There are different
A. The Senses types of cones, each sensitive to a different range
B. The Color Vision and Its Theories of colors (like red, green, and blue).
C. The Theories of Hearing
So, basically:
D. Sensation
• The retina is where the image gets formed.
E. Characteristics of Sensation • Rods let you see in the dark (but no color).
F. Weber’s Law • Cones let you see color (but need more light).
G. Perception
H. Characteristics of Perception
I. Extrasensory Perception THE COLOR VISION AND ITS THEORIES
I. THE SENSES • Color is the whole experience - the flavor, how
vibrant it is, and how bright it looks.
 The eye –are the organs that let you see the
• Hue is the specific flavor, like chocolate or
world around you. They're like cameras that
strawberry. It's what we usually mean when we
capture light and send the images to your brain
say "color."
so you can understand what's in front of you.
• Saturation is how intense the flavor is. A pale
pink strawberry ice cream is less saturated than
THE VISUAL PROCESS a deep, rich red one.
• Light Enters the Eye: It all starts when light • Brightness is how much light the ice cream
bounces off objects in the world around you. This seems to give off. A brightly lit sundae looks
light enters your eye through the pupil, a small more vibrant than one in a dimly lit room.
opening in the center of your eye.
In simpler terms:
• Focusing the Light: The light then passes
through the lens, which acts like a magnifying • Color is everything about how we see
glass, focusing the light onto the back of your eye. something.

• The Retina's Role: The back of your eye is lined • Hue is the basic color itself (red, blue, etc.).
with a special layer called the retina. The retina is • Saturation is how rich and vivid the color is.
like a movie screen, capturing the focused image.
• Brightness is how light or dark the color
• Photoreceptors at Work: The retina is covered appears.
in millions of tiny light-sensitive cells called
photoreceptors. There are two types: rods (for • Trichromatic theory is like having three
seeing in low light) and cones (for seeing color primary colors - red, green, and blue. By
and detail). mixing these in different amounts, you can create
a wide range of colors. This theory says our
• Converting Light to Signals: When light hits the eyes have three types of cone cells, each
photoreceptors, they convert it into electrical sensitive to one of these primary colors. So,
signals. when we see yellow, it's because our red and
• The Optic Nerve's Job: These electrical signals green cones are stimulated.
travel along the optic nerve, a cable-like bundle • Opponent-process theory is like having pairs
of nerve fibers that connects the eye to the brain. of colors that compete with each other - red
• The Brain's Interpretation: Finally, the signals vs green, blue vs yellow, black vs white. It's
reach the brain, which processes them and like a seesaw, when one color is "up" the other
creates the images you see. is "down." This theory explains why we see
afterimages. If you stare at a red image for a
• In short: Light enters the eye, gets focused onto while, you'll see a green afterimage when you
the retina, converted into electrical signals, and look away, because the red signal gets tired and
sent to the brain for interpretation. That's how you the green one takes over.
see the world around you!
So, to sum it up:
• Imagine the back of your eye is like a movie
screen. That's the retina. It's where the image • Trichromatic theory explains how we detect
you're looking at gets projected. different colors based on three primary color
receptors.
• Now, this "screen" is covered in tiny sensors that
detect light. There are two main kinds: • Opponent-process theory explains how we
perceive color in terms of opposing pairs, and
• Rods: These are like the night vision goggles of helps explain things like afterimages.
your eye. They're super sensitive to light, so they
help you see in dim conditions. But, they can't • Both theories work together to give us our full
really tell colors apart, which is why everything experience of color vision!
looks grayish in the dark.

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 INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY (PSYCH 111): CHAPTER 3 – SENSATION AND PERCEPTION

THE EAR • Their amplitude determines how loud it is,

measured in decibels. Your ear catches,
• Ear - organ that detects sound. amplifies, and decodes these waves, letting your
brain create the world of sound around you.
Think of your ear like a fancy sound-delivery system:

