PSY 111: Introduction to Psychology (Module 5)
MODULE 5: SENSATION AND PERCEPTION
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
• Familiarized themselves with the different sense organs which are responsible for sensory experience
• Identified the different receptors and their functions
• Understood the nature of perception
CONTENT:
A person becomes aware of the beauty of the world – the smell of flowers, the freshness of the cool
air, the warmth of the sun and the colors of the rainbow through the senses. He then starts to perceive.
Perception and sensation are closely related. Sensation is the process of receiving sense
impressions. It makes a person aware that there are objects around whereas perception is the process of sorting
out, interpreting, organizing and integrating sense impressions. It relates to an individual the what, where and
how things are interpreted. Some people find difficulty in distinguishing these two processes. If one considers for
instance sensation, one might ask whether someone recognizes the stimulus and what it means to that same
person. Perception depends on the sensory stimuli, past experiences, present feelings, desires, attitudes and
goals. But one has to pay attention to those perceived sensations.
Types of Perception
Gestalt Law of Organization
Gestalt Law of organization maintains that the basic perceptual process operates on the basis of a
series of principles that describe how to organize bits and pieces of information into a unified whole which
includes closure, proximity, similarity, simplicity, and continuity.
Law of Closure. Closure states that when a figure has a gap, one tends to see it as closed or
complete.
Figure A Figure B Figure C
Figures A, B and C are open or incomplete. Yet they are perceived as closed or complete. Perception
of closure is to close or complete the figures mentally.
Law of Proximity. This is the tendency to group together those elements that are close together.
Other tends, to see pairs of dots rather than a row of single dots
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PSY 111: Introduction to Psychology (Module 5)
Law of Similarity. The tendency to group together those elements that are similar in appearance falls
under the law of similarity.
One sees the above figures as horizontal rows of circles and squares instead of vertical mixed
columns.
Law of Continuity. The tendency not to break the continuous flow of lines or design in one’s
perceptional awareness allows continuity.
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PSY 111: Introduction to Psychology (Module 5)
Simplicity. The tendency to perceive a pattern in the most basic, straightforward, organized manner possible is
simplicity.
The above figure is seen as a square joined by two lines rather than letter “W” on top of letter “M”. Having
choice in interpretation, one usually prefer the simple one. (Feldman, ’93)
Other Types of Perception
Visual Perception. Visual perception depends on one’s physiological and psychological cues. The
physiological cues are directly related to the adjustment of the eyes.
Illusions. Illusions are perceptions of appearance, a sound or other sensory experiences which at
times do not correspond to realities. These are false or distorted perceptions which can be erroneous, therefore
illusions are misperceptions of the eyes. The following are some optical or visual illusion.
Illusion of Length
By Muller – Lyer
(a) (b)
Figure (a) and (b) are of the same length, yet (a) seem shorter while (b) seems longer.
Illusion in Motion Pictures. Those who usually watch movies have the idea that the figures on the screen
move. Actually the figures on the screen do not move but they appear to be moving because of the speed in
which a series of slightly various still pictures flashed on the silver screen and the eyes see these as movement.
The movement is in one’s perception not on the screen.
Auditory Perception. Auditory perception is the interpretation of sound. It is concerned with the location and
source of sound. It is concerned with the location and source of sound. There are two things to consider in
terms of sound – the distance and direction. As a rule, the nearer the source, the louder the sound. However,
some allowance should be made, because when this is misperceived the distance cannot be correctly
estimated. For example the buzzing of the bees just nearby maybe perceived as a strange sound at a distance.
The pureness of tone is, likewise, a distance sign since sounds are less complex at far distance. Also location
of the direction of familiar sound depends to a large extent to our previous experiences. For instance, when one
hears a jet plane the tendency is to look up. Sound waves generally do not strike both ears at the same time.
The ear nearer the sound will catch the sound first.
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PSY 111: Introduction to Psychology (Module 5)
Haptic Perception. Haptic is a Greek word (Haphe) meaning sense of touch. This is the earliest sense to
develop in fetus, and the development of other senses like vision.
Haptic perception is the human ability to experience and interpret things based on touch and movement. It is a
category of sensation.
Quality – a judge in a cooking contest runs their hands across the bread to judge the quality of its softness.
Tactile – A person reads braille by moving their fingers across a surface.
Perception of Time. It is said that time can be perceived either longer or shorter. When one is busy and deeply
engrossed in his work, time seem to be shorter. But when one is not doing anything, or waiting for someone or
something, or the work he is engaged in is boring, time is perceived to be longer. One oftentimes hears this
expression the “eternity of waiting” or the “longest hour”, the “longest minute”, or the “longest day”. When one is
having an enjoyable company, it seems the time is too short but when one is in pain, time seems to be too long.
