Perception, 2015, volume 44, pages 470 – 472

doi:10.1068/p4404rvw

Reviews

Sensation and perception by J Harris; Sage, London, 2014, 520 pages, £120.00 cloth, £39.99 paper
(US $175.00, $69.00) ISBN 9780857020635, 9780857020642
For undergraduate students (like myself), reading a textbook on sensation and perception can be like
pulling teeth. Students can easily become overwhelmed by in-depth technical descriptions, resulting
in needless frustration and disinterest, so that they then avoid the appropriate shelves in the library,
never to look at perception processes and research ever again.
Sensation and Perception addresses this problem, aiming to engage the student by being informative,
colourful, and entertaining. At the same time, it challenges the reader to get an understanding of the
underlying methodological and scientific issues fundamental to perception research.
Within the first few chapters, it becomes abundantly clear that the author draws on his experience,
having taught perception for over 20 years, to capture the attention of the reader and keep them motivated.
The student-friendly, yet academic, writing style, and the enthusiasm with which explanations and
concepts are presented, not only allow a good understanding of perception processes but also convey a
feeling of the author’s passion and commitment towards perception research, making the at first rather
tedious-appearing subject area stimulating and fun to learn about.
With the scope of coverage exceeding that of most other sensation and perception textbooks, the
16 chapters are broken down into five main parts, addressing foundations and investigative research
techniques; the visual, auditory, and chemical senses; and somatosensory perception. Furthermore,
it gives an explanation of how the world is perceived, relating to perception of attractiveness, emotions,
and the recognition of faces, and also including changes in perception, such as changes over the life
span and pathologies. This latter part in particular is a novelty, not frequently seen in other perception
textbooks.
Each chapter begins with a range of introductory questions, which are then discussed throughout
the chapter. Examples such as “Are headphones better than loudspeakers?” (page 4) or “Can we
experience the pain of our loved ones?” (page 204) not only signpost the topics covered but also
motivate and encourage the reader to learn more about that topic by capturing their attention with
questions that are of interest to the student population and modern-day society. The answers to these
introductory questions are highlighted appropriately in the text and, to some extent, are summarised
in ‘key point’ sections. However, there is a lack of consistency, as answers to these questions are not
flagged for chapters 7, 8, 12, 13, and 14 as for the remaining chapters, which could lead to confusion
as the reader might already develop an expectation about these highlighted passages.
Each chapter closes with an overview, presenting the current state and gaps of knowledge about
a topic, and a chapter summary, together with self-assessed test questions and suggestions for further
reading, which consist—to my pleasant surprise—mainly of journal articles, referring only occasionally
to a book.
Next to several colour illustrations, the author, again, places emphasis on detailed presentations
of scientific studies, which are incorporated and numerously referenced throughout the text and in
special ‘key/case-study’ sections. This is particularly useful in helping students to evaluate claims of
journal articles.
The importance of gaining a good understanding of scientific research studies is elaborated further
in the “Thinking about research” sections, giving the reader an opportunity to design a research study
based on the material presented in each chapter and also to think about possible ethical issues raised.
From a student perspective, these exercise options are utterly excellent, as they stimulate an individual’s
critical thinking, raising issues of questions left unanswered in the current research literature. This is
not only a valued and assessed skill at universities, but is also essential for employers, and therefore
of substantial relevance. To my disappointment, possible solutions of research designs are not given
or attached. In my opinion, it would be very useful to offer at least one example for the purpose of
comparison.
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However, from a student’s viewpoint, a more pressing problem is a lack of highlighted definitions
of key terms within the chapter, which are usually seen in textbooks and are highly appreciated by
students. Developing a knowledge of the underlying key terms is absolutely fundamental for the under­
standing of concepts and processes in perception. Even though key terms are defined within the text,
it would be more helpful for students, especially in terms of revision, to look at only the definition of
terms, rather than reading the whole chapter. At least a glossary of key terms, attached to the end of the
book, would have been appreciated.
Furthermore, conclusions such as “Endogenous attention changes contrast gain whereas endogenous
attention also changes response gain” (page 373), where the latter should be referring to exogenous
attention, could lead to confusion. This is especially true when stated in ‘key point’ sections (as in the
above example), as these are important sections that students will concentrate on.
That being said, within the context of the overall utility of the book, these issues are of minor
importance, and perhaps I’m being too critical or perhaps even a little too cynical. The truth is that
Sensation and Perception is an exceptional textbook for any undergraduate student, at any level, having
to deal with perception research. Especially with neuropsychology as such a popular discipline among
students, it’s great that the book also gives descriptions of the ways in which brain areas—for example, V1
or the prefrontal cortex—are implicated in perceptual processes, alongside useful neuropsychological
research studies. Sensation and Perception, however, is not only linked to biological psychology but
also interconnects with areas of cognitive (eg theoretical approaches to perception, and bottom‑up
and top-down processes in perception), social (eg attraction), and developmental (eg development of
vision and hearing over the life-span) psychology, making the textbook exceptionally exciting and
rewarding for any undergraduate psychology student in a variety of ways. Sensation and Perception
would be a formidable addition to any recommended reading list, not only for undergraduate students
within a psychology degree but also as a useful reference or key textbook for their supervisors. I totally
enjoyed reading it!
Olivia D Vatmanides, Bath Spa University, UK; e-mail: olivia.vatmanides13@bathspa.ac.uk