• Outer Ear: This is the part you can see and

HOW DO WE HEAR
touch. It's like a satellite dish, collecting sound • Catching the Sound: Sound waves, which are
waves and funneling them into the ear canal. like ripples in the air, travel into your ear canal.
• Middle Ear: This is a tiny air-filled chamber • Eardrum Vibrates: These waves hit your
behind the eardrum. It's like a relay station. It has eardrum, making it vibrate like a drum.
three tiny bones (the smallest bones in your
body!) that vibrate when the eardrum vibrates, • Tiny Bones Amplify: Three tiny bones in your
passing the sound vibrations along. middle ear (the smallest bones in your body!) pick
up these vibrations and make them stronger.
• Inner Ear: This is the most complex part. It's like
a high-tech processing center. It has the cochlea, • Inner Ear Hairs Dance: These vibrations travel
a spiral-shaped structure filled with fluid and tiny to your inner ear, where they make tiny hair cells
hair cells. These hair cells convert the vibrations dance.
into electrical signals that your brain understands
as sound. • Signals to the Brain: The dancing hair cells
create electrical signals.
In short:
• Brain Interprets: These signals travel along a
• Outer ear catches the sound. nerve to your brain, which turns them into the
sounds you recognize.
• Middle ear amplifies and transmits it.
• So, basically, sound waves enter your ear, get
• Inner ear translates it into something your amplified, turned into electrical signals, and then
brain can process. your brain translates them into the sounds you
hear!
THE AUDITORY SYSTEM
• Sounds or Sound Waves: Think of these as
THEORIES OF HEARING
ripples in the air, like when you drop a pebble in • Place Theory: Imagine your inner ear is like a
a pond. piano, with different areas responding to different
• Wavelength: This is the distance between two pitches. High pitches tickle one end, low pitches
ripples. Longer wavelengths mean lower sounds. tickle the other. So, where the sound vibrates tells
your brain what pitch it is.
• Frequency: This is how many ripples pass by
each second. High frequency means lots of • Frequency Theory: Think of your ear as a
ripples, which makes a high-pitched sound. drummer, trying to match the beat of the music.
Fast beats (high pitches) make the drummer tap
• Pitch: This is how high or low a sound seems to fast, slow beats (low pitches) make them tap
us. It's directly related to frequency - high slow. So, how fast the nerves in your ear fire tells
frequency = high pitch. your brain the pitch.
• Amplitude: This is how tall the ripples are. Bigger THE NOSE
ripples mean louder sound.
• The nose is the part of your face that you use to
• Decibels: This is how we measure loudness. A breathe and smell.
whisper is around 30 decibels, while a rock
concert can be 120 decibels! Three functions:

Now let's see how the "radio station" works: • Guiding individual’s decision about what they
eat
• Outer Ear: This is the antenna, catching those
sound waves. • Tracking

• Middle Ear: This is the amplifier, making the • Communication

vibrations stronger.
THE TONGUE
• Inner Ear: This is the decoder. It turns vibrations
into electrical signals. The tongue is the fleshy, muscular organ in your mouth
that you use for tasting, swallowing, and speaking.
• Brain: This is the speaker, turning those signals
into the sounds you recognize. Four sensations:

• So, it all starts with sound waves. Their • Sweet (tip of the tongue)
wavelength and frequency determine the pitch.
• Sour (sides)

• Salty ( on the tip and along the sides)

• Bitter (base at the back)

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 INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY (PSYCH 111): CHAPTER 3 – SENSATION AND PERCEPTION

THE SKIN • Transduction: Think of this as translation. It's

the process of converting one form of energy
The skin is the largest organ of your body. It's like a into another. In our senses, it's how the raw
protective suit that covers and protects everything inside. input from the world (like light or sound waves)
gets turned into the electrical signals our brain
• Epidermis: This is the top layer, like the
can understand.
frosting. It's thin and tough, protecting you from
the outside world. It's also where your skin color • Threshold: This is the minimum amount of
comes from! stimulation needed for us to actually notice
something. It's like a volume knob - if the signal
• Dermis: This is the middle layer, like the cake
is too weak (below the threshold), we won't hear
itself. It's thicker and contains things like it.
blood vessels, hair follicles, and sweat
glands. It gives your skin strength and TWO TYPES:
flexibility.
• Absolute Threshold: This is like the faintest
• Hypodermis (or Subcutis): This is the bottom whisper you can possibly hear, even when it's
layer, like the plate the cake sits on. It's mostly really quiet. It's the minimum amount of
made of fat, which helps insulate your body stimulation needed for you to detect something
and cushion your organs. at least half the time.
In short: • Difference Threshold (or Just Noticeable
Difference): Now imagine someone is slowly
• Epidermis: Outer protective layer.
turning up the volume of the whisper. The
• Dermis: Middle layer with important structures. difference threshold is the smallest change in
volume you can notice. It's the minimum
• Hypodermis: Inner layer for insulation and difference between two stimuli that you can
cushioning. detect at least half the time.
• Kinesthetic Sense: This is your body's built-in In short:
GPS. It tells you where your body parts are
and how they're moving, even when your • Absolute threshold: The softest sound, the
eyes are closed. It's what lets you touch your dimmest light, the weakest taste you can detect.
nose without looking or walk without tripping.
• Difference threshold: The smallest change in a
• Vestibular Sense: This is your sense of stimulus that you can notice.
balance and spatial orientation. It tells you
which way is up, if you're moving or still, and
WEBER’S LAW
how your head is positioned. It's what helps you • If your backpack is empty, adding a single book
stay upright and not get dizzy when you spin will make a big difference – you'll definitely
around. notice the extra weight. But if your backpack is
• Proprioceptive Feedback: This is the already full of heavy books, adding one more
information your brain gets from sensors in won't feel as noticeable.
your muscles, joints, and tendons about Weber's Law says the same thing about our senses:
their position and movement. It's like a
constant internal report on your body's posture • The "just noticeable difference" (the smallest
and actions. change you can detect) depends on the
original intensity of the stimulus.
SENSATION
• If the original stimulus is weak, even a small
Sensation is the process of your body detecting change will be noticeable.
information from the world around you through your
senses. It's like your body's way of receiving signals • If the original stimulus is strong, you'll need a
from the environment, such as light, sound, touch, taste, bigger change to notice the difference.
and smell. • In simpler terms, it's easier to notice a change
when something is already faint or quiet, and
CHARACTERISTICS OF SENSATION
harder to notice a change when something is
• Specificity of sensory stimulation: This just already loud or bright.
means that each of our senses is designed to
respond to a specific type of energy or
INTERRELATEDNESS OF SENSES
stimulus. • The interrelatedness of senses simply means
For example: that our senses don't work in isolation. They
influence and interact with each other,
• Your eyes respond to light. creating a richer and more complete
experience of the world around us.
• Your ears respond to sound waves.

