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Ciccarelli - SENSATION AND PERCEPTION –

Edited and Compiled by Psychethan

TRANSDUCTION

Sensation the process that occurs when special receptors in the sense organs
are activated, allowing various forms of outside stimuli to become neural signals
in the brain.
Transduction the process of converting outside stimuli, such as light, into neural
activity.
Synaesthesia disorder in which the signals from the various sensory organs are
processed in the wrong cortical areas, resulting in the sense information being
interpreted as more than one sensation.
Just noticeable difference (jnd or the difference threshold) the smallest
difference between two stimuli that is detectable 50 percent of the time.

SENSORY THRESHOLDS

Absolute threshold the lowest level of stimulation that a person can consciously
detect 50 percent of the time the stimulation is present.

HABITUATION AND SENSORY ADAPTATION

Signal detection theory provides a method for assessing the accuracy of

judgments or decisions under uncertain conditions; used in perception research
and other areas. An individual’s correct “hits” and rejections are compared
against their “misses” and “false alarms.”

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Habituation tendency of the brain to stop attending to constant, unchanging

information.
sensory adaptation tendency of sensory receptor cells to become less responsive
to a stimulus that is unchanging.

THE SCIENCE OF SEEING

Light and The Eye

visual accommodation the change in the thickness of the lens as the eye focuses
on objects that are far away or close.
Rods visual sensory receptors found at the back of the retina, responsible for
noncolor sensitivity to low levels of light.
Cones visual sensory receptors found at the back of the retina, responsible for
color vision and sharpness of vision.

The Visual Pathway

blind spot area in the retina where the axons of the three layers of retinal cells
exit the eye to form the optic nerve; insensitive to light.
dark adaptation the recovery of the eye’s sensitivity to visual stimuli in darkness
after exposure to bright lights.
light adaptation the recovery of the eye’s sensitivity to visual stimuli in light
after exposure to darkness.
trichromatic theory - theory of color vision that proposes three types of cones:
red, blue, and green; “three colors” theory

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Perception of Colour

Afterimages images that occur when a visual sensation persists for a brief time
even after the original stimulus is removed.
opponent-process theory - theory of colour vision that proposes visual neurons
(or groups of neurons) are stimulated by light of one color and inhibited by light
of another color.

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THE HEARING SENSE

Sound Waves and the Ear

hertz (Hz) cycles or waves per second, a measurement of frequency

pinna the visible part of the ear.
auditory canal short tunnel that runs from the pinna to the eardrum.
Cochlea snail-shaped structure of the inner ear that is filled with fluid.

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PERCEIVING PITCH

auditory nerve bundle of axons from the hair cells in the inner ear.
Pitch psychological experience of sound that corresponds to the frequency of
the sound waves; higher frequencies are perceived as higher pitches.
place theory - theory of pitch that states that different pitches are
experienced by the stimulation of hair cells in different locations on the organ
of Corti.
frequency theory - theory of pitch that states that pitch is related to the
speed of vibrations in the basilar membrane.
volley principle theory of pitch that states that frequencies from about 400 Hz
to 4000 Hz cause the hair cells (auditory neurons) to fire in a volley pattern or
take turns in firing.

TYPES OF HEARING IMPAIRMENTS

CHEMICAL SENSES

Gustation the sensation of a taste

THE SENSE OF SCENTS: OLFACTION

olfaction (olfactory sense) the sensation of smell.

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olfactory bulbs two bulb-like projections of the brain located just above the
sinus cavity and just below the frontal lobes that receive information from the
olfactory receptor cells

SOMESTHETIC SENSES

somesthetic senses the body senses consisting of the skin senses, the
kinesthetic and proprioceptive senses, and the vestibular sense.

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BODY MOVEMENT AND POSITION

Kinesthesia the awareness of body movement

vestibular sense the awareness of the balance, position, and movement of the
head and body through space in relation to gravity’s pull
proprioception awareness of where the body and body parts are located in
relation to each other in space, and to the ground.
sensory conflict theory an explanation of motion sickness in which the
information from the eyes conflicts with the information from the vestibular
senses, resulting in dizziness, nausea, and other physical discomfort.

PERCEPTIONS – HOW DO WE ORGANIZE OUR PERCEPTIONS

Perception the method by which the sensations experienced at any given moment
are interpreted and organized in some meaningful fashion.
size constancy the tendency to interpret an object as always being the same
actual size, regardless of its distance
shape constancy the tendency to interpret the shape of an object as being
constant, even when its shape changes on the retina.
brightness constancy the tendency to perceive the apparent brightness of an
object as the same even when the light conditions change
figure–ground the tendency to perceive objects, or figures, as existing on a
background.

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reversible figures visual illusions in which the figure and ground can be reversed.
Proximity a Gestalt principle of perception, the tendency to perceive objects
that are close to each other as part of the same grouping; physical or
geographical nearness.
Similarity a Gestalt principle of perception, the tendency to perceive things that
look similar to each other as being part of the same group.
Closure a Gestalt principle of perception, the tendency to complete figures that
are incomplete.

