Sensation and Perception

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Briaflo J. De Padua




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 Sensation
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Sensing the World:
Some Basic Principles
▪ Thresholds
▪ Sensory Adaptation
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Vision
▪ The Stimulus Input: Light Energy
▪ The Eye
▪ Visual Information Processing
▪ Color Vision

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Hearing
▪ The Stimulus Input: Sound Waves
▪ The Ear
▪ Hearing Loss and Deaf Culture
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Other Important Senses
▪ Touch
▪ Pain
▪ Taste
▪ Smell

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Perceptual Organization
▪ Form Perception
▪ Depth Perception
▪ Motion Perception
▪ Perceptual Constancy

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Perceptual Interpretation
▪ Sensory Deprivation and Restored
Vision
▪ Perceptual Adaptation
▪ Perceptual Set
▪ Perception and the Human Factor

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Is There Extrasensory Perception?
▪ Claims of ESP
▪ Premonitions or Pretensions?
▪ Putting ESP to Experimental Test

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 Sensation & Perception
How do we construct our representations of the external
world?
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To represent the world, we must detect physical energy
(a stimulus) from the environment and convert it into
neural signals. This is a process called sensation.
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When we select, organize, and interpret our sensations,
the process is called perception.
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 Bottom-up Processing
Analysis of the stimulus begins with the sense receptors
and works up to the level of the brain and mind.

Letter “A” is really a black blotch broken down into features

by the brain that we perceive as an “A.”
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 Top-Down Processing
Information processing guided by higher-level mental
processes as we construct perceptions, drawing on
our experience and expectations.

THE CHT
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 Making Sense of Complexity
Our sensory and perceptual processes work together
to help us sort out complex images.

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“The Forest Has Eyes,” Bev Doolittle
 Sensing the World
Senses are nature’s gift that suit an organism’s needs.
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A frog feeds on flying insects; a male silkworm moth is
sensitive to female sex-attractant odor; and we as human
beings are sensitive to sound frequencies that represent
the range of human voice.

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 Exploring the Senses

What stimuli cross our threshold for

conscious awareness?

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 Psychophysics
A study of the relationship between physical
characteristics of stimuli and our psychological
experience with them.

Physical World Psychological World

Light Brightness

Sound Volume

Pressure Weight

Sugar Sweet
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 Thresholds
Absolute Threshold: Minimum stimulation needed to
detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time.
1.00
Proportion of “Yes” Responses
0.00 0.50

0 5 10 15 20 25 15
Stimulus Intensity (lumens)
 Subliminal Threshold
Subliminal Threshold: When
stimuli are below one’s absolute
threshold for conscious
awareness.

Kurt Scholz/ Superstock

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 Weber’s Law
Two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum
percentage (rather than a constant amount), to be
perceived as different. Weber fraction: k = δI/I.

Stimulus Constant (k)

Light 8%
Weight 2%
Tone 3%

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 Sensory Adaptation
Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant
stimulation.

Put a band aid on your arm and after awhile

you don’t sense it.
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Now you see, now you don’t

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Vision

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 Transduction

In sensation, the transformation of stimulus energy

(sights, sounds, smells) into neural impulses.

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 The Stimulus Input: Light Energy

Visible
Both Photos: Thomas Eisner

Spectrum

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Physical Characteristics of Light

1. Wavelength (hue/color)
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2. Intensity (brightness)

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 Wavelength (Hue)

Hue (color) is the

dimension of color
determined by the
wavelength of the
light.
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Wavelength is the
distance from the
peak of one wave to
the peak of the next.

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 Wavelength (Hue)

Violet Indigo Blue Green Yellow Orange Red

400 nm 700 nm
Short wavelengths Long wavelengths

Different wavelengths of light result

in different colors.
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 Intensity (Brightness)

Intensity:
Amount of
energy in a wave
determined by the
amplitude. It is
related to
perceived
brightness.

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 Intensity (Brightness)

Blue color with varying levels of intensity.