• Your skin responds to touch, pressure, and

temperature.

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 INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY (PSYCH 111): CHAPTER 3 – SENSATION AND PERCEPTION

• Think of it like a team of superheroes, each with This is influenced by:

their own unique powers, working together to
solve a problem. One superhero might be great External Factors:
at seeing things from a distance, another at • Intensity and Size: Louder sounds, larger
hearing faint sounds, and a third at detecting objects grab our attention more.
subtle smells. By combining their powers, they
can accomplish more than any one of them • Contrast: Something different from its
could alone. surroundings stands out.

• Similarly, our senses work together to give us a • Repetition: Things that repeat catch our eye
more complete picture of our surroundings. or ear.

For example: • Movement: A moving object is more

noticeable than a still one.
• The smell of food can influence how we perceive
its taste. Internal Factors:

• The sound of a sizzling steak can make us • Motives: What we want or need influences what
anticipate its flavor even before we take a bite. we notice. If you're hungry, you'll notice food
more easily.
• The sight of a colorful fruit can make it seem more
appealing. • Set or Expectancy: What we expect to see or
hear can shape our perception.
• This interconnectedness allows us to experience
the world in a multi-sensory way, enhancing our 3. Perception is Constant: Even when things change
perception and understanding of our in our environment (like lighting or distance), we still
environment. perceive objects as having stable properties.

III. PERCEPTION This is due to:

• Sensation: This is your body collecting raw • Size Constancy: We see objects as the same
data from the world. It's like your eyes seeing size, even when they're farther away and
light, your ears hearing sounds, your nose appear smaller on our retina.
smelling odors – just the basic input from your • Shape Constancy: We see objects as having a
senses. consistent shape, even when viewed from
• Perception: This is your brain making sense different angles.
of that data. It's like recognizing that the light is • Location Constancy: We perceive objects as
from a sunset, the sound is your favorite song, or staying in the same place, even as we move
the smell is freshly baked cookies. It's how you our heads or eyes.
interpret and understand what your senses are
telling you. • Color and Brightness Constancy: We see
objects as having the same color and
In short: brightness, even under different lighting
• Sensation: The physical process of detecting conditions.
stimuli. 4. Perception has Organizing Tendencies: Our brain
• Perception: The mental process of naturally tries to make sense of the world by
interpreting those stimuli. organizing sensory information into meaningful
patterns.

• Figure-Ground: We separate objects (figures)

CHARACTERISTICS OF PERCEPTION from their background.

1. Limited to Sensory Discrimination: We perceive the • Grouping: We group things together based
world based on what our senses can detect. on:

• Condition of the Organism: Our physical state, • Law of Closure: We fill in gaps to see
like being tired or having a cold, can affect complete figures.
how we perceive things. • Law of Proximity: We group things that are
• Properties of the Stimulus: The qualities of close together.
what we're sensing, like how bright or loud it • Law of Similarity: We group things that look
is, influence our perception. alike.
2. Perception is Selective and Subjective: We can't pay • Law of Continuity: We see lines as continuing
attention to everything at once, so we focus on certain smoothly, even if interrupted.
things and filter out others.
• Contour: We perceive edges and boundaries,
even when they're not physically present.

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 INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY (PSYCH 111): CHAPTER 3 – SENSATION AND PERCEPTION

DEPTH OF PERCEPTION MOTION PERCEPTION

Depth perception is simply your brain's ability to figure • Motion perception is your brain's ability to
out how far away things are from you, allowing you to figure out if something is moving, and if so,
see the world in 3D instead of just a flat picture. how it's moving.