Special Kinds of Perception
There are special kinds of perception that some people possess. These are called extrasensory
perceptions (ESP) or sixth sense. Extrasensory perception comes into many forms. The more common of which
are telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, and psychokinesis.
Telepathy is the transfer of thought from one person to another without the regular use of the senses.
Clairvoyance is the ability to see without the use of the eyes and can reveal information that may
have not been received by ordinary or regular sensation.
Psychokinesis is the ability to make object move by thought process alone.
Some psychologists believe that everyone has this extrasensory perception or ESP but it has to be
scientifically developed and tested.
CONDITIONS FOR SENSORY AWARENESS
1. Stimulation of a sensory receptor to have a sensory experience. An appropriate receptor organ will
respond to physical energy like heat, sound, light, pain, and pleasure. Our receptor organs are sense
organs (eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin).
2. The presence of receptor cells that are found in each sense organs. These receptor cells receive the
information from the environment and transmit the information to the appropriate areas in the brain.
3. The stimulus is then converted into electrical impulses through a process known as transduction.
THE DIFFERENT SENSE ORGANS AND THEIR RECEPTOR CELLS
SENSE ORGAN THE VARIOUS SENSES RECEPTOR CELLS
Eyes Sight Rods and cones in the retina
Ears Hearing Hair cells in the organ of Corti
Tongue Gustatory Taste cells in the taste buds
Nose Olfactory Olfactory epithelium cells
Skin Pressure, pain, warmth and cold Subcutaneous adipose tissues
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PSY 111: Introduction to Psychology (Module 5)
The Eyes and Visual Sensation
The eyes give the sense of
vision which allows one to see the
world. In this regard, one has to
consider the stimulus that produces
vision which is light. The eyes react to
light which causes visual sensation.
The eyes are ball –shaped so
that they move in different directions. It
is found within a bony cavity called eye
socket. The eyeball has three coats.
Sclerotic coat is a bulging
though white membrane that forms the cornea. The cornea is a transparent protective window into the eyeball.
Choroid coat. The front part of the choroid is the iris. The iris is the colored part of the eyes. The color
of the iris depends on the human race whether, brown, blue, green, gray or even violet
At the middle of the iris is a dark hole called pupil, it is where the light enters. The size of the pupil
opening depends on the amount of light in the environment. Dark light in the surrounding makes the pupil open
wider to allow more light to enter.
Once light passes through the pupil, it enters the lens which is located behind the pupil. The lens act
to bend rays of light to focus them on the retina.
Nervous Coat. The nervous coat or Retina is the inner coat of the eye ball. It receives stimuli in the
form of light and performs visual function.
Retina. The retina is the innermost coat which contains the true receptor cells. These are the rods
and cones. The rods are long and cylindrical while the cones are short, thick and tapered. The rods and cones
are distributed unevenly throughout the retina.
The center of the retina is the fovea centralis which is the point of the clearest vision in the daylight.
The fovea centralis is a very sensitive region of the retina. There is a great concentration of cones in the fovea
centralis. The cones become fewer and the rods become numerous towards the periphery or edge. At the
center of the periphery, there are more rods and fewer cones. Farther away from the fovea, are fewer cones but
more rods.
Cones and rods differ not only in structures but also in functions. The rods are responsible for twilight
vision or light of low intensity while the cones are responsible for daylight vision and colors. Nocturnal animals,
like the owls or bats, have only rods. That is the reason why they come out only at night. Chicken on the other
hand have only cones so they have to roost at twilight. (Amparo, Tuason ’92)
Color Vision and Night Blindness. There are people who have limited perception of light and colors.
People who find difficulty in seeing light or object at night are called night – blind because they have defective
rods. Night blindness results from deficiency in the pigmentation layer in the retina which supplies rhodopsin or
reddish purple substance that changes when energized by light causing chemical reaction. Deficiency in vitamin
A causes the rhodopsin in the retina to lose its regenerative power. Night blindness can be corrected by taking
large doses of vitamin A. Vitamin A is richly found in green, leafy and yellow fruits and vegetables.
Color Blindness. There are people who cannot distinguish certain colors either totally or partially. This
condition is called color blindness.
Common Eye Deviations from Normal Vision. There are individuals who suffer defects from normal
visions.
• Myopia or Nearsightedness. This is caused by abnormal long eyeball so that the image is focused in
front of the retina. A myopic or nearsighted person cannot see objects at a far distance. They have to
use eyeglasses with concave lenses.