As intensity increases or decreases, blue color
looks more “washed out” or “darkened.” 27
The Eye

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 Parts of the eye
1. Cornea: Transparent tissue where light enters the
eye.
2. Iris: Muscle that expands and contracts to change
the size of the opening (pupil) for light.
3. Lens: Focuses the light rays on the retina.
4. Retina: Contains sensory receptors that process
visual information and sends it to the brain.

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 The Lens
Lens: Transparent structure
behind the pupil that
changes shape to focus
images on the retina.
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Accommodation: The
process by which the eye’s
lens changes shape to help
focus near or far objects on
the retina.
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 Retina
Retina: The light-
sensitive inner surface
of the eye, containing
receptor rods and
cones in addition to
layers of other
neurons (bipolar,
ganglion cells) that
process visual
information.

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 Optic Nerve, Blind Spot & Fovea
Optic nerve: Carries neural impulses from the eye to the brain.
Blind Spot: Point where the optic nerve leaves the eye because
there are no receptor cells located there. Fovea: Central point in
the retina around which the eye’s cones cluster.

http://www.bergen.org 32
 Test your Blind Spot
Use your textbook. Close your left eye, and fixate your
right eye on the black dot. Move the page towards your
eye and away from your eye. At some point the car on
the right will disappear due to a blind spot.

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 Photoreceptors

E.R. Lewis, Y.Y. Zeevi, F.S Werblin, 1969

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 Bipolar & Ganglion Cells
Bipolar cells receive messages from photoreceptors and
transmit them to ganglion cells, which converge to form
the optic nerve.

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 Visual Information Processing
Optic nerves connect to the thalamus in the middle of
the brain, and the thalamus connects to the visual cortex.

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 Feature Detection
Nerve cells in the visual cortex respond to specific
features, such as edges, angles, and movement.
Ross Kinnaird/ Allsport/ Getty Images

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 Shape Detection
Specific combinations of temporal lobe activity occur
as people look at shoes, faces, chairs and houses.
Ishai, Ungerleider, Martin and Haxby/ NIMH

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 Visual Information Processing
Processing of several aspects of the stimulus
simultaneously is called parallel processing. The brain
divides a visual scene into subdivisions such as color,
depth, form, movement, etc.

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From Sensation to Recognition

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 Color Vision
Trichromatic theory: Young and von Helmholtz suggested
that the eye must contain three receptors that are sensitive
to red, blue and green colors.

Standard stimulus

Comparison stimulus

Max Medium Low

Blue Green Red 41

 Color Blindness
Genetic disorder in which people are blind to green or
red colors. This supports the Trichromatic theory.

Ishihara Test 42
 Opponent Colors

Gaze at the middle of the flag for about 30

Seconds. When it disappears, stare at the dot and report
whether or not you see Britain's flag. 43
Hearing

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 Hearing



The Stimulus Input: Sound Waves

Sound waves are compressing and expanding air

molecules.

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Sound Characteristics

1. Frequency (pitch)
2. Intensity (loudness)

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 Dr. Fred Hossler/ Visuals Unlimited
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The Ear
 The Ear
Outer Ear: Collects and sends sounds to the
eardrum.
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Middle Ear: Chamber between eardrum and
cochlea containing three tiny bones (hammer,
anvil, stirrup) that concentrate the vibrations of the
eardrum on the cochlea’s oval window.
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Inner Ear: Innermost part of the ear, containing the
cochlea, semicircular canals, and vestibular sacs.
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 Cochlea
Cochlea: Coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the inner
ear that transforms sound vibrations to auditory
signals.

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 Intensity (Loudness)

Intensity (Loudness):
Amount of energy in a
wave, determined by
the amplitude, relates
to the perceived
loudness.

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 51

Richard Kaylin/ Stone/ Getty Images

120dB

70dB
Loudness of Sound
 Frequency (Pitch)

Frequency (pitch):
The dimension of
frequency
determined by the
wavelength of
sound.
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Wavelength: The
distance from the
peak of one wave to
the peak of the next.
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 Localization of Sounds
Because we have two ears, sounds that reach one ear
faster than the other ear cause us to localize the sound.