Binocular Cues: These are depth cues that require • Real movement: This is when something
both of your eyes to work. They help you see the world actually changes its position in the world.
in 3D. Think of a car driving down the street or a
person walking towards you.
• Disparity: Imagine holding a finger in front of
your face and closing one eye at a time. Notice • Apparent movement: This is when your brain
how your finger seems to jump a little? That's tricks you into thinking something is moving,
disparity! Each eye sees the world from a even though it's not.
slightly different angle, and your brain
combines those two views to create a sense • One example is movies! A movie is just a bunch
of depth. The bigger the difference between of still images shown really quickly. But your
the two views, the closer the object is. brain sees the slight changes between each
image and interprets it as smooth motion.
• Convergence: Try slowly bringing your finger
closer to your nose while keeping your eyes • Another example is a flip book. When you flip
focused on it. Feel how your eyes turn inward? through the pages quickly, the drawings seem to
That's convergence! The more your eyes come to life. That's your brain creating the illusion
converge, the closer the object is. of movement from a series of static pictures.

Monocular Cues: These are depth cues that can be Illusions in the context of identical retinal images:
perceived with just one eye. They help you judge • Imagine your eyes are cameras taking pictures of
distances even when you're not using both eyes. the world.
EXAMPLES: • Sometimes, two different scenes can produce the
• Aerial Perspective: Think of a foggy day. exact same picture on the "film" (your retina).
Distant objects appear hazy and bluish because • But your brain, being the smart interpreter it is,
the air scatters light. So, hazier objects seem doesn't just rely on the raw image.
farther away.
• It uses past experiences, assumptions, and
• Familiar Size: You know how big a car or a context clues to figure out what it's really seeing.
person usually is. If you see a tiny car, you
assume it's far away, and a large car is probably • And sometimes, this leads to your brain getting
closer. tricked, interpreting the same image in two
different ways!
• Height in the Field of View: Objects higher up
in your visual field usually seem farther away. EXAMPLES:
Think of a landscape painting – the mountains are
• Muller-Lyer illusion: Think of two lines, one with
at the top, and the closer objects are lower down.
arrows pointing inward, one with arrows pointing
• Linear Perspective: Imagine railroad tracks outward. Even if the lines are the same length,
converging in the distance. Parallel lines appear the one with inward arrows looks shorter because
to meet as they get farther away. This helps us your brain interprets it as the corner of a room
judge depth. farther away.

• Overlap: When one object partially blocks • Horizontal-vertical illusion: Imagine a "+" sign.
another, you know the blocking object is closer. Even if the vertical and horizontal lines are equal,
It's like playing hide-and-seek – the person hiding the vertical one looks longer because your brain
behind the tree is farther away than the tree. is used to vertical things (like trees) being farther
away, so it assumes it must be bigger to appear
• Shading: Shadows and highlights create a sense the same size.
of depth and shape. Think of how a ball looks
round because of the way light and shadow fall Ponzo illusion: Picture two identical lines drawn across
on it. railroad tracks that seem to converge in the distance. The
line higher up looks longer because your brain thinks it's
• Size in the Field of View: Similar to familiar size, farther away, and therefore must be bigger to appear the
but without needing to recognize the object. A same size on your retina
larger object in your visual field will generally
seem closer than a smaller one. In essence:

Texture Gradient: Details and textures become less • These illusions happen because your brain is
clear as objects get farther away. Think of a field of trying to make sense of the world using more than
flowers; the ones closer to you are crisp and clear, while just the raw visual information.
the distant ones blend together.
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 INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOLOGY (PSYCH 111): CHAPTER 3 – SENSATION AND PERCEPTION

• It's using shortcuts and assumptions, and

sometimes those shortcuts lead to
misinterpretations – that's the illusion!

EXTRASENSORY PERCEPTION
• Extrasensory perception, or ESP, is like
having a "sixth sense" — the ability to gather
information or have experiences that don't
involve your usual five senses (sight, hearing,
touch, taste, and smell). It's like having
superpowers!

Here are some types of ESP, explained simply:

• Telepathy: This is like mind-reading or mental

communication. Imagine being able to send
thoughts or feelings directly to someone else's
mind, or knowing what they're thinking without
them saying a word.

• Precognition: This is like having a glimpse

into the future. It's the ability to predict or
foresee events before they happen, like
knowing who's going to win a game or what
the weather will be like tomorrow.

• Clairvoyance: This is like having X-ray vision

for the world around you. It's the ability to
"see" or gain information about objects,
people, or events that are happening far away
or hidden from view.

• Psychokinesis: This is like having the power to

move things with your mind. It's the ability to
influence physical objects or events with your
thoughts alone, like bending a spoon or
making a dice roll a certain number.

• While many people believe in ESP, scientists

haven't found any solid proof that it exists. But the
idea of having these special abilities continues to
fascinate and intrigue us

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