Sensation

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Sensation Perception
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Sensation vs Perception

• Sensation detecting physical energy from the
  environment and encoding it as neural signals.
• Perception the process of selecting, organizing
  and interpreting our senses.
• Sensation is a bottom-up process
• Perception is a top-down process.

3
http//honolulu.hawaii.edu/distance/sci122/Program
s/p3/vasebach.html
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Video

• Lights, Camera, Magic!

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Thresholds

• Absolute Threshold when a stimulus is
  detectable 50 of the time minimum stimulation
  to detect a particular stimulus.
• Subliminal stimuli that are below threshold
  can only influence you in the short term and
  superficially.
• Just Noticeable Difference the minimum
  difference a person can tell between two things
  50 of the time.
• Sensory Adaptation occurs when stimulus doesnt
  change, so our sensitivity diminishes.

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Vision
P. 148
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Vision
P. 149
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Visual Activities

• Blind Spot
• Close one eye, extend index finger, and move hand
  around til it disappears.
• Hole in hand
• Roll up piece of paper, and put in front of one
  eye hold your flattened hand in front of the
  other.

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Visual Fields

• Left and Right Visual Fields each eye has both,
  they overlap, and give us 3-D Vision.
• www.eyetec.net/ group3/M11S1.htm

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Another Movie!

• Perception Inverted Vision

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Color Vision

• Three color theory Cones are sensitive to three
  wavelengths of light red, blue, green.
• Opponent process your brain adds yellow into
  the picture
• Context effects the whites of your eyes look
  whiter when you wear blue, but look yellow whey
  you wear yellow (P. 155).
• Color Constancy you see a tomato as red
  regardless of the context (P. 155).
• Wavelength hue Amplitude brightness/intensity
  (P. 147).

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Hearing

• Stimulus sound waves
• Damaged when sound gt85 decibels.
• Stereo-audition.
• Amplitude loudness
• frequency pitch
• Activity find a partner
• Locate sound.

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Hearing
P. 157
14
Touch

• Four sensations
• Pressure, warmth, cold, and pain
• Gate Control Theory only one sensation at a
  time pain travels on smaller fibers, other
  sensations on larger fibers action in large
  fibers blocks action in the small.
• Good Pain? Tells you when something is wrong.

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Pain

• Some people born with reduced ability to feel
  pain cannot detect hunger, broken bones, fever
• Blocking Pain
• Mind over matter (meditation, Lamaze)
• Acupuncture and counterstimulation
• Medication (blocks pain transmission)
• Endorphins (Endogenous Morphine)

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Other Tactile

• Kinesthesis knowing where our body parts are
  visually cued knowing how to get where we want
  to be/do what we want.
• Vestibular Sense monitors body movements and
  balance based in semicircular canals in ear.

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Smell

• Very basic primitive sense close to brain
• