Lecture 1 – Introduction

Lecture 1 – Introduction

06.01.25

·        “What is real? How do you define real? If you’re talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain. This is the world that you know.” – Morpheus, in the matrix

·        The perceptual process

o   Light hits the apple, that light reaches you eye, you process it as an object, you recognize it based on prior experience so you know what it is, you choose to pick it

o   You perceive how close/far it is and that it is able to be picked

o   1) environmental stimulus → 2) light is reflected and transformed → 3) receptor processes ** → 4) neural processing → 5) perception ←→ recognition ←→ 7) action

o   **transduction: transformation of environmental energy into electrical energy by sensory receptors

o   Are all stimuli external? No, hunger, oxygen levels, blood pressure, fatigue = interceptors, but this course focused on external stimuli

·        receptor processes

o   sensory receptors: cells specialised to respond to environmental energy, with each sensory systems recetprs specialised to respond to a specific type of energy

·        Neural processing

o   Takes place in the interconnected circuits of neurons like the retina and in much more complex circuits within the brain. Each sense sends signals to different areas of the brain

o   Signals are transmitted from the brain and changed along the way

o   Intracortical processing transforms sensory data into percepts of sight sound taste, smell and touch

·        Perception to action

o   Electrical signals are transformed into conscious awareness à recognition à involved motor activities (behavioural response)

·        Perception depends on experience

o   It is a cycle

o   Eg you move closer and realize it’s a ball, or actually a rotten apple

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