BALOCHISTAN UNIVERSITY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT SCIENCES

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DEPARTMENT: BS ECONOMICS
SEMESTER: 1ST
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DATE: 01/05/2021
 Sensation

Sensation is the process that allows our brains to take information via our five
senses, which can be experienced and interpret by the brain.

Sensation occurs because of our five sensory systems.

Sensory receptors are specialized neurons that respond to specific types of

stimuli. When sensory information is detected by a sensory
receptor, sensation has occurred.

For example, light that enters the eye causes chemical changes in cells that line
the back of the eye. These cells relay messages, in the form of action potentials
(as you learned when studying biopsychology), to the central nervous system. The
conversion from sensory stimulus energy to action potential is known
as transduction.

You have probably known since elementary school that we have five senses:
vision, hearing (audition), smell (olfaction), taste (gustation), and touch
(somatosensation). It turns out that this notion of five senses is oversimplified.
We also have sensory systems that provide information about balance (the
vestibular sense), body position and movement (proprioception and kinesthesia),
pain (nociception), and temperature (thermoception).

The sensitivity of a given sensory system to the relevant stimuli can be expressed
as an absolute threshold. Absolute threshold refers to the minimum amount of
stimulus energy that must be present for the stimulus to be detected 50% of the
time. Another way to think about this is by asking how dim can a light be or how
soft can a sound be and still be detected half of the time. The sensitivity of our
sensory receptors can be quite amazing. It has been estimated that on a clear
night, the most sensitive sensory cells in the back of the eye can detect a candle
flame 30 miles away. Under quiet conditions, the hair cells (the receptor cells of
the inner ear) can detect the tick of a clock 20 feet away.
It is also possible for us to get messages that are presented below the threshold
for conscious awareness—these are called subliminal messages. A stimulus
reaches a physiological threshold when it is strong enough to excite sensory
receptors and send nerve impulses to the brain: This is an absolute threshold. A
message below that threshold is said to be subliminal: We receive it, but we are
not consciously aware of it. Over the years there has been a great deal of
speculation about the use of subliminal messages in advertising, rock music, and
self-help audio programs. Research evidence shows that in laboratory settings,
people can process and respond to information outside of awareness. But this
does not mean that we obey these messages like zombies; in fact, hidden
messages have little effect on behaviour outside the laboratory.

Absolute thresholds are generally measured under incredibly controlled

conditions in situations that are optimal for sensitivity. Sometimes, we are more
interested in how much difference in stimuli is required to detect a difference
between them. This is known as the just noticeable difference (jnd) or difference
threshold. Unlike the absolute threshold, the difference threshold changes
depending on the stimulus intensity. As an example, imagine yourself in a very
dark movie theater. If an audience member were to receive a text message that
caused the cell phone screen to light up, chances are that many people would
notice the change in illumination in the theater. However, if the same thing
happened in a brightly lit arena during a basketball game, very few people would
notice. The cell phone brightness does not change, but its ability to be detected as
a change in illumination varies dramatically between the two contexts. Ernst
Weber proposed this theory of change in difference threshold in the 1830s, and it
has become known as Weber’s law: The difference threshold is a constant
fraction of the original stimulus, as the example illustrates.
 Perception

Perception is the sensory experience of the world. It involves both recognizing

environment stimuli and actions in response to these stimuli.

Perception includes the five senses, touch, sight. Sound, smell and taste.

Through the Perceptual process we gain information about the properties and
elements of our environment that are critical to our survivor. Perception not only
creates our experience of the world around us, it allows us to act within our
environment.

While our sensory receptors are constantly collecting information from the
environment, it is ultimately how we interpret that information that affects how
we interact with the world. Perception refers to the way sensory information is
organized, interpreted, and consciously experienced. Perception involves both
bottom-up and top-down processing. Bottom-up processing refers to sensory
information from a stimulus in the environment driving a process, and top-down
processing refers to knowledge and expectancy driving a process.

Imagine that you and some friends are sitting in a crowded restaurant eating
lunch and talking. It is very noisy, and you are concentrating on your friend’s face
to hear what she is saying, then the sound of breaking glass and clang of metal
pans hitting the floor rings out. The server dropped a large tray of food. Although
you were attending to your meal and conversation, that crashing sound would
likely get through your attentional filters and capture your attention. You would
have no choice but to notice it. That attentional capture would be caused by the
sound from the environment: it would be bottom-up.
Alternatively, top-down processes are generally goal directed, slow, deliberate,
effortful, and under your control. For instance, if you misplaced your keys, how
would you look for them? If you had a yellow key fob, you would probably look
for yellowness of a certain size in specific locations, such as on the counter, coffee
table, and other similar places. You would not look for yellowness on your ceiling
fan, because you know keys are not normally lying on top of a ceiling fan. That act
of searching for a certain size of yellowness in some locations and not others
would be top-down—under your control and based on your experience.

One way to think of this concept is that sensation is a physical process, whereas
perception is psychological. For example, upon walking into a kitchen and
smelling the scent of baking cinnamon rolls, the sensation is the scent receptors
detecting the odor of cinnamon, but the perception may be “Mmm, this smells
like the bread Grandma used to bake when the family gathered for holidays.”

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
over prolonged periods of time. This is known as sensory adaptation. Imagine
going to a city that you have never visited. You check in to the hotel, but when
you get to your room, there is a road construction sign with a bright flashing light
outside your window. Unfortunately, there are no other rooms available, so you
are stuck with a flashing light. You decide to watch television to unwind. The
flashing light was extremely annoying when you first entered your room. It was as
if someone was continually turning a bright yellow spotlight on and off in your
room, but after watching television for a short while, you no longer notice the
light flashing. The light is still flashing and filling your room with yellow light every
few seconds, and the photoreceptors in your eyes still sense the light, but you no
longer perceive the rapid changes in lighting conditions. That you no longer
perceive the flashing light demonstrates sensory adaptation and shows that while
closely associated, sensation and perception are different.
There is another factor that affects sensation and perception: attention. Attention
plays a significant role in determining what is sensed versus what is perceived.
Imagine you are at a party full of music, chatter, and laughter. You get involved in
an interesting conversation with a friend, and you tune out all the background
noise. If someone interrupted you to ask what song had just finished playing, you
would probably be unable to answer that question.