Chapter 4:

Sensation and Perception

 Some Key Terms

• Perceptual Features: Basic stimulus patterns,

e.g. lines or colors
• Sensory Coding: Converting important
features of the world into neural messages
understood by the brain
• Sensory Localization: Type of sensations you
experience depends on which area of the
brain is activated
 General Properties of
Sensory Systems
• Sensation: Process of detecting physical
energies with sensory organs
• Perception: Mental process of organizing
sensations into meaningful patterns
 Vision: The Key Sense

• Visible Spectrum: Part of the electromagnetic

spectrum to which the eyes respond
 Parts of the Eye

• Lens: Structure in the eye that focuses light

rays
• Photoreceptors: Light-sensitive cells in the
eye
• Cornea: Transparent membrane covering the
front of the eye; bends light rays
 Retina

• Light-sensitive layer of cells at the back of the

eye
– Easily damaged from excessive exposure
to light (staring at an eclipse)
 Vision Problems

• Hyperopia: Difficulty focusing nearby objects

(farsightedness)
• Myopia: Difficulty focusing distant objects
(nearsightedness)
• Astigmatism: Corneal, lens, or eye defect that
causes some areas of vision to be out of
focus; relatively common
• Presbyopia: Farsightedness caused by aging
 Light Control

• Cones: Visual receptors for colors and bright

light (daylight); have 6.5 million
• Rods: Visual receptors for dim light; only
produce black and white; have 100 million
• Blind Spot: Area of the retina lacking visual
receptors
 Light Control Continued

• Visual Acuity: Sharpness of visual perception

• Fovea: Area of the retina containing only
cones
• Peripheral Vision: Vision at edges of visual
field; side vision
 Color Vision: Trichromatic Theory

• Color vision theory that states we have three

cone types: red, green, blue
– Other colors produced by a combination of
these
– Black and white produced by rods
 Color Vision:
Opponent Process Theory

• Color vision theory based on three “systems”:

red or green, blue or yellow, black or white
– Exciting one color in a pair (red) blocks the
excitation in the other member of the pair
(green)
– Afterimage: Visual sensation that remains
after stimulus is removed (seeing flashbulb
after the picture has been taken)
 Color Blindness

• Inability to perceive colors

– Total color blindness is rare
• Color Weakness: Inability to distinguish some
colors
– Red-green is most common; much more
common among men than women
• Ishihara Test: Test for color blindness and
color weakness
 Dark Adaptation

• Increased retinal sensitivity to light after

entering the dark; similar to going from
daylight into a dark movie theater
 Hearing

• Sound Waves: Rhythmic movement of air

molecules
• Pitch: Higher or lower tone of a sound
• Loudness: Sound intensity
 Parts of the Ear

• Pinna: Visible, external part of the ear

• Tympanic Membrane: Eardrum
• Auditory Ossicles: Three small bones that
vibrate; link eardrum with the cochlea
– Malleus aka hammer
– Incus aka anvil
– Stapes aka stirrup
 More Parts of the Ear

• Cochlea: Organ that makes up inner ear;

snail-shaped; organ of hearing
• Hair Cells: Receptor cells within cochlea that
transduce vibrations into nerve impulses
– Once dead they are never replaced
• Organ of Corti: Center part of the cochlea
containing hair cells, canals, and membranes
 How Do We Detect
Higher and Lower Sounds?

