Prepared by

DR: Shimaa Elgamal

Lecturer of neurology
Faculty of medicine
Kafr El sheikh
 Cognitive psychology
• Cognitive psychology
Is the scientific study of mental processes such as
"attention, language use, memory, perception,
problem solving, creativity, motivation,
learning, sleep and thinking".
 SENSATION&PERCEPTION
Sensation
• The process through which the senses pick up visual,
auditory, and other sensory stimuli and transmit them to the
brain.
• Sensory information that has registered in the brain but has
not been interpreted called sensation
Perception
• The process by which sensory information is actively
organized and interpreted by the brain
• The process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting raw
sensory data into useful mental representations of the world,
i.e., it is the process of giving meaning to te sensation.
 HOW SENSATION OCCURS
• Eyes, ears, skin, nose, and tongue and contain
receptor cells

• These receptor cells receive and process

sensory information from the environment
 PERCEPTUAL PROCESSES
Perceptual processes include:
 Selection
refers to choosing which of many stimuli that
will be processed.
 Organization
involves collecting the information into some
pattern.
 Interpretation
involves understanding the pattern.
FACTORS AFFECTING PERCEPTION
Following are the group of factors
A. Objective Factors

B. Subjective Factors
 OBJECTIVE FACTORS
There are a number of characteristics of stimuli that
influence our perception.
1.Intensity
2. Size
3.Distinct & Striking
4.Movement
5.Novelty
6.Duration
7.Repetition
8.Abrupt Change
 OBJECTIVE FACTORS
1. Intensity;
The louder a sound , the more likely a person is to perceive it. The
brighter a light, the more likely it is to be in the focus of
perception.
2. Size;
A full page advertisement is more likely to be noticed than a half-
column one.
3. Distinct & Striking;
distinct and striking things are perceived sooner than dull and
unclear things.
4. Movement;
When things move suddenly in still and motionless environment ,it
is quickly perceived .e.g. birds sitting quietly on tree are not
quickly perceived as compared to ones about to fly.
 OBJECTIVE FACTORS
5. Novelty;
A new and novel thing is perceived sooner than old and
used thing.
6. Duration;
Television and radio advertisements of long duration
are attended to more than those of short duration.
7. Repetition;
Repetition causes us to adapt to the repeated stimulus .
8. Abrupt Change;
Any change in stimulus conditions, such as increase in
noise , often attracts attention.
 SUBJECTIVE FACTORS
• Sometimes, perception is determined not only
by the physical characteristics of stimuli but by
the characteristics of the perceiver. These are
1. Motives or needs
2. Interests & values
3. Past experience
4. Age
5. Preparatory set
6. Social & cultural factors
 SUBJECTIVE FACTORS
1.Motives or Needs;
when people are motivated ,they tend to see and hear what
they want to hear. In other words, we may be set to
perceive the world in ways that agree with our motives and
match our goals.
2. Interests & Values;
we attend to those aspects of world that relate to our interest.
3.Past Experience;
Much of our daily activity is dependent upon past experience.
we have learned to react to cues & symbols. E.g., on seeing
a moving line on the sky, we guess it to be an airplane.
 SUBJECTIVE FACTORS
4. Age;
Age brings a change in perception as well. A child
perceives things in different way as compared to a
young person.
5.Preparatory Set;
This refers to a person’s readiness to respond to one
kind of sensory input, but not to other kinds.
6.Social & Cultural Influences ;
The normal perceptual experiences of a culture may
lead its members to develop perceptual biases,
suggestions and prejudices.
 TYPES OF PERCEPTION
• We perceive objects in different manners as
compared to their position in the environment.
Objects may be moving or static, when we have
to perceive motion. We may have to locate
sounds and voices in the space around us.
i. Form Perception
ii. Size Perception
iii. Depth Perception
iv. Perception of Movement
v. Time Perception
 FORM PERCEPTION
• Figure and ground are basic organizational
themes for perception.
• Figure is perceived as distinct from the
background.
• Figure is closer to the viewer than the
background.
• Reversible Figures: Figure and ground can be
switched
FIGURE GROUND PERCEPTION
 GESTALAT PRINCIPLES
Formation of a figure: There are some factors which would bring
some order to perception
1.Nearness:
Stimuli that are near to each other, tend to be grouped together
2. Similarity:
Stimuli that are similar in size, shape, color, or form tend to be
grouped together
3.Continuation or continuity:
Perception tends towards simplicity and continuity
4.Closure:
refers to the tendency to complete a figure, so, that it has a
consistent overall form
 SIZE PERCEPTION
Three types of constancy are explained briefly
here:
1. Size Constancy
2. Shape Constancy
3.Color Constancy
 Size Constancy
1. Size Constancy:
Is the tendency to perceive objects in a consistent manner despite the
changing sensations that are received by our senses.
visual constancy plays an important role in helping us adapt to our
environment successfully.
Learning plays an important role in the development of constancy. Once
we know that certain objects in our environment have certain
characteristics ,we tend to perceive them in the same way, regardless
of the conditions under which they are perceived.

When we know that an object is of a certain size, we tend to perceive it as

being that same size, regardless of how far it is from our eyes.

In Size constancy ,the perceiver has the ability to judge true or measured
size, regardless of the distance involved.
 Size Constancy
2.Shape Constancy;
When we know that the object is a certain shape ,we
tend to perceive it as the same shape, regardless of
the viewing angle. We have learned to make
corrections in our perception dependent on the
angle from which we observe.
3.Color Constancy;
Colors of objects tend to remain constant in
perception when we know their true color. Visual
objects also appear constant in their degree of
whiteness, grayness and blackness.
 DEPTH PERCEPTION
The ability to view the world in three
dimensions and to perceive distance
is known as depth perception.
 PERCEPTION OF MOVEMENT
When you ride in a moving vehicle and look
out the side window, the objects you see
outside appear to be moving in the opposite
direction

Objects very far away, such as the moon and

the sun, appear to move in the same direction
as the viewer
 PERCEPTION OF MOVEMENT
Perception of Movement; Movement or Motion is perceived by
following the progressive change of an object’s position in space
with time. It has two types.
1. Real Movement;
The perception of the actual movement of objects in the world is
termed as “real motion/movement perception”.

2. Apparent Movement;

It is movement perceived in the absence of physical movement of an

image across the retina. This can be produced by a rapid succession
of motionless stimuli that minimize the changes that occur in real
movement. There are several types of apparent motion/movement:
 Disorders of perception
I. Illusion
Means misinterpretations of a real stimulus, e.g., in
a dark room one perceive a rope as a snake. It may
be caused by;
1. Expectations may facilitate the occurrence of
illusion, e.g., if someone is waiting an important
telephone call he may perceive ringing of the
bell of the door as telephone ring.
2. Intense emotion: a person who is afraid may
periceve benign object as terrifying .
3. Impaired consciousness may be associated with
illusion especially acute causes, e.g., alcohol
intoxication or withdrawal.
4. Epilepsy: aura or psychomotor epilepsy may
present with illusions of familiarity or
unfamiliarity
II. Hallucination
Hallucinations means false perception in the
absence of an external stimulus. It may be
visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, or tactile.
Causes of hallucinations:
1. Hypnagogic and hypnopompic hallucination
occur when going to sleep or awakening from
sleep
2. Psychotic disorders, e.g., schizophrenia and
psychotic depression.
3. Intoxication .
THANK YOU