SENSATION

AND PERCEPTION

Chapter 5
Sensation vs. Perception

 Sensation
 The experience of sensory
stimulation
 Perception

 The process of creating

meaningful patterns from raw
sensory information
THE NATURE
OF SENSATION
The Basic Process
 Receptor cells
 Specialized cells that respond to a
particular type of energy
 Doctrine of specific nerve energies

 One-to-one relationship between

stimulation of a specific nerve and the
resulting sensory experience
 For example, applying pressure with
your finger to your eye results in a
visual experience
Sensory Thresholds

 Absolute threshold
 The minimum amount
of energy that can be
detected 50% of the
time
Absolute Thresholds
 Taste: 1 gram (.0356 ounce) of table salt in
500 liters (529 quarts) of water
 Smell: 1 drop of perfume diffused throughout

a three-room apartment
 Touch: the wing of a bee falling on your cheek

from a height of 1cm (.39 inch)

 Hearing: the tick of a watch from 6 meters (20

feet) in very quiet conditions

 Vision: a candle flame seen from 50km (30

miles) on a clear, dark night

Sensory Thresholds
Sensory adaptation
 An adjustment of the senses to the level
of stimulation they are receiving
 Difference threshold

 The smallest change in stimulation that

can be detected 50% of the time
 Also called the just noticeable difference
Sensory Thresholds

 Weber’s Law
 States that the difference
threshold is a constant
proportion of the specific
stimulus
 Senses vary in their sensitivity
to changes in stimulation
Subliminal Perception
 The notion that we may respond to
stimuli that are below our level of
awareness
 Research shows that the effect only

occurs in controlled laboratory

studies
 Research outside the laboratory

shows no significant effect of

 Sensory
Pathways to
Perception
Vision
 The Visual System
 Cornea
 Transparent protective
coating over the front of
the eye
 Pupil
 Small opening in the iris
through which light enters
the eye
 Iris
 Colored part of the eye
The Visual System
 Lens
 Focuses light onto the
retina
 Retina
 Lining of the eye
containing receptor
cells that are sensitive
to light
 Fovea
 Center of the visual
field
Receptor Cells

Cells in the retina that are

sensitive to light
Visual receptors are called

rods and cones

Receptor Cells
 Rods  Cones
 About 120 million  About 8 million
rods cones
 Respond to light  Respond to color
and dark as well as light
 Very sensitive to and dark
light  Work best in
 Provide our night bright light
vision  Found mainly in
the fovea
Receptor Cells
 Bipolar cells
 Receive input from
receptor cells
 Ganglion cells

 Receive input from

bipolar cells
 Blind spot

 Area where axons

of ganglion cells
leave the eye
Adaptation
 Dark adaptation
 Increased sensitivity of rods and
cones in darkness
 Light adaptation

 Decreased sensitivity of rods and

cones in bright light
 Afterimage

 Sense experience that occurs after a

visual stimulus has been removed
From Eye to Brain
 Optic nerve
 Made up of axons of
ganglion cells
 carries neural
messages from each
eye to brain
 Optic chiasm
 Point where part of
each optic nerve
crosses to the other
side of the brain
 Our Visible Spectrum
Red Orange Yellow Green Blue Indigo Violet

 Hue determines color

 Depends on length of the distance from one peak to
the next on the wave
 Intensity determines brightness

 Depends on amplitude of the wave

 Transduction

 The process where the eye converts electromagnetic

energy (light) into nerve impulses
 Color Vision
 Properties of color
 Hue – refers to colors such as red and green
 Saturation – refers to the vividness of a hue
 Brightness – the nearness of a color to white
Theories of Color Vision

 Additive color mixing

 Mixing of lights of different
hues
 Lights, T.V., computer monitors
(RGB)
 Subtractive color mixing

 Mixing pigments, e.g., paints

Theories of Color Vision
 Trichromatic theory
 Three different types of cones

Red
Green
Blue-violet
 Experience of color is the result of mixing of

the signals from these receptors

 Can account for some types of colorblindness
Forms of Colorblindness
 Approximately 10% of
men and 1% of women
have some form of
colorblindness
 Dichromats
 People who are blind to
either red-green or
blue-yellow
 Monochromats
 People who see no
color at all, only shades
of light and dark
Theories of Color Vision