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PSY 111: Introduction to Psychology (Module 5)
• Hyperopia or Farsightedness. This happens when the eyeball is so short that the image is focused
behind the retina. A person with this defect cannot see effectively near objects. A hyperopic person
has to use eyeglasses with convex lenses to correct the condition.
• Presbyopia. This is farsightedness of old age which is caused by the slow hardening of the lens.
Since the eyes cannot see near object one has to put the object a little away from him in order to
visualize it. A presbyopic person has to use corrective eye glasses.
The Ears and the Auditory Sensation
The ears are the sense
organs for hearing and the
stimulus, to which it is sensitive, is
the sound wave which is caused
by the vibration of objects. Sound
has three features: loudness
(magnitude of the sound), pitch
(high or low) and timbre (the
quality of sound). The ears
consists of three parts: the outer
ear, middle ear and inner ear.
PARTS OF THE EAR
The outer ear or auricle known as pinna is the visible part of the ear that catches the sound and brings
this sound into the auditory canal down to the middle ear. The auditory canal is a tube – like passage in the
ear through which sound moves to the eardrum. The eardrum is a miniature (small) drum that vibrates when
sound waves hit it. The louder the sound the more it vibrates. The middle ear is a small chamber (room) which
has tiny bones called malleus or hammer, the incus or anvil and stapes or stirrup. The malleus or hammer
transfers vibration to the anvil or incus. The anvil or incus transfers vibration to the stirrup or stapes, and the
stirrup brings the vibration to the oval window. The oval window is a thin membrane between the middle ear
and the inner ear.
The inner ear is the component of the ear that actually changes the sound vibration into a form that
can be transmitted to the brain. When sound enters the inner ear through the oval window it moves to the
organ of corti within the cochlea. The cochlea is a coiled tube filled with fluid that looks like a snail. Inside the
cochlea is a basilar membrane. The basilar membrane is a structure that runs through the cortex of the
cochlea dividing it into the lower and upper chambers (rooms). The basilar membrane is covered with hair
cells. The hair cells are bent by the vibration entering the cochlea through a neural message or sound and are
transmitted to the brain.
It is said that not all sounds can be heard by the human ear. Generally, sound vibration with a
frequency of 20 – 20, 000 vibration per second can be heard by the human ear. Most animals can hear sounds
beyond this range. (Amparo – Tuazon ’92).
Hearing defects. There are some persons who suffer hearing defects which are organic in nature.
• Conductive Deafness is the result of disturbance in the conduction of air waves from the outer ear to
the inner ear. Defects of the small bones, (the oval window and basilar membrane) which amplify
sounds prevent the flow of vibration. This defect can be remedied by the use of hearing aid.
• Nerve Deafness is caused by the loss of sensitivity of the receptors. Injury or infection to the nerve
cells or auditory nerves may lead to partial or total deafness. When there is loss of sensitivity to some
sound frequency partial deafness may result. Total deafness cannot be helped by a hearing aid.
The Sense of Smell and Olfactory Receptors
It is said that smell is a distance sign and a sensitivity that informs a person on the presence of the
object before one has an actual contact with it. The sense of smell or olfactory receptor is located in the upper
part of the nasal cavities in a small space called olfactory receptor. There are large members of sensitive
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PSY 111: Introduction to Psychology (Module 5)
nerve endings known as olfactory bulbs. These receptors are very sensitive to gaseous elements. Here are
some classifications or qualities that describe odor or smell.
• Flowery scent – comes from blooming flowers such as sampaguita, rose, ilang – ilang, and other
fragrant flowers
• Ethereal – smells refer to perfume or cologne
• Fruity smell – is found in fruits like orange, mango and pineapple
• Spicy – emits from garlic, pepper, onions and mustard
• Resinous – is detected in turpentine, paint, varnish and lacquer
• Smoky or scorche – comes from burn paper, feather, leaves
• Putrid stink – results from salted fish like bagoong, buro, patis, decaying fish or meat.
There are some substances, however, that are combinations of two or more odors and they are quite
difficult to specify the common odor of alcohol, gasoline and methane.
Sensitivity to smell varies among people. Sense of smell is also adaptable. People working in paint factory,
garbage site and other places, where the smell is quite strong and unpleasant, become used to it after a long
exposure. The unpleasant, odor does not bother them anymore like it did before.
Some persons at times suffer loss or impairment of the sense of smell called anosmia. Severe cold may
result in partial anosmia. Some people have anosmia for certain odor but not for others. Smelling certain odor
may make the receptors insensitive to one odor but not to all odors. For example, after smelling paint for quite
sometime, a person may not be able to smell gasoline but can still smell betadine.
