Sensation and Perception

Definition:
Sensation is the awareness resulting from the stimulation of a sense organs. Sensation
involves the absorption of energy, such as light or sound waves, by sensory organs, such as the
eyes and ears.

Senses: Five senses includes: vision, hearing (audition), smell (olfaction), taste (gustation), and
touch (somatosensation). 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).

Psychophysics: The study of the relationship between the physical aspects of stimuli and our
psychological experience of them. The field of psychophysics was founded by the German
psychologist Gustav Fechner, who was the first to study the relationship between the strength of
a stimulus and a person’s ability to detect the stimulus.

Absolute threshold: The smallest intensity of a stimulus that must be present for the stimulus to
be detected. The absolute threshold is the point where something becomes noticeable to our
senses. It is the softest sound we can hear or the slightest touch we can feel. Anything less than
this goes unnoticed. The absolute threshold is therefore the point at which a stimuli goes from
undetectable to detectable to our senses. Following examples of absolute thresholds for various
senses:

 Sight: A candle flame can be seen 30 miles away on a dark, clear night.
 Hearing: The ticking of a watch can be heard 20 feet away under quiet conditions.
 Taste: Sugar can be discerned when 1 teaspoon is dissolved in 2 gallons of water.
 Smell: Perfume can be detected when one drop is present in a three-room apartment.
 Touch: A bee’s wing falling from a distance of 1 centimeter can be felt on a cheek.

Difference threshold (just noticeable difference): The smallest level of added or reduced
stimulation required to sense that a change in stimulation has occurred. The size of a stimulus
that constitutes a just noticeable difference depends on the initial intensity of the stimulus. The
relationship between changes in the original size of a stimulus and the degree to which a change
will be noticed forms one of the basic laws of psychophysics: Weber’s law. Weber’s law states
that a just noticeable difference is a constant proportion of the intensity of an initial stimulus
(rather than a constant amount). For example, if in room there are 10 tube lights and one tube
light is added then one cannot differentiate the difference but when 5 tube lights added it can be
differentiated.

Sensory Adaptation: Adaptation is an adjustment in sensory capacity after prolonged

exposure to unchanging stimuli. Sensory adaptation is a process by which sensory experiences
decrease with continued exposure to a stimulus. It is the tendency of the sense organs to adjust to
continuous, unchanging stimulation by reducing their functioning. Repeated exposure to a
stimulus results in an apparent decline in sensitivity to it. In a sense, our brain mentally turns
down the volume of the stimulation that it’s experiencing. For example, adaptation is the
decrease in sensitivity that occurs after repeated exposure to a strong stimulus. If you were to
hear a loud tone over and over again, eventually it would begin to sound softer. Similarly,
although jumping into a cold lake may be temporarily unpleasant, eventually you probably will
get used to the temperature.

Signal detection Theory: Signal-detection theory proposes that the detection of stimuli involves
decision processes as well as sensory processes, which are both influenced by a variety of factors
besides stimulus intensity. It explain the role of psychological factors in our ability to detect
stimuli. Theory acknowledges that when attempting to detect a stimulus, observers may error in
two ways: in reporting that a stimulus is present when it is not, or in reporting that a stimulus is
not present when it actually is. By applying statistical procedures, psychologists using signal
detection theory are able to obtain an understanding of how different kinds of decisions which
may involve such factors as observer expectations and motivation, relate to judgments about
sensory stimuli in various situations.

Perception: is the selection, organization, and interpretation of sensory input. Perception

involves organizing and translating sensory input into something meaningful. For example, when
you look at the photo of the rose, your eyes are sensing the light reflected from the page,
including areas of low reflectance where ink has been deposited in an irregular shape. What you
perceive, however, is a picture of a rose.
Perceptual Organization: Perceptual organization is the process of grouping visual elements
together (organization) so that one can more readily determine the meaning of the visual as a
whole (perception).

1. Gestalt laws of organization: A series of principles that describe how we organize bits and
pieces of information into meaningful wholes.

Figure and Ground Law: A visual field can be separated into two distinct regions: the figures
(prominent objects) and the ground (the objects that recede into the background.

Grouping: The Gestalt laws of grouping is a set of principles in psychology first proposed by
Gestalt psychologists to explain how humans naturally perceive stimuli as organized patterns and
objects.

 Law of Similarity: explains how items that are similar tend to be grouped or clustered
together. In example (A) you see horizontal rows of circles, but if you changed the picture so
none of the circles are filled in you might see vertical rows of circles, or both.
 Law of Simplicity: is when reality is organized or reduced to the simplest form possible. In
example (B) we see the image as a series of circles rather than as many much more
complicated shapes.
 Law of Proximity: is when objects near each other tend to be grouped together. In example
(C) the circles on the left appear to be grouped in vertical columns, while those on the right
appear to be grouped in horizontal rows.
 Law of Continuity: is when lines are seen as following the smoothest path. In example (D)
people tend to mentally form a continuous line. The black dots are seen as continuing the
first segment of the line which is then non-related or separate from the red dots.
 Law of Closure: is when objects grouped together are seen as a whole. In example (E) we
tend to overlook gaps and complete contour lines so we see familiar shapes and images.

A) (B) (C)
 (D) (E)

2. Top-down processing: Perception that is guided by higher-level knowledge, cognition,

experience, expectations, and motivations. For example, you are presented with a
paragraph written with difficult handwriting. It is easier to understand what the writer wants
to convey if you read the whole paragraph rather than reading the words in separate terms.
The brain may be able to perceive and understand the gist of the paragraph due to the context
supplied by the surrounding words.
3. Bottom-up processing: Perception that consists of the progression of recognizing and
processing information from individual components of a stimuli and moving to the
perception of the whole.

4. Depth- perception: The ability to view the world in three dimensions and to perceive
distance.
5. Perceptual-constancy: The phenomenon in which physical objects are perceived as
unvarying and consistent despite changes in their appearance or in the physical environment.