• Frequency Theory: As pitch rises, nerve

impulses of the same frequency flow into the
auditory nerve
• Place Theory: Higher and lower tones excite
specific areas of the cochlea
 Hearing Loss

• Conductive Hearing Loss: Poor transfer of

sounds from tympanic membrane to inner ear
– Compensate with amplifier (hearing aid)
• Sensorineural Hearing Loss: Caused by
damage to inner ear hair cells or auditory
nerve
– Hearing aids useless in these cases, since
auditory messages cannot reach the brain
– Cochlear Implant: Electronic device that
stimulates auditory nerves
 Noise Induced Hearing Loss

• Stimulation Deafness: Damage caused by

exposing hair cells to excessively loud
sounds
– Typical at rock concerts
– By age 65, 40% of hair cells are gone
 Smell and Taste

• Olfaction: Sense of smell

• Anosmia: Defective sense of smell
• Lock and Key Theory: Odors are related to
the shape of chemical molecules
 Gustation

• Gustation: Sense of taste

• Taste Buds: Taste-receptor organs
– Four Taste Sensations: sweet, salty, sour,
bitter
– Most sensitive to bitter, least sensitive to
sweet
– Umami: Possible fifth taste sensation;
brothy taste
 Somesthetic Senses

• Sensations produced by the skin, muscles,

joints, viscera, and organs of balance
• Skin Senses: Touch, pressure, pain, heat,
cold
• Kinesthetic: Detect body positioning and body
movement
• Vestibular: Balance, position in space, and
acceleration
 Pain

• Warning System: Pain carried by large nerve

fibers; sharp, bright, fast pain that tells you
body damage may be occurring (e.g., knife
cut)
• Reminding System: Small Nerve Fibers:
Slower, nagging, aching, widespread; gets
worse if stimulus is repeated; reminds system
that body has been injured
 Vestibular System

• Otolith Organs: Sensitive to movement,

acceleration, and gravity
• Semicircular Canals: Fluid-filled tubes in ears
that are sensory organs for balance
• Crista: “Float” that detects movement in
semicircular canals
 Vestibular System and
Motion Sickness

• Sensory Conflict Theory: Motion sickness

occurs because vestibular system sensations
do not match sensations from the eyes and
body
– After spinning and stopping, fluid in
semicircular canals is still spinning, but
head is not
– Mismatch leads to sickness
• Medications, relaxation, and lying down might
help
 Sensory Adaptation

• When sensory receptors respond less to

unchanging stimuli
 Sensory Gating

• When some incoming nerve impulses are

blocked while others are allowed to reach the
brain
 Selective Attention

• Voluntarily focusing on a specific sensory

input
 Gate Control Theory of Pain

• Gate Control Theory: Pain messages from

different nerve fibers pass through the same
“neural” gate in the spinal cord
– If gate is closed by one pain message,
other messages may not be able to pass
through
 Counterirritation

• When messages from large, fast nerve fibers

close spinal pain gate directly.
– This prevents slower, “reminding system”
pain from reaching the brain.
– Acupuncture’s efficacy may be explained
by this theory
 Perception: Some Key Terms

• Size Constancy: Perceived size of an object

remains the same, despite changes in its
retinal image
• Native Perception: A perceptual experience
based on innate processes
• Empirical Perception: A perception based on
prior experience
 Shape Constancy

• The perceived shape of an object unaffected

by changes in its retinal image
 Brightness Constancy

• Apparent brightness of an object stays the

same as long as it is illuminated by the same
amount of light
 Gestalt Organizing Principles

• Figure-Ground Organization: Inborn part of a

stimulus stands out as an object (figure)
against a less prominent background
(ground)
• Reversible Figure: Figure and ground that
can be switched
 Gestalt Organizing Principles
Continued
• Nearness: Stimuli that are near each other
tend to be grouped together
• Similarity: Stimuli that are similar in size,
shape, color, or form tend to be grouped
together
• Closure: Tendency to complete a figure so
that it has a consistent overall form
 Gestalt Organizing Principles
Continued

• Contiguity: Nearness in time and space;

perception that one thing has caused another
• Common Region: Stimuli that are found
within a common area tend to be seen as a
group
 Depth Perception

• Ability to see three-dimensional space and to

accurately judge distances
• Depth Cues: Features of environment, and
messages, that supply information about
distance and space for the body
• Monocular Depth Cue: Depth cue that can be
sensed with one eye
• Binocular Depth Cue: Depth cue that can be
sensed with two eyes
 Depth Cues

