knowt logo

David Meyers Psychology Textbook - Chapter 6: Sensation and Perception

Basic Concepts of Sensation and Perception

How it works

  • sensation and perception are used to intake sensory stimuli and use it to recognize meaningful objects and events

  • sensory systems convert one form of energy into another

    • vision processes light waves, hearing processes sound waves

  • all senses

    • receive sensory stimulation, often using specialized receptors

    • transform that stimulation into neural impulses

    • deliver the neural info to the brain

  • field of psychophysics studies relationships between the physical energy we can detect and its effects on our psychological experiences

  • we have edges of our awareness to detecting faint stimuli

    • absolute thresholds process minimum stimulation necessary to detect a particular light, sound, pressure, taste, or odor

    • 50% of the time we cannot detect this stimuli, known as subliminal stimuli

  • priming can be used with subliminal sensory inputs

  • perception is selective and subjective, depends on each person

Lesson 1 Focus Questions

  • explain the difference between sensation and perception

  • explain the difference between top-down and bottom-up processing

  • define perceptual set and identify examples

Sensory adaption

  • you become less aware of unchanging stimulus when constantly exposed to it

  • our eyes are always moving, so our visual receptors are constantly simulated by the constant changes

  • new info taken in by changes in sensory inputs are what constantly capture our attention and shape our experiences

  • we perceive the world not exactly as it is, but as useful as it is for us to perceive it

Perceptual set

  • expectations for what we will perceive affect top-down processing, and determine what we hear, taste, feel and see

  • we can hear/see different things based on what we expected to see/hear in those contexts

  • cultural background is an example of what creates and influences our perceptual set

Context, Motivation, and Emotion

  • context of a situation, different prompts, a fuller picture, and cultural context/backgrounds all influence perceptual set

  • motivation influences perceptual set

    • a long walk seems longer when you’re tired, a ball seems bigger when you have to hit it, water seems closer when you’re thirsty

  • emotional state at the time can influence the assumptions you make

    • hearing/reading/interpreting things as grim or hopeless when you’re sad

  • all are forms of top-down processing, where the brain influence how we perceive things based on its own assumptions

Lesson 2 Focus Questions

  • how do threshold, adaptation, and signal detection impact our perception of the world around us?

PM

David Meyers Psychology Textbook - Chapter 6: Sensation and Perception

Basic Concepts of Sensation and Perception

How it works

  • sensation and perception are used to intake sensory stimuli and use it to recognize meaningful objects and events

  • sensory systems convert one form of energy into another

    • vision processes light waves, hearing processes sound waves

  • all senses

    • receive sensory stimulation, often using specialized receptors

    • transform that stimulation into neural impulses

    • deliver the neural info to the brain

  • field of psychophysics studies relationships between the physical energy we can detect and its effects on our psychological experiences

  • we have edges of our awareness to detecting faint stimuli

    • absolute thresholds process minimum stimulation necessary to detect a particular light, sound, pressure, taste, or odor

    • 50% of the time we cannot detect this stimuli, known as subliminal stimuli

  • priming can be used with subliminal sensory inputs

  • perception is selective and subjective, depends on each person

Lesson 1 Focus Questions

  • explain the difference between sensation and perception

  • explain the difference between top-down and bottom-up processing

  • define perceptual set and identify examples

Sensory adaption

  • you become less aware of unchanging stimulus when constantly exposed to it

  • our eyes are always moving, so our visual receptors are constantly simulated by the constant changes

  • new info taken in by changes in sensory inputs are what constantly capture our attention and shape our experiences

  • we perceive the world not exactly as it is, but as useful as it is for us to perceive it

Perceptual set

  • expectations for what we will perceive affect top-down processing, and determine what we hear, taste, feel and see

  • we can hear/see different things based on what we expected to see/hear in those contexts

  • cultural background is an example of what creates and influences our perceptual set

Context, Motivation, and Emotion

  • context of a situation, different prompts, a fuller picture, and cultural context/backgrounds all influence perceptual set

  • motivation influences perceptual set

    • a long walk seems longer when you’re tired, a ball seems bigger when you have to hit it, water seems closer when you’re thirsty

  • emotional state at the time can influence the assumptions you make

    • hearing/reading/interpreting things as grim or hopeless when you’re sad

  • all are forms of top-down processing, where the brain influence how we perceive things based on its own assumptions

Lesson 2 Focus Questions

  • how do threshold, adaptation, and signal detection impact our perception of the world around us?

robot