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 Localization of Sound
1. Intensity differences
2. Time differences
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Time differences as small as 1/100,000 of a second can
cause us to localize sound. The head acts as a “shadow”
or partial sound barrier.

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 Touch
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The sense of touch is a mix of four distinct skin senses—
pressure, warmth, cold, and pain.
Bruce Ayers/ Stone/ Getty Images

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 Skin Senses
Only pressure has identifiable receptors. All other skin
sensations are variations of pressure, warmth, cold and
pain.

Pressure Vibration Vibration

Burning hot Cold, warmth and pain 56

 Pain
Pain tells the body that something has gone wrong.
Usually pain results from damage to the skin and other
tissues. A rare disease exists in which the afflicted
person feels no pain.

AP Photo/ Stephen Morton

Ashley Blocker (right) feels neither pain 57
nor extreme hot or cold.
Biopsychosocial Influences

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 Gate-Control Theory
Melzack and Wall (1965, 1983) proposed that our spinal
cord contains neurological “gates” that either block pain
or allow it to be sensed.

Gary Comer/ PhototakeUSA.com

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 Pain Control
Pain can be controlled by a number of therapies
including, drugs, surgery, acupuncture, exercise,
hypnosis, and even thought distraction.

©Hunter Hoffman, www.vrpain.com

Todd Richards and Aric Vills, U.W.
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 Taste
Traditionally, taste sensations consisted of sweet, salty,
sour, and bitter tastes. Recently, receptors for a fifth taste
have been discovered called “Umami”.

Sweet Sour Salty Bitter Umami

(Fresh
Chicken)

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 Sensory Interaction
When one sense affects another sense, sensory
interaction takes place. So, the taste of strawberry
interacts with its smell and its texture on the tongue to
produce flavor.

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 Smell
Like taste, smell is a chemical sense. Odorants enter the
nasal cavity to stimulate 5 million receptors to sense
smell. Unlike taste, there are many different forms of
smell.

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 Smell and Memories

The brain region for smell

(in red) is closely
connected with the brain
regions involved with
memory (limbic system).
That is why strong
memories are made
through the sense of smell.

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 Body Position and Movement
The sense of our body parts’ position and movement is
called kinesthesis. The vestibular sense monitors the
head (and body’s) position.

http://www.heyokamagazine.com

Bob Daemmrich/ The Image Works

Whirling Dervishes Wire Walk 65
 Perceptual Organization
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How do we form meaningful perceptions from
sensory information?
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We organize it. Gestalt psychologists showed that
a figure formed a “whole” different than its
surroundings.

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 Form Perception
Organization of the visual field into objects (figures) that
stand out from their surroundings (ground).

Time Savings Suggestion, © 2003 Roger Sheperd.

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 Grouping
After distinguishing the figure from the ground, our
perception needs to organize the figure into a
meaningful form using grouping rules.

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 Grouping & Reality
Although grouping principles usually help us construct reality,
they may occasionally lead us astray.

Magazine. .© 1983 PCS Games Limited Partnership

Both photos by Walter Wick. Reprinted from GAMES
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 Depth Perception
Depth perception enables us to judge distances. Gibson
and Walk (1960) suggested that human infants
(crawling age) have depth perception. Even newborn
animals show depth perception.
Innervisions

Visual Cliff 70
 Binocular Cues
Retinal disparity: Images from the two eyes differ. Try looking at
your two index fingers when pointing them towards each other
half an inch apart and about 5 inches directly in front of your
eyes. You will see a “finger sausage” as shown in the inset.

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 Monocular Cues
Relative Size: If two objects are similar in size, we
perceive the one that casts a smaller retinal image to be
farther away.

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Interposition: Objects that occlude (block) other objects
tend to be perceived as closer.

