Sensation and Perception

Chapter 4
 Defining Sensation and Perception
How we view the world depends on our sensory system that
processes incoming information.

Sensation is the process of detecting, converting, and

transmitting raw sensory information from the external and
internal environments of the brain
A stimulated receptor, such as eyes or ears, creates a
pattern of neural messages that represent the stimulus in
the brain, giving rise to our initial experience of the
stimulus
Changes stimulation, sound, light, touch, into a form the
brain can understand, neural signals
 Defining Sensation and Perception (2)
Perception is the mental process that selects, organizes and
assigns meaning to the incoming sensory patterns
Creates an interpretation of sensation
 Processing Sensation
The brain never receives stimulation directly from the
outside world.
Senses the world indirectly
Sense organs convert stimulation
Neural messages, language of the Nervous System
3 attributes common to all senses
Transduction
Sensory adaptation
Thresholds
Determine
Which stimuli will actually become sensation
What the quality and impact of that sensation will be
Whether it grabs our interest
 Processing Sensation (2)
Transduction is the process that converts physical energy
into neural signals
Sensory pathway of the thalamus to sensory processing
areas in the brain
Brain extracts information, such as, intensity, pitch,
direction, etcetera
Sensory Adaption is the loss of responsiveness in receptor
cells after stimulation has remained unchanged for a while
Stimulus detectors
Announce changes in the outside world
Quantity of incoming sensation could be overwhelming;
hence, sensory system adapts
 Processing Sensation (3)
Thresholds
2 types
Absolute threshold is the minimum amount of energy
needed to produce a sensory experience
Difference threshold is the smallest physical difference
between 2 stimuli that can still be recognized as a
difference
Just Noticeable Difference or JND
Proportional to the intensity of the stimulus, Weber’s Law
Large JND, stimulus intensity is high
Small JND, stimulus intensity is low
We are built to detect changes in stimulation and
relationships among stimuli.
 Processing Sensation (4)
Psychophysics
Study of the link between physical characteristics of stimuli
and the psychological experiences of them
 How We See
Vision
Eye gathers light, focuses it, converts it to neural signals,
sends signals for processing into the visual image
Transduction
It occurs in the retina, light-sensitive layer of cells at
back of eye
Photoreceptors, light-sensitive cells or neurons in the
retina, convert light energy into neural impulses
2 types
Rods, detect low intensities of light at night
Dark adaptation
Cones, sensitive to bright light
 How We See (2)
Light adaptation
Specialized to detect light waves sensed as blue, red or
green
Concentrated in the center of the retina, which is the
fovea, which gives us our sharpest vision
Bipolar cells
Collect impulses from many photoreceptors and shuttle
them to ganglion cells
Axons of bundled ganglion cells form the optic nerve
Optic nerve transfers visual information from the eye to the
brain
Blind spot, part of retina with no receptors
 How we See (3)
Point where optic nerve exits each eye causing a gap in
the visual field
Other eye registers what the first eye missed
Brain fills in the spot with information that matches
background
Processing Visual Stimulation
Visual cortex, located in occipital lobe
Creates visual images from the information imported via
the optic nerve
Transforms incoming neural impulses into visual sensations
Such as, color, form, boundary, movement and so forth
 How We See (4)
Assembles the two-dimensional patterns from each eye
into three-dimensional depth
Combines visual sensations with memories, motives,
emotions, sensations of body position, and touch
Create a visual representation, what we see
Color Perception
Color is a psychological property of our sensory experience.
Color is a sensation that the brain creates
Based on the wavelength of light striking our eyes
Recoded by photoreceptors in the form of neural impulses
and sent to specialized areas of the brain for sensory
processing
 How We See (5)
Electromagnetic energy are waves that move at the
speed limit of light, which is 670 million MPH
Waves of wavelengths differ as they travel one
wave cycle and vibrate in space; the light we see
occupies a tiny segment of the electromagnetic
spectrum, called the visible spectrum
Two ways of sensing colors
Within the visible spectrum, light waves of different wavelengths
give rise to different colors: longer lengths are red; medium