Trichromatic theory cannot

explain all aspects of color
vision
 People with normal vision
cannot see “reddish-green” or
“yellowish-blue”
 Color afterimages
Theories of Color Vision
 Opponent-process theory
 Three pairs of color receptors

Yellow-blue
Red-green
Black-white
 Members of each pair work in opposition
 Can explain color afterimages

 Both theories of color vision are valid

Color Vision in Other Species
 Other species see colors differently
than humans
 Most other mammals are dichromats

 Rodents tend to be monochromats, as

are owls who have only rods

 Bees can see ultraviolet light
Hearing
Incus

Pinna
 Sound
 Sound waves
 Changes in pressure
caused by molecules of
air moving
 Frequency
 Number of cycles per
second in a wave,
measured in Hertz (Hz)
 Frequency determines
pitch
Sound
 Amplitude
 Magnitude (height) of
sound wave
 Determines loudness,
measured in decibels
(dB)
 Overtones
 Multiples of the basic
tone
 Timbre
 Quality of texture of
sound
The Ear
 Eardrum
 Middle ear
 Contains three small
bones; the hammer, anvil,
and stirrup
 These bones relay and
amplify the incoming
sound waves
The Ear
 Oval window
 Membrane between
middle ear and inner ear
 Cochlea
 Part of inner ear
containing fluid that
vibrates
 This causes the basilar
membrane to vibrate
The Ear
 Basilar membrane
 Membrane in the cochlea
which contains receptor
cells, called hair cells
 Auditory nerve
 Connection from ear to
brain
 Provides information to
both sides of brain
Theories of Hearing
 Place theory
 Pitch is determined by location of vibration along the
basilar membrane
 Frequency theory
 Pitch is determined by frequency hair cells produce
action potentials
 Volley Principle
 Pattern of sequential firing determines pitch
Hearing Disorders
 About 28 million people have some form of
hearing damage in the U.S.
 Can be caused by
 Injury
 Infections
 Explosions
 Long-term exposure to loud noises
Smell
 Detecting common odors
 Odorant binding protein is
released and attached to
incoming molecules
 These molecules then activate
receptors in the olfactory
epithelium
 Axons from those receptors
project directly to the olfactory
bulb
Smell
 Women have a better sense of smell than men
 Anosmia
 Complete loss of the ability to smell
Smell
 Pheromones
 Used by animals as a form of communication
 Provides information about identity
 Also provides information about sexual receptivity
 Pheromones stimulate the vomeronasal organ (VNO)
 Information from the VNO is sent to a special part of
the olfactory bulb used for pheromonal
communication
Taste
 Four basic tastes
 Sweet
 Salty
 Sour
 Bitter
 Recent discovery of fifth taste
 Umami
Taste
 Receptor cells are
located in taste buds
 Taste buds are located in
papillae on the tongue
 Chemicals dissolve in
saliva and activate
receptors
The Skin Senses
 Skin is the largest sense organ
 There are receptors for pressure, temperature, and
pain
 Touch appears to be important not just as a source
of information, but as a way to bond with others
Pain
 Serves as a warning about injury or other problem
 Large individual differences in pain perception
 Gate control theory
 Neurological “gate” in spinal cord which controls
transmission of pain to brain
Pain
 Biopsychosocial theory
 Holds that pain involves not just physical stimulus, but
psychological and social factors as well
 Placebo effect
 Shows that when a person believes a medication reduces
pain, their pain is often reduced even though no medication
was given
 Pain relief is likely the result of endorphin release
Pain
 Alternative approaches
 Hypnosis
 Self-hypnosis
 Accupuncture
THE OTHER SENSES
Kinesthetic Senses
 Kinesthetic senses provide information about speed
and direction of movement
 Stretch receptors sense muscle stretch and contraction
 Golgi tendon organs sense movement of tendons
Vestibular Senses
 Vestibular senses provide information about
equilibrium and body position
 Fluid moves in two vestibular sacs
 Vestibular organs are also responsible for motion
sickness
 Motion sickness may be caused by discrepancies
between visual information and vestibular
sensation
PERCEPTION
Extrasensory Perception
 Refers to extraordinary perception such as
 Clairvoyance – awareness of an unknown
object or event
 Telepathy – knowledge of someone else’s
thoughts or feelings
 Precognition – foreknowledge of future
events
 Research has been unable to conclusively

