SENSATION AND PERCEPTION

Sensation is awareness or a mental process which is aroused because of the stimulation of a sense organ. It is a
one stage process in which a sensory surface is stimulated and a sensation results. Sensation is a prerequisite to
perception. A thorough knowledge of the sensory processes will help you understand perception better.
Perception depends on learning the relations between various sensory experiences. For example a child sees a
helicopter as almost close to touch, but you who are older perceive it as far away. Furthermore perceptions are based
both on what the perceiver does and what the object is moving because of the movement of your eye muscle.

Acquiring Sensory Awareness

The stimulation of a receptor is the first essential condition to have a sensory experience. This means that a
stimulus is applied to a receptor organ.

Stimulus- is anything which rouses a sense organ to activity.

- May be in the form of physical energy (heat, light, sound, pressure), chemical form (substance that
you smell or taste)
Sense organs receptors in our body, doorways of the body
Receptor organ a highly specialized part of the body and is selectively sensitive to a definite stimulus

The second condition is the presence of a receptor cell. In the process of sensation, receptor cells in the
sense organ detect stimuli from the environment and transmit information to the appropriate areas of the
brain.
As soon as the sense receptor is stimulated by a stimulus, such as whisper to the ear, the third essential
condition that you need to experience a sensation is that the stimulus must be transformed into a code of
electrochemical impulses which travel to the brain.

Absolute Threshold
The absolute threshold is the point where something becomes noticeable to our senses. It is the softest
sound we can hear or the slightest touch we can feel. Anything less than this goes unnoticed. The absolute
threshold is therefore the point at which a stimuli goes from undetectable to detectable to our senses.

Difference Threshold
Once a stimulus becomes detectable to us, how do we recognize if this stimulus changes. When we
notice the sound of the radio in the other room, how do we notice when it becomes louder. Its conceivable
that someone could be turning it up so slightly that the difference is undetectable. The difference threshold
is the amount of change needed for us to recognize that a change has occurred. This change is referred to
as the Just Noticeable Difference.
This difference is not absolute, however. Imagine holding a five pound weight and one pound was
added. Most of us would notice this difference. But what if we were holding a fifty pound weight? Would
we notice if another pound were added? The reason many of us would not is because the change required
to detect a difference has to represent a percentage. In the first scenario, one pound would increase the
weight by 20%, in the second, that same weight would add only an additional 2%. This theory, named after
its original observer, is referred to as Webers Law.

Signal Detection Theory

Have you ever been in a crowded room with lots of people talking? Situations like that can make it
difficult to focus on any particular stimulus, like the conversation we are having with a friend. We are often
faced with the daunting task of focusing our attention on certain things while at the same time attempting
to ignore the flood of information entering our senses. When we do this, we are making a determination as
to what is important to sense and what is background noise. This concept is referred to as signal detection
because we attempt detect what we want to focus on and ignore or minimize everything else.

Sensory Adaptation
The last concept refers to stimuli which has become redundant or remains unchanged for an extended
period of time. Ever wonder why we notice certain smells or sounds right away and then after a while they
fade into the background? Once we adapt to the perfume or the ticking of the clock, we stop recognizing it.
This process of becoming less sensitive to unchanging stimulus is referred to as sensory adaptation, after all,
if it doesnt change, why do we need to constantly sense it?

System Sense Organs Sense Transducers Stimuli

1. Vision Eyes Seeing Retina Light waves
2. Auditory Ears Hearing Cochlea Sound waves
3. Olfaction Nose Smelling Olfactory Chemical Substance
 Epithelium ( Odors)
4. Gustation Tongue Taste Papillae Chemical Substance
in Foods
5. Skin Skin Feeling Skin receptors Pain, Textures and
Temperatures
6. Proprioceptive Muscles (body) Vestibular and Balance and Movement and
Kinesthetic Movement Body Postures

PERCEPTION

- A mental process that elaborates and assigns meaning to the incoming sensory patterns.
- The primary process by which we obtain knowledge about the world we live in
- An active process of extracting information from the impingements of energy on our sense organs. When
we perceive, we interpret, organize, and often elaborate on the raw materials of sensation

Process of Perception

First, physical stimulation is transduced by the eye, where information about wavelength and intensity of
light is coded into neural signals.
Second, the neural messages travel to the sensory cortex of the brain, where they become sensations of
color, brightness, form and movement.
Finally, the process of perception interprets these sensations by making connections with memories,
expectations, emotions, and motives in other parts of the brain.

Functions of Perception

1. Localization or determining where objects are

2. Recognition or discerning what objects are
3. Keeping the appearance of objects constant even if the images are changing

Attributes of Perception

1. Perception is limited to sensory discrimination.

a. Condition of the organism illness, fatigue, intoxication, trauma, acute sleep deprivation, severe food or
water deprivation, drugs and congenital disorders or traumatic brain injury
b. Properties of stimulus size, proximity, illumination, pitch, loudness and timbre
2. Perception is selective and subjective
a. External Factors intensity and size, contrast, repetition and movement
b. Internal Factors psychological factors: motivation, expectations, emotion, experience, culture and
individual differences
3. Perception is constant
 a. Size constancy
b. Lightness constancy
c. Color constancy
d. Shape constancy
e. Location constancy
4. Perception has organizing tendencies

Law of Pragnanz- by Kurt Koffka states that of several geometrically possible organizations, what we will be
perceived is the best, simplest, and most stable shape.
a. Figure and Ground
- A figure is simply a pattern or image that grabs our attention. Everything else becomes ground, the
backdrop against which we perceive the figure.

b. Grouping
Gestalts laws of grouping
1. Similiarity objects similar to each other tend to be seen as a part of the same pattern
2. Proximity objects near each other tend to be seen as a unit
3. Continuity objects arranged in either a straight line or a smooth curve also tend to be seen as a unit
4. Closure even when a figure has a gap, we tend to perceive it as a closed, complete figure
5. Common fate when objects move in the same direction, we tend to see them as a unit.
6. Simplicity people tend to group elements that combine to form a good figure

Top-down processing

- Our goals, past experience, knowledge, expectations, memory, motivations, or cultural background guide
our perceptions of objects or events. Top refers to a mental set in the brain which stands at the top
of the perceptual processing system.

Bottom-up processing

- The characteristics of the stimulus exert a strong influence on our perceptions. Bottom refers to stimulus,
which occurs at step one of perceptual processing.

Errors in Perception

Illusion occurs when you have a demonstrably incorrect perception of a stimulus pattern, especially one
that fools others who are observing the stimulus
Delusions false beliefs organized from both perception and memory
Hallucinations impressions of sensory vividness arising from the inner, mental factors. Includes imagining,
hearing, or sensing what is not present or actually occurring at the same time
Extrasensory Perception (ESP) perception that does not involve the stimulation of the five senses
Telepathy though transference from one person to another; mind-to-mind communication
Clairvoyance clear sighted or clear vision. Ability to see things without making use of the sense of
sight
Precognition ability to accurately predict future events
Psychokinesis or Telekinesis ability to move things by mentally willing them to move without
physically touching them

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PSYCHOLOGY 1 Fathma Sonnaya M. Minaga, Rpm