Rene Magritte, The Blank Signature, oil on canvas,

National Gallery of Art, Washington. Collection of
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon. Photo by Richard Carafelli.
Monocular Cues
 Monocular Cues
Relative Height: We perceive objects that are higher in our field of
vision to be farther away than those that are lower.

adapted from stimuli that appered in Vecrera et al., 2002

Image courtesy of Shaun P. Vecera, Ph. D.,
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 Monocular Cues
Relative motion: Objects closer to a fixation point move
faster and in opposing direction to those objects that are
farther away from a fixation point, moving slower and
in the same direction.

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 Monocular Cues
Linear Perspective: Parallel lines, such as railroad
tracks, appear to converge in the distance. The more the
lines converge, the greater their perceived distance.

from cartoonbank.com. All rights reserved.

© The New Yorker Collection, 2002, Jack Ziegler
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 Monocular Cues
Light and Shadow: Nearby objects reflect more light into our
eyes than more distant objects. Given two identical objects, the
dimmer one appears to be farther away.

All rights reserved.

S. Ramachandran. © 1988 by Scientific American, Inc.
From “Perceiving Shape From Shading” by Vilayaur
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 Perceptual Constancy

Perceiving objects as unchanging even as

illumination and retinal images change.

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 Color Constancy
Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color
even when changing illumination filters the light
reflected by the object.

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Color Constancy
 Size-Distance Relationship
The distant monster (below, left) and the top red bar
(below, right) appear bigger because of distance cues.

Alan Choisnet/ The Image Bank

From Shepard, 1990

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 Size-Distance Relationship
Both girls in the room are of similar height. However,
we perceive them to be of different heights as they
stand in the two corners of the room.

Both photos from S. Schwartzenberg/ The Exploratorium

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 Ames Room

The Ames room is designed to demonstrate the size- 82

distance illusion.
 Lightness Constancy

n o
els
Ad
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The color and brightness of square A and B are the same. 83

 Perceptual Interpretation
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) maintained that knowledge
comes from our inborn ways of organizing sensory
experiences.

John Locke (1632-1704) argued that we learn to
perceive the world through our experiences.

How important is experience in shaping our

perceptual interpretation?

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Sensory Deprivation & Restored Vision
After cataract surgery,
blind adults were able to
regain sight. These
individuals could
differentiate figure and
ground relationships, yet
they had difficulty
distinguishing a circle and
a triangle (Von
Senden, 1932).
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 Facial Recognition

After blind adults regained

sight, they were able to
recognize distinct features,
but were unable to recognize
faces. Normal observers also
show difficulty in facial

Courtesy of Richard LeGrand

recognition when the lower
half of the pictures are
changed.

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 Sensory Deprivation

Kittens raised without

exposure to horizontal
lines later had difficulty
perceiving horizontal
bars.

Blakemore & Cooper (1970)

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 Perceptual Adaptation

Visual ability to adjust to

an artificially displaced
visual field, e.g., prism

Courtesy of Hubert Dolezal

glasses.

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 Perceptual Set
A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not
another. What you see in the center picture is
influenced by flanking pictures.

From Shepard, 1990.

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 Perceptual Set
Other examples of perceptual set.

Frank Searle, photo Adams/ Corbis-Sygma

Dick Ruhl
(a) Loch ness monster or a tree trunk;
(b) Flying saucers or clouds?
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 Context Effects
Context can radically alter perception.

Is the “magician cabinet” on the floor or hanging from the ceiling?

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 Cultural Context
Context instilled by culture also alters perception.

To an East African, the woman sitting is balancing a metal box on

her head, while the family is sitting under a tree. 92
 Perception Revisited
Is perception innate or acquired?

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 Is There Extrasensory Perception?
Perception without sensory input is called extrasensory
perception (ESP). A large percentage of scientists do not
believe in ESP.

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 Claims of ESP
1. Telepathy: Mind-to-mind communication. One
person sending thoughts and the other receiving
them.
2. Clairvoyance: Perception of remote events, such as
sensing a friend’s house on fire.
3. Precognition: Perceiving future events, such as a
political leader’s death.

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PSYCHOLOGY

(9th Edition)



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