demonstrate the existence of ESP

Perceptual Organization
 Figure-ground
 We perceive a foreground
object (figure) against a
background (ground)
 Animals may look like
the background they
inhabit as a way of
destroying figure-
ground distinction
 Gestalt Principles of Vision
 Figure-ground
 We recognize figures (objects) by distinguishing them
from the background
 Proximity
 Marks that are near one another tend to be grouped
together
 Gestalt Principles of Vision
 Closure
 We tend to fill in gaps in a
figure
 Similarity
 Marks that look alike tend to
be grouped together
Gestalt Principles of Vision
Continuity
 The principle of continuity predicts the preference

for continuous figures. We perceive the figure as

two crossed lines instead of 4 lines meeting at the
center.
  
 Texture Gradient
A texture gradient arises whenever we view a
surface from a slant, rather than directly from above.
The texture becomes denser and less detailed as the
surface recedes into the background, and this
information helps us to judge depth.
 Linear Perspective
Linear perspective refers to the fact that parallel lines, such as
railroad tracks, appear to converge with distance, eventually reaching
a vanishing point at the horizon. The more the lines converge, the
farther away they appear.
Perceptual Constancy - Vision
 The image of an object on your retina can vary in
size, shape, and brightness
 But we still continue to perceive the object as stable in
size, shape and brightness
 Size constancy
 The tendency to view an object as constant in size
despite changes in the size of its image on the retina (as
we move)
 Shape constancy
 The tendency to see an object as retaining its form
despite changes in orientation
Size
Constancy
Shape Constancy
 Perceptual
Organization

 Other
principles of
organization
 Proximity
 Similarity
 Closure
 Continuity
 Perceptual Organization
 Perceptual Constancy
 Our tendency to perceive
objects as stable and
unchanging despite
changing sensory
information
 Size constancy
 Shape constancy
 Brightness constancy
 Color constancy
Perception of Distance and Depth
 Monocular cues – those
that require only one eye
 Aerial perspective
 Texture gradient
 Linear perspective
 Motion parallax
 Superposition
Perception of Distance and Depth

Binocular cues – those that

require both eyes
 Retinal disparity
 Convergence
Localizing Sounds
 We use both monaural and
binaural cues
 Loudness
 Louder sounds are perceived as
being closer
 Time of arrival
 Sounds will arrive at one ear
sooner than the other
 This helps determine direction
of the sound
Perception of Movement
 Apparent movement
 Illusion that still objects are moving
 Autokinetic illusion

 Perceived motion of a single object

 Stroboscopic motion

 Created by a rapid series of still

pictures
 Phi phenomenon

 Apparent motion created by lights

flashing in sequence
Visual Illusions
 Occur because of
misleading cues in
the stimulus
 Gives rise to false
perceptions
OPTICAL
ILLUSIONS
Find the face of a man…
What do you see?
Is it dimple or bumps?
How many faces do you see?
What is it?
What word do you see?
Observe
what did
you see?
Visual Agnosia

 A Condition in which an individual can see objects

and identify their features but cannot recognize the
objects
Prosopagnosia

 A condition in which an individual can recognize

details in faces but cannot recognize faces as a
whole.
Myopia
- visual nearsightedness, which is caused by an
elongated eyeball.

Hyperopia
- visual farsightedness, which is caused by a
shortened eyeball.
Dark Adaptation

 The process by which the eye become more

sensitive to light when under low illumination.
Afterimage
- an image that persists after the removal of a visual
stimulus.

Color blindness
- the inability to distinguish between certain colors,
most often red and green.
Illusory contours
- the perception of nonexistent contours as if they
were the edges of real objects.

Binocular cues
- depth perception cues that require input from the 2
eyes.

Monocular cues
- depth perception cues that require input from only
1 eye.
Individual Differences and Culture in Perception

 Motivation
 Our desires or needs shape our current perceptions
 Values
 Expectations
 Cognitive Style
 Experience and Culture
 Personality