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Continuity a Gestalt principle of perception, the tendency to perceive things as

simply as possible with a continuous pattern rather than with a complex, broken-
up pattern
Contiguity a Gestalt principle of perception, the tendency to perceive two things
that happen close together in time as being related.

DEPTH PERCEPTION

depth perception the ability to perceive the world in three dimensions

monocular cues (pictorial depth cues) cues for perceiving depth based on one
eye only.
binocular cues cues for perceiving depth based on both eyes.
linear perspective monocular depth perception cue, the tendency for parallel
lines to appear to converge on each other.
relative size monocular depth perception cue, perception that occurs when
objects that a person expects to be of a certain size appear to be small and are,
therefore, assumed to be much farther away.
Interposition monocular depth perception cue, the assumption that an object
that appears to be blocking part of another object is in front of the second
object and closer to the viewer.
aerial (atmospheric) perspective monocular depth perception cue, the haziness
that surrounds objects that are farther away from the viewer, causing the
distance to be perceived as greater.
texture gradient monocular depth perception cue, the tendency for textured
surfaces to appear to become smaller and finer as distance from the viewer
increases
motion parallax monocular depth perception cue, the perception of motion of
objects in which close objects appear to move more\ quickly than objects that
are farther away.
Accommodation as a monocular cue of depth perception, the brain’s use of
information about the changing thickness of the lens of the eye in response to
looking at objects that are close or far away.

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BINOCULAR CUES

Convergence binocular depth perception cue, the rotation of the two eyes in their
sockets to focus on a single object, resulting in greater convergence for closer
objects and lesser convergence if objects are distant.
binocular disparity binocular depth perception cue, the difference in image
between the two eyes, which is greater for objects that are close and smaller
for distant objects.

PERCEPTUAL ILLUSIONS

Müller-Lyer illusion - illusion of line length that is distorted by inward-turning

or outward-turning corners on the ends of the lines, causing lines of equal length
to appear to be different
perceptual set (perceptual expectancy) the tendency to perceive things
a certain way because previous experiences or expectations influence those
perceptions
top-down processing the use of pre-existing knowledge to organize individual
features into a unified whole.
bottom-up processing the analysis of the smaller features to build up to a
complete perception

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CHAPTER SUMMARY

The ABCs of Sensation

3.1 Describe how we get information from the outside world into our brains.
• Sensation is the activation of receptors located in the eyes, ears, skin, nasal
cavities, and tongue.
• Sensory receptors are specialized forms of neurons that are activated by
different stimuli such as light and sound.
3.2 Describe the difference and absolute thresholds.
• A just noticeable difference is the point at which a stimulus is detectable half
the time it is present.
• Weber’s law of just noticeable differences states that the just noticeable
difference between two stimuli is always a constant.
• Absolute thresholds are the smallest amount of energy needed for conscious
detection of a stimulus at least half the time it is present.
3.3 Explain why some sensory information is ignored.
• Subliminal stimuli are stimuli presented just below the level of conscious
awareness, and subliminal perception has been demonstrated in the laboratory. It
has not been shown to be effective in advertising.
• Habituation occurs when the brain ignores a constant stimulus.

• Sensory adaptation occurs when the sensory receptors stop responding to a

constant stimulus.

The Science of Seeing

3.4 Describe how light travels through the various parts of the eye.
• Brightness corresponds to the amplitude of light waves, whereas color
corresponds to the length of the light waves.
• Saturation is the psychological interpretation of wavelengths that are all the
same (highly saturated) or varying (less saturated).
• Light enters the eye and is focused through the cornea, passes through the
aqueous humor, and then through the hole in the iris muscle called the pupil.

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• The lens also focuses the light on the retina, where it passes through ganglion
and bipolar cells to stimulate the rods and cones.

3.5 Explain how light information reaches the visual cortex.

• Visual pathway = retina -> optic nerve -> optic chiasm -> optic tract -> LGN of
thalamus -> optic radiations -> primary visual cortex.
• Light from right visual field projects to left side of each retina; light from left
visual field projects to right side of each retina.
• Axons from temporal halves of each retina project to visual cortex on same side
of the brain; axons from nasal halves of each retina project to visual cortex on
opposite side of the brain; optic chiasm is point of crossover.
3.6 Compare and contrast two major theories of colour vision, and explain how
colour-deficient vision occurs.
• Rods detect changes in brightness but do not see colour and function best in low
levels of light. They are found everywhere in the retina except the centre, or
fovea.
• Cones are sensitive to colours and work best in bright light. They are responsible
for the sharpness of visual information and are found in the fovea.
• The trichromatic theory of colour perception assumes three types of cones:
red, green, and blue. All colours would be perceived as various combinations of
these three.
• The opponent-process theory of colour perception assumes four primary colours
of red, green, blue, and yellow. Colours are arranged in pairs, and when one
member of a pair is activated, the other is not.
• Colour blindness is a total lack of colour perception, whereas colour- deficient
vision refers to colour perception that is limited primarily to yellows and blues or
reds and greens only.

