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Sensation and Perception. Sensation and Perception. Transformation of stimulus energy into a meaningful understanding Each sense converts energy into awareness. Sensation. Detection and encoding of physical stimuli into neural signals Occurs at sensory receptors
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Sensation and Perception • Transformation of stimulus energy into a meaningful understanding • Each sense converts energy into awareness
Sensation • Detection and encoding of physical stimuli into neural signals • Occurs at sensory receptors • External stimuli correspond to sensory modalities • Light waves: ___________ • Sound waves : ___________ • Pressure, warmth, cold, pain : ___________ • Chemical messengers : _________&__________ • Body position and movement : _________&_________
Perception • Organization of sensory information into cognitive awareness environmental stimuli • Occurs in the cerebral cortex
Processing stimuli • Bottom-up processing • Scientific explanation • Begins with receptors and works up to integration • Top-down processing • Understanding stimuli based on prior experience and expectations • The brain will rapidly interpret stimuli based on their “most likely” explanation
Thresholds of sensation • Absolute threshold • Minimum stimulation needed to detect a stimulus 50% of the time • Difference threshold • Minimum difference between two stimuli that can be detected 50% of the time
Subliminal sensations • Sensations not strong enough to be perceived • May be processed sometimes • May result in understanding without conscious awareness • Blindsight • Useful persuasion method?
Sensory adaptation • Diminished sensitivity to a continuous stimulus • Allows for focus on relevant stimuli
Vision • Stimulus: visible light • Wavelength • Intensity
Vision • Receptive organ: the eye
Photoreceptors • Rods • Cones
Visual pathway • Optic nerve • Exits retina • Optic chiasm • Thalamus • Primary visual cortex
Processing visual stimuli • Feature detectors in the primary visual cortex respond to specific features in parallel • Form • Movement • Depth • Color • This information is passed to higher levels of cortical processing for integration
Perception of visual stimuli • Perception occurs in visual association areas in the occipital, parietal and temporal lobes
Color vision • Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory • Red, green, blue color receptors in the retina • Stimulation of one or many results in color sensation • Opponent-process theory • Colors are analyzed in terms of opponent colors • Red vs. Green • Yellow vs. Blue • Black vs. White • One color turns some cells “on” and other cells “off”
Psychology of visual perception • Top-down processing means that what we see is influenced by biological, psychological and socio-cultural factors Perceptions are the result of interpretations by an experienced brain!