lengths are yellow and green; shorter lengths are blue
Color processing begins in the retina
Trichromatic Theory
Earliest or initial stage of color vision
 How we See (6)
Three different types of cones sense different parts of the
visible spectrum
Red, green, and blue wavelengths
Opponent-Process Theory
Picks up from Trichromatic Theory, the afterimages
From bipolar cells onward, visual system processes color in
either-or complimentary pairs
Red or green
Yellow or blue
In all subsequent layers of the visual system, the sensation
of a certain color, such as red, inhibits the sensation of its
complimentary color, which is green
 How We See (7)
Combination of 2 primary colors yields the complement of a
third color
Color Blindness
Color deficiency to color blindness
Most people perceive 3 different colors: red, green, and
blue; they are called Trichromats
Color deficiency is a weakness
Causes minor problems in distinguishing colors
About 8% of males in the U.S.
Rare for women
Dichromats are those who perceive only 2 colors
 How We See (8)
Color blindness is the total inability to distinguish colors
500 cases ever reported
Monochromats are those who are sensitive to only the
black-white system
Color blind
 Hearing
Audition is the sense or act of hearing
It is an auditory process
How Sound Waves are Produced
2 physical properties of sound wave determine how it will be
sensed by the brain
Frequency is the number of vibrations or cycles the wave
completes in a given amount of time
Expressed in cycles per second (cps) or hertz (Hz)
Amplitude measures the physical strength of the sound
wave
Defined in units of sound pressure or energy
 Hearing (2)
How We Hear Sound Waves
Waves must be transduced into neural impulses
4 steps
Step 1
Airborne sound waves must be relayed to the inner ear
Vibrating waves of air enter outer ear, the pinna, and
strike the eardrum, the tympanic membrane
Tympanic membrane transmits vibrations to 3 tiny
bones located in the middle ear
Hammer, anvil, and stirrup
Pass the vibrations to the primary hearing organ, the
cochlea, located in the inner ear
The cochlea is filled with fluid
 Hearing (3)
Step 2
The cochlea focuses the vibrations on the basilar
membrane
The stirrup vibrates against the oval window at the base of the
cochlea
Vibrations set the fluid into wave motion
Fluid wave spreads through cochlea causing a sympathetic
vibration in the basilar membrane, the thin strip of tissue
running through the cochlea
 Hearing (4)
Step 3
The basilar membrane converts the vibrations into neural
messages:
Tiny hair cells on the vibrating basilar membrane stimulates
sensory nerve endings connected to the hair cells
Excited neurons transform the mechanical vibrations of the
basilar membrane into neural activity
Step 4
Finally, the neural messages travel to the auditory cortex
Neural signals leave the cochlea in a bundle of neurons, the
auditory nerve
Neurons from 2 ears meet in brain stem
Signals arrive in auditory cortex for higher-order processing
 Hearing (5)
How Do We Distinguish Sounds?
Sensations of pitch
Pitch, the highness or lowness of sound
Determined by frequency of sound wave
Human sensitivity to sound spans a limited range of the
sound waves
From frequencies as low as 20cps to as high as 20,000 cps
Dogs on higher end; elephants on lower end
2 auditory processes share in the production of pitch
Place theory
Frequency theory
 Hearing (6)
Sound waves pass through inner ear, basilar membrane
vibrates different frequencies activating different locations
on the basilar membrane; pitch depends, in part, on which
region of basilar membrane receives the greatest
stimulation
Place theory
Different places on the basilar membrane send neural codes
for different pitches to the auditory cortex
Neurons on the basilar membrane respond with different
firing rates for different sound wave frequencies, frequency
theory
Between 1000 and 5000 Hz, which is the range of human
speech, hearing is based on both place and frequency
 Hearing (7)
The auditory canal is shaped to amplify sounds within
this speech range.
Volley principle for hearing
Clusters of neurons take turns firing in a sequence
of rhythmic volleys
Pitch perception depends upon the frequency of
volleys, rather than the frequency carried by
individual neurons
Sensations of Loudness
Loudness is determined by the physical strength or amplitude of a
sound
More intense sound waves, a shout or scream,
produce louder sounds
Less intense sound waves, a whisper, produce soft
sounds
 Hearing (8)
Loudness is a psychological sensation
Sound intensity is measured in units called decibels (dB)

