*We understand the world through our senses,

our windows on the world basic processes:

*Our reality, in fact, is dependent upon two

*Sensation: Gathering information *Perception: Interpreting information

*
*Sensation is the process of receiving, converting,
and transmitting information from the outside world. sense that we do not have to be consciously engaging in a "sensing" process

*It is a passive process.The process is passive in the

Sensory organs contain receptors that transduce sensory energy into nerve impulses that are carried to the brain.

*Perception can be defined as

the active process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting the information brought to the brain by the senses.

*
.

*
* Transduction: sensory receptors convert a physical energy
into nerve impulses
.

*1) Sensation occurs: *a) sensory organs absorb energy from a

physical stimulus in the environment. *b) sensory receptors convert this energy into neural impulses and send them to the brain. *2) Perception follows: *a) the brain organizes the information and translates it into something meaningful.

*
.

* Selective Attention - process of discriminating

between what is important & is irrelevant and is influenced by motivation.

*For example - students in class

should focus on what the teachers are saying and the overheads being presented. Students walking by the classroom may focus on people in the room, who is the teacher, etc., and not the same thing the students in the class.

*
.

* - How we perceive the world is a

function of our past experiences, culture, and biological makeup.

*
.

*For example, an American, when he

looks at a highway, he expect to see cars, trucks, etc, NOT airplanes. But someone from a different country with different experiences and history may not have any idea what to expect and thus be surprised when they see cars go driving by.

*
.

*In order to measure these

events, psychologists use THRESHOLDS.

* Threshold - a dividing line

between what has detectable energy and what does not.

*
.

*
*For example - many classrooms have
automatic light sensors. When people have not been in a room for a while, the lights go out. However, once someone walks into the room, the lights go back on. For this to happen, the sensor has a threshold for motion that must be crossed before it turns the lights back on. So, dust floating in the room should not make the lights go on, but a person walking in should.

*Signal Detection Theory

Detection of a stimulus involves some decision making process as well as a sensory process. Additionally, both sensory and decision making processes are influenced by many more factors than just intensity

*
CHANGE CHANGE The fact that repeated or CHANGE constant stimulation decreases the number of sensory messages CHANGE CHANGE sent to the brain, which causes decreased sensation.... CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE CHANGE Adaptation Sensory

*The Trichromatic theory contends that there are

three types of cones, each activated by a certain wavelength, which corresponds approximately to blue, green, and red *The Opponent-Process theory assumes that there are three types of cell systems that help us see color, and these systems are located at the postreceptor level of processing.The three types of cell

systems are red-green and blue-yellow, as well as black-white (to detect brightness)If one color in a pair is stimulated, the other is inhibited

*Both theories have validity,

* The Trichromatic theory is

each at different levels of visual information processing

correct in its account of how color information is processed by the cones is correct in its account of how color information is processed after it leaves the retina (and is processed by the bipolar, ganglion, and thalamic cells)

* The Opponent-Process theory

What is Sound? Compression & Rarefaction of air molecules.

The outer ear

*The pinna, which is the external part of the

ear, collects sounds and funnels them through the auditory canal to the tympanic membrane (the eardrum), which marks the boundary between the outer ear and the middle ear

The middle ear

*The malleus, incus, and stapes (also called the *The stapes movement creates
vibrations on the oval window, which covers the inner ear

hammer, anvil and stirrup) vibrate in reaction to sound waves from the auditory canal

The inner ear

*The cochlea contains in the basilar membrane

about 16,000 hair cells that are the receptor cells for hearing cells to move, in turn causing the sensation of hearing damaged, a person suffers nerve deafness

*Fluid in the cochlea is displaced, causing the hair *When these hair cells or auditory nerve fibers are
*Conduction deafness is hearing loss due to damage
to the mechanical system carrying sound waves to the cochlea

*
Bottom-up Processing and
Top-down Processing

Perceptual Organization and

Perceptual Constancy

Depth Perception

(a) Ellen taking a walk in the woods, which contains a large number of stimuli; (b) the moth, which she sees and then recognizes, using a combination of bottom-up and top-down processing.

*
.

*
Three steps in the sensation and perception of a stimulus

*Bottom-up processing is

the processing of sensory information as it enters the sensory structures and travels to the brain

*Top-down processing is the brains use

of existing knowledge, beliefs, and expectations to interpret the sensory stimulation *Perception is subjective because of top-down processing *Perceptual set occurs when we interpret an ambiguous stimulus in accordance with our past experiences *A contextual effect occurs when we use the present context of sensory input to determine its meaning

*
.

*
experience neural processing the seeing, the hearing, etc. categorization

change of form of energy stimulus energy becomes neural information e.g., the image on the retina
.

the adaptive output the elicited response

what you are paying attention to

the world around you

*
Illusions - an incorrect perception caused by a distortion of visual sensations. As in the figure,two horizontal lines are equal in length, but one appears longer than the other The convergence of the two lines (i.e., linear perspective) outside the horizontal lines normally indicates increasing distance

* THE PERCEPTION OF PAIN

*Pain is an unpleasant yet important function for
survival: warning system (but not all pain is needed for survival).

*There are two different pathways to the brain on

which pain can travel - information brought from free nerve endings in the skin to the brain via two different systems:

1) fast pathways - registers localized pain (usually sharp pain) and sends the information to the cortex in a fraction of a second. EX. - cut your finger with a knife.

2) slow pathways - sends information through the limbic system which takes about 1-2 seconds longer than directly to the cortex (longer lasting, aching/burning).

*Pain sensations are processed

and altered by mechanisms within the spinal cord.

*Endorphins relieve pain by

inhibiting pain perception.

*
.

*THE END
THANKZ