Test Receptors and Gustatory Sensations
The receptors cells for taste are
located in the taste buds which are
distributed across the tongue. However, the
distribution is uneven and certain areas of the
tongue are more sensitive to a particular
fundamental taste than others. There are tiny
hair cells within the taste buds. These hair
cells are connected to a nerve that reacts
when taste stimuli cut in the taste pores. The
taste receptors are sensitive to liquid. This
means that solid food maybe tasted only
when it has been dissolved whole or partly by
saliva.
There are four taste qualities: sweet, sour, bitter and salty. Generally, sweet is perceived at the tip of
the tongue, sour taste is found on the sides, bitter taste is at the back and salty is perceived in the entire area of
the tongue. Oftentimes, two or more primary tastes form a different one. Example, lemonade is a combination of
sweet and sour taste.
Of course, the sense of taste does not operate simply though the tongue, as anyone with stuffy nose
can tell. The smell, temperature, texture and appearance of food and drink all affect a person’s sense of taste.
One can say that there is a difference in taste between hot coffee, lukewarm coffee and cold coffee or even iced
coffee. Coffee, without its peculiar smell that comes from hot coffee does not taste like coffee at all. The
smoothness and roughness of the food alters the taste of the food to the tongue. Powdered sugar and
granulated sugar taste somewhat differently to some degree, although, both are sweet.
Some people have gustatory abnormalities, either they are insensitive to taste or have loss sensitivity to it. Loss
of taste or hypoguiea is generally accompanied by loss of smell or anosmia. Hypogueia and anosmia are
oftentimes caused by serious respiratory infections within the nasal passages which have been extremely
congested and obstructed. This condition may cause much suffering to the hypogensics. Most of these people
hate food because they are tasteless so that they lose much weight.
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PSY 111: Introduction to Psychology (Module 5)
Skin Receptors and Cutaneous Sensations
The sense organ involved in
the sense of touch is the skin. The
skin or cutaneous sensations
respond to touch, pressure,
warmth, cold and pain.
Psychologists say that pressure and
touch are the same but they actually
differ. If the skin feels an object on it,
the sensation aroused is touch while
if an object is pressed firmly against
the skin, the sensation aroused is
pressure. Pain and pressure are
referred to as tactual or tactile
experiences. Warmth and cold are
called thermal experiences. (Bustos, et.al. ’80)
The different parts of the body differ in their degree of sensibility to the various stimuli. Some parts are
more sensitive to touch while others are more sensitive to cold, pain, heat or pressure. This is because the skin
is composed of different layers namely:
• The epidermis or outer layer;
• The dermis or intermediate layer; and
• The adipose tissue or the deep layer
Sensitivity of the skin to the various stimulation is not equally distributed. Lips and fingertips are very
sensitive to touch and pressure. Skin tissue is sensitive to pain when pinched or pricked. The calf of
the leg is sensitive to cold so women wear nylon stockings to keep them warm.
Usually cold receptors respond to cold stimuli and warm receptors to hot stimuli. But there is an
exception to this reaction. The application of intense heat will stimulate the cold receptor and the
application of intense cold will stimulate the warmth receptor. (Amparo – Tuazon ’92)
REFERENCES:
Textbooks
Aguirre, Felisa U; Monce, Rosario E.(2008), Introduction to Psychology. Malabon City, Mutya Publishing House.
Frando M.F. (2014) General Psychology Simplified. Books Atbp. Publishing
King L.(2012), Experience Psychology: Second Edition.McGraw-Hill Higher Education
Rathus S., (2012) Sensation and Perception 2nd Edition,. Macmillan International Higher Education
Chance P.,( 2014). Learning and Behavior7th Edition . Cengage Learning
Birion J C., Austrias, M & De Jesus E. (2013) General Psychology., Mutya Publishing House Inc..
Website
Ostdick ,John H.,(2017) 11 Strategies for Managing Stress. Success Magazine: retrieved from
http://www.success.com/article/11-strategies-for-managing-stress
https://www.academia.edu/9551815/LECTURE_NOTES_For_Health_Science_Students_General_Psychology
https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_pink_on_motivation
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/waymaker-psychology/chapter/outcome-sensation-and-perception/
Online Video References:
Olfactory System: Anatomy and Physiology, Pathways, Animation. - YouTube
Anatomy of the Human Ear - YouTube
Structure of the Human eye | Don't Memorise - YouTube
Taste: Anatomy and Physiology, Animation - YouTube
The science of skin - Emma Bryce - YouTube