◊   ◊   ◊
One of the issues that I am finding increasingly apparent—and worrisome—as a university lecturer,
is that students sometimes struggle to make the connection between psychological theory and
methodology. This becomes a particular concern when they reach their final year of study, a substantial
component of which here in the UK involves an individual research project. There’s nothing scary
about experimental work, but perhaps there needs to be a clearer link between the theory that we teach
in lectures and how we might go about collecting data relevant to that theory.
I was therefore extremely pleased to see that one of the goals stated in the preface of John Harris’s
new textbook, Sensation and Perception, is to address exactly this issue. Throughout the book, great
care is taken to guide the reader through the types of experimental methods that allow us to investigate
the human sensory and perceptual experience. Starting from a full chapter devoted to the measurement of
perception at the outset, Harris develops this understanding in each subsequent chapter through content-
specific examples of experiments—exploring anything from the perception of first- and second-order
motion, to the influence of colour on the perception of condoms.
Of course, grounding students in an understanding of experimental methods isn’t much use
if they aren’t interested in the topic in the first place, and this belies a common difficulty that
textbooks on perception have to deal with: presenting theoretical information to an appropriate
level of depth and complexity so as to be useful and interesting, without becoming so stuffy so as to
disengage the reader in the process. Sensation and Perception manages a fairly balanced approach
to this problem. As far as textbooks go, it doesn’t hold back on exposing the reader to a wide range
of difficult topics—chapter 1 alone covers motion perception, camouflage, synaesthesia, and how to
measure luminance. Yet at no point do you feel overwhelmed with information; there is a clear and
logical progression of information both throughout each chapter and between each chapter. This is
supplemented by short case studies, frequent topic summaries, and, later on in the book, discussions
about controversies that exist within the research literature. This latter point is particularly nice to see,
as it really feels as though Harris is trying to bring a true sense of what it’s like to engage in scientific
research to the reader.
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Aside from these novel aspects to the textbook, it is written in an authoritative and comprehensive
manner. In terms of general content, Sensation and Perception covers everything you would expect
to see in an undergraduate textbook. As opposed to other texts such as Snowden et al.’s (2006)
Basic Vision, the material here is geared more towards second- and third-year undergraduates.
However, given the breadth of coverage, it would be well suited to both specific lecture courses on
perception and more general courses on biological psychology. Towards the end of the book, it was
refreshing to see a chapter covering changes in perception, in terms of both early development and
changes as a result of ageing. In addition, the final chapter, on pathologies of perception, is excellent,
and lays the groundwork for students interested in further study in neuropsychology, either in their
final year of undergraduate study or further on at postgraduate level.
In sum, then, Sensation and Perception is to be commended for presenting complex topics in
a stimulating manner, without resorting to ‘dumbing down’ in order to keep the reader engaged.
Not only would it be of obvious use to any second- or third-year undergraduate course on perception,
but I can see it being used as an excellent resource for guiding potential final-year dissertation students
in the intricacies of experimental design. To that end, Harris’s text is a timely and very welcome
addition to any undergraduate psychology degree programme.
Peter J Etchells, Bath Spa University, UK; e-mail: p.etchells@bathspa.ac.uk
Reference
Snowden, R. J., Troscianko, T., & Thompson, P. (2006) Basic vision: An introduction to visual perception
(Oxford: Oxford University Press).

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