Sensations of Timbre
Timbre is the pureness of the quality of sound

Hearing Loss
Conduction hearing loss, also called conduction deafness
Results from problems with the mechanical system that
conducts sound waves to the cochlea
Sensorineural hearing loss, also called nerve deafness
Results from damage to the cochlea’s receptor cells or to the
auditory nerve
Causes:
Disease
Aging, biological changes
Continuous exposure to loud noise; it is preventable
 Smell and Taste
Chemical senses
Rely on chemoreceptors, sensitive to certain chemical
molecules
Smell
Odors interact with receptor proteins associated with
specialized nose hairs
Stimulated nerve cells convey information to brain’s olfactory bulbs
Located on the underside of brain, below frontal lobes
Possess more than 1,000 types of olfactory receptors
Detect more than 10,000 distinct smells
Taste, also called gustation
Works in cooperation with smell
 Smell and Taste (2)
Receptor cells are the taste buds
Located at the top and side of tongue
Cluster in small mucous-membrane projections, called papillae
Density of papillae determines sensitivity to taste sensations
Taste messages carried to specialized region of parietal lobe’s
somatosensory cortex
5 distinct tastes
Sweet, sour, salty, bitter, umami, which is delicious and savory
Taste receptors can be damaged by
Alcohol, smoke, acids, hot foods
Taste and smell receptors are frequently replaced
Taste is most resistant of all senses to permanent damage
Learning and Culture
Food and taste preferences are influenced by
Personal learning experiences
Culture
 Smell and Taste (3)
Pheromones
Chemical signals released by organisms that trigger certain
responses, such as aggression or sexual mating, in other members
of the same species
 Body Senses
Different regions of the brain, when activated, produce
different sensations.
The senses are built to be especially sensitive to changes in
stimulation.
Vestibular sense
Sense of body position that orients us to gravity
Posture, movement, changing motion
Receptors are tiny hairs in the semicircular canals of inner
ear
Connects to processing regions in the parietal lobes
Kinesthetic Sense
Sense of body position and movement which keeps
 Body Senses (2)
track of body parts relative to each other
Examples: crossed legs or arms, hand closest to object
Receptors are found in joints, muscles, tendons
Connects to processing regions in the parietal lobes
 Skin Senses
Skin
Helps protect against surface injury
Holds in body fluids
Helps regulate body temperature
Contains nerve endings
When stimulated, come in contact with external objects, it
produces sensations of touch, warmth, cold
Skin senses connected to somatosensory cortex in the
parietal lobe
Skin sensitivity varies over the body
Depends upon # of receptors in each area
Face, tongue, hands have most receptors
 Skin Senses (2)
Pain
Can arise from intense stimulation of various kinds, such as
loud noise, heavy pressure, extremely bright light, etcetera
Not merely the result of stimulation, can arise in the brain
itself
Gate-Control Theory
Pain depends on the amount of traffic in two different
sensory pathways carrying information from sense organs to
the brain
Fast fibers, neurons with a fatty myelin covering on axons
Handles messages quickly
Deliver most sensory information to brain
 Skin Senses (3)
Slow fibers, do not have fatty coverings on axons
Send messages slowly
Carry the more intense pain messages
Fast fibers block pain messages from slow fibers
Combining information from the 2
This is what we experience
Gate operates in brain stem region called the
periaqueductal gray
Pain signals are routed to the anterior cingulate
cortex
Located at fissure separating frontal lobes
 Understanding Perception
Perception brings meaning to sensation; interpretation of
the world
Process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting incoming
sensations into useful mental representations of the world
Perceptual Processing: Finding Meaning in Sensation
Selection
Selective attention
Process of filtering out and attending only to important
sensory messages
Feature detectors
Specialized group of brain cells which detect specific
stimulus features, such as length, slant, color, boundary
 Understanding Perception (2)
Habituation
Brain’s reduced responsiveness due to repeated
stimulation of the same receptors
Organization
Gestalt principles
Emphasizes nature
Innate structure of brain helps in organizing incoming
stimulation into meaningful perceptual patterns
Figure and Ground
Figure is the pattern that grabs the attention
Ground is the backdrop against which the figure is
perceived
 Understanding Perception (3)
Gestalt Laws of Perceptual Grouping
How do we pull together, in our minds, the separate
stimulus elements that seem to belong together?
Law of similarity, group things together that have a similar look,
sound, feel, etcetera
Law of proximity (Wertheimer), group things together that are near
each other
Law of continuity, prefer smoothly connected and continuous figures
to disjointed ones
Closure: Filling in the Blanks
See incomplete figures as wholes by supplying missing
segments
 Understanding Perception (4)
Filling in gaps
Making inferences about potentially hidden objects
Depth perception
Some ability for depth perception is innate or genetically
programmed as seen in early development, Visual Cliff
Other depth cues must be learned
Binocular cues
Involves 2 eyes
Binocular convergence
The lines of vision from each eye converge at
different angles on objects at different distances
Retinal disparity is the difference in perspectives of
the 2 eyes
 Understanding Perception (5)
Monocular cues
Information relying on the input of one eye
Linear perspective
Interposition
Relative size
Texture gradient
Aerial perspective
Light and shadow
Relative height
Accommodation of the lens
 Understanding Perception (6)
Perceptual constancy
Ability to recognize the same object as remaining
constant, like color, size, and shape, under different
conditions, such as illumination, distance, and location
Interpretation
Explaining and making judgments about the external world
Perceptual set
Readiness or expectation to detect a particular stimulus in
a given context
Bottom-up processing, also called stimulus driven
processing
 Understanding Perception (7)
Characteristics of a stimulus determine how it will be
perceived
Sensory data sent upward to the cortex where it is
analyzed
Top-down processing, also called conceptually –driven
processing
Perceiver’s goals, past experience, knowledge, memory,
motivations, or cultural background influences his or her
interpretation of an event
Occurs at the highest level of the cerebral cortex
Both processes occur simultaneously, complimenting each
other
 Understanding Perception (8)
Illusion
The mind deceives you by interpreting a stimulus pattern in
a manner that is demonstrably incorrect
More likely to occur when
Stimulus is unclear
Information is missing
Elements are combined in unusual ways
Familiar patterns are not apparent
Science and ESP
Pseudopsychology
Pseudo means false
Based on common beliefs, folk wisdom, superstitions
Sixth Sense?
 Understanding Perception (9)
Extrasensory perception or ESP
Telepathy, ability to read other people’s mind
Clairvoyance, ability to perceive objects or events that are
inaccessible to normal senses
Precognition, ability to predict the future
Psychokinesis, ability to move or affect objects without
touching them
Findings have not held up to intense scrutiny; debunked
Failure of replication
Why believe?
Illogical or noncritical thinking
Fallacy of positive instances or confirmation
bias