0% found this document useful (0 votes)
8 views15 pages

Chapter 5 Power Point Lecture - PSY101 - Sensation and Perception

Uploaded by

Shane Fluharty
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
0% found this document useful (0 votes)
8 views15 pages

Chapter 5 Power Point Lecture - PSY101 - Sensation and Perception

Uploaded by

Shane Fluharty
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 15

Sensation and

Perception
Chapter 5
PSY101
Eastern Gateway Community College
Sensation and
Perception
We have 5 senses:

◦Vision (sight)
◦Olfaction (smell)
◦Gustation (taste)
◦Tactile (touch)
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND
◦Audition (hearing)

Our sensory systems are cool!


This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC

Stimulus or Important terms time! Let’s start with the term stimulus
or stimuli. Stimuli are simply things in the physical

Stimuli environment which impact our sensory systems (e.g.,


light, odors). So, light rays are a stimulus for vision.
Absolute Threshold
Now, let’s learn about what is known
as the absolute threshold. As defined
in your text this is the minimum
amount of stimulation energy needed
to detect a stimulus 50% of the time.
With regard to vision, on a clear night
we can detect a candle flame from
thirty miles away!
Whoa!

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY


◦ We must also consider what has been Just
termed the just noticeable difference
(JND). The issue here is how much
Noticeable
difference must there be between two Difference
stimuli to detect a difference between and
them.
Sensory
◦ Our sensory systems can adapt to stimuli Adaptation
—this is termed sensory adaptation.
Perception
◦Now, in order for perception to occur we
must pay attention to things in our
environment. The capacity for selective
attention allows us to do so. Selective
Attention (SA), allows us to focus our
attention on one aspect of our environment,
while screening out all other stimuli. For
example. SA allows you to focus on your
professor for an entire lecture while not being
distracted by either internal (e.g., hunger) or
external (e.g., someone sneezing) stimuli.
◦Sometimes, when we are so focused on one
element of the environment, we may fail to
notice certain other things that are going on
around us. Inattentional Blindness occurs
when we fail to see something that we should
have seen because we were focused on
something else. Watch the in-text video for a
great example!
Vision
The eye is a complicated sense
organ. The anatomy of the eye
is presented in the text. There
are two specialized groups of
cells in our retinas that allow for
vision. They are rods (which
allow for black and white vision),
and cones (which allow for color
vision).

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC


Depth
Perception

The use of both eyes


(binocular cues)
allows us to perceive
depth.
Binocular cues are
contrasted with
monocular cues
(using one eye).

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND


Hearing (Audition)
The anatomy of the ear is presented in the text. There are 3 bones or
ossicles of the middle ear (malleus, incus, and stapes) or alternatively
(hammer, anvil, and stirrup). They are connected to the inner ear.
Soundwaves cause these 3 bones to vibrate which sets off a pattern of
movement of the inner ear structures resulting in the perception of
sound.

To localize sound in our environment we use both monaural (one ear)


and binaural (two ear) cues.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-


Hearing Loss

Some people are born deaf -


this is termed congenital
deafness.
There are two other different
types of hearing loss:
◦Conductive
◦Sensorineural.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC


This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND

Taste We can detect sweet, sour, salty,


and bitter tastes. We can also
(Gustation) detect a taste known as umami.
Smell
(Olfaction)

Odor molecules
have a direct route
to the brain. Those
who use inhalant
drugs (“huffers”)
often experience
brain damage as
the vapors quickly
enter the brain
and destroy
neurons.

This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY


This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY

Vestibular Know the difference between


proprioception and kinesthesia.
System
Gestalt Psychology
Our brains do not like randomness. Think of
chaser lights at Christmas. All you really have
are individual lights blinking on and off. However,
our brains attempt to make sense of this by
perceiving that they move in a certain direction—
Whoa that’s cool!!

The term Gestalt means form or pattern—so we


try to perceive forms or patterns in things!! Here
is an important statement regarding Gestalt
Psychology: “the whole is greater than the sum
of it’s parts.” Think about it---the individual lights
blinking on and off are individual parts. Our brain,
however, perceives a whole or pattern---
movement of these lights in a certain direction.
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA-NC
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA

◦ Figure-Ground Relationships
Your text presents several of the ◦ Proximity
classic Gestalt principles: ◦ Similarity
◦ Continuity or Good Continuation
◦ Closure.

You might also like