The Hearing Sense: Can You Hear Me Now?

3.7 Explain the nature of sound and describe how it travels through the
various parts of the ear.
• Sound has three aspects: pitch (frequency), loudness, and timbre (purity).
• Sound enters the ear through the visible outer structure, or pinna, and travels
to the eardrum and then to the small bones of the middle ear.

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• The bone called the stirrup rests on the oval window, causing the cochlea and
basilar membrane to vibrate with sound.
• The organ of Corti on the basilar membrane contains the auditory receptors,
which send signals to the brain about sound qualities as they vibrate.

3.8 Summarize three theories of how the brain processes information about
pitch.
• Place theory states that the locations of the hair cells on the organ of Corti
correspond to different pitches of sound. This can explain pitch above 1,000 Hz.
• Frequency theory states that the speed with which the basilar membrane
vibrates corresponds to different pitches of sound. This can explain pitch below
1,000 Hz.
• The volley principle states that neurons take turns firing for sounds above 400
Hz and below 4,000 Hz.
3.9 Identify types of hearing impairment and treatment options for each.
• Conduction hearing impairment is caused by damage to the outer or middle ear
structures, whereas nerve hearing impairment is caused by damage to the inner
ear or auditory pathways in the brain.
• Hearing aids may be used for those with conductive hearing impairment, while
cochlear implants may restore some hearing to those with nerve hearing
impairment.

Chemical Senses: It Tastes Good and Smells Even Better

3.10 Explain how the sense of taste works.

• Gustation is the sense of taste. Taste buds in the tongue receive molecules of
substances, which fit into receptor sites.
• Gustation is a chemical sense that involves detection of chemicals dissolved in
saliva.
• The five basic types of taste are sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and umami (brothy).
3.11 Explain how the sense of smell works.
• Olfaction is the sense of smell. The olfactory receptors in the upper part of the
nasal passages receive molecules of substances and create neural signals that
then go to the olfactory bulbs under the frontal lobes.
• Olfaction is a chemical sense that involves detection of chemicals suspended in
the air.

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The Other Senses: What the Body Knows

3.12 Describe how we experience the sensations of touch, pressure,

temperature, and pain.
• The skin senses are one part of our somesthetic senses.
• Pacinian corpuscles respond to pressure, certain nerve endings around hair
follicles respond to pain and pressure, and free nerve endings respond to pain,
pressure, and temperature.
• The gate-control theory of pain states that when receptors sensitive to pain
are stimulated, a neurotransmitter called substance P is released into the spinal
cord, activating other pain receptors by opening “gates” in the spinal column and
sending the message to the brain.
3.13 Describe the systems that tell us about balance and position and
movement of our bodies.
• The kinesthetic sense allows the brain to know about movement of the body.
• Proprioception, or information about where the body and its parts are in relation
to each other and the ground, comes from the activity of special receptors
responsive to movement of the joints and limbs.
• The vestibular sense also contributes to the body’s sense of spatial orientation
and movement through the activity of the otolith organs (up-and-down movement)
and the semi-circular canals (movement through arcs).
• Motion sickness is explained by sensory conflict theory, in which information
from the eye’s conflicts with information from the vestibular sense, causing
nausea.

The ABCs of Perception

3.14 Describe how perceptual constancies and the Gestalt principles account
for common perceptual experiences.
• Perception is the interpretation and organization of sensations.
• Size constancy is the tendency to perceive objects as always being the same
size, no matter how close or far away they are.

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• Shape constancy is the tendency to perceive objects as remaining the same

shape even when the shape of the object changes on the retina of the eye.
• Brightness constancy is the tendency to perceive objects as a certain level of
brightness, even when the light changes.
• The Gestalt psychologists developed several principles of perception that
involve interpreting patterns in visual stimuli. The principles are figure–ground
relationships, closure, similarity, continuity, contiguity, and common region.
3.15 Explain how we perceive depth using both monocular and binocular cues.
• Depth perception is the ability to see in three dimensions.
• Monocular cues for depth perception include linear perspective, relative size,
overlap, aerial (atmospheric) perspective, texture gradient, motion parallax, and
accommodation.
• Binocular cues for depth perception include convergence and binocular overlap.
3.16 Identify some common visual illusions and the factors that influence our
perception of them.
• Illusions are perceptions that do not correspond to reality or are distortions of
visual stimuli.
• Perceptual set or expectancy refers to the tendency to perceive objects and
situations in a particular way because of prior experiences.
• Top-down processing involves the use of existing knowledge to organize
individual features into a unified whole.
• Bottom-up processing involves the analysis of smaller features, building up to a
complete perception.

Applying Psychology to Everyday Life: Beyond

“Smoke and Mirrors”—The Psychological Science and Neuroscience of Magic

3.17 Describe how the neuroscientific study of magic can help to explain visual
and cognitive illusions.
• Magicians take advantage of some well-known properties of our visual system to
accomplish a variety of magic tricks.
• By collaborating with magicians, psychologists and neuroscientists can learn
more about magic and the brain processes responsible for our perception of magic
tricks.

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