• Retinal Disparity: Discrepancy in the images

that reach the right and left eyes
• Stereotopic Vision: Three-dimensional sight
• Convergence: Binocular cue; when you look
at something 50 feet or closer, your eyes
must turn in (converge) to focus the object
• Accommodation: Bending of the lens of the
eye to focus on nearby objects
 Pictoral Cues for Depth

• Features found in paintings, drawings and

photographs that supply information about
space, depth, and distance
– Linear Perspective: Based on apparent
convergence of parallel lines in
environment
– Overlap (Interposition): When one object
partially blocks another
 More Pictoral Cues for Depth

– Texture Gradients: Texture changes can

contribute to depth perception; coarse
texture implies closeness, fine texture
implies distance
– Relative Motion (Motion Parallax): Nearby
objects move a lot as your head moves;
distant objects move slightly
 Some Illusions

• Moon Illusion: Apparent change in size that

occurs as the moon moves from the horizon
(large moon) to overhead (small moon)
• Apparent-Distance Hypothesis: Horizon
seems more distant than the night sky;
explanation for Moon Illusion
 Perceptual Learning

• Change in the brain that alters how we

process sensory information
• Perceptual Construction: Mental model of
external events
 Perceptual Expectancies (Set)

• Bottom-Up Processing: Analyzing information

starting at the bottom (small units) and going
upward to form a complete perception
• Top-Down Processing: Preexisting
knowledge that is used to rapidly organize
features into a meaningful whole
• Perceptual Set: Readiness to perceive in a
particular manner, induced by small
expectations
 Illusions

• Misleading or distorted perceptions

• Hallucination: When people perceive objects
or events that have no external basis in reality
• Reality Testing: Obtaining additional
information to check on the accuracy of
perceptions
• Muller-Lyer Illusion: Two equal-length lines
topped with inward or outward pointing V’s
appear to be of different length; based on
experience with edges and corners
 Parapsychology

• Study of ESP and other psi phenomena

(events that seem to defy accepted scientific
laws)
– Telepathy: Purported ability to
communicate directly with someone else’s
mind
– Clairvoyance: Purported ability to perceive
events in ways that appear unaffected by
distance or normal physical barriers
 More Parapsychology

• Precognition: Purported ability to accurately

predict the future
• Psychokinesis (Mind Over Matter): Purported
ability to influence inanimate objects by
willpower
 More ESP Issues

• Zener Cards: Deck of 25 cards, each having

one of five symbols
• Run of Luck: Statistically unusual outcome
that could occur by chance alone (e.g.,
getting five heads in a row, two jackpots
within six pulls of a slot machine)
 Stage ESP

• Simulation of ESP for entertainment purposes

• Conclusion: Existence of ESP has not been

scientifically demonstrated; positive results
are usually inconclusive and easily criticized
– In sum: Be skeptical! If it seems too good
to be true, it probably is!
 Some Factors Affecting the
Accuracy of Eyewitness Perceptions
• Post-Event Information: Testimony reflects
not only what was actually seen but also
information obtained later on.
• Attitudes and Expectations: May affect
eyewitness’s perception of events
• Cross-Racial Perceptions: Eyewitnesses are
better at identifying members of their own
race than of other races
 Some More Factors Affecting the
Accuracy of Eyewitness Perceptions

• Weapon Focus: Presence of a weapon

impairs eyewitness’s accuracy
• Accuracy-Confidence: Confidence is not a
good predictor of his/her accuracy
 More Factors Affecting the
Accuracy of Eyewitness Perceptions

• Exposure Time: Less time an eyewitness has

to observe an event, the less well s/he will
perceive and remember it
• Unconscious Transference: A culprit who is
identified may have been seen in another
situation or context
• Color Perception: Judgments of color made
under monochromatic light are very unreliable
• Stress: High levels impair accuracy
 Perceptual Awareness

• Habituation: Decrease in perceptual response

to a given stimulus
• Dishabituation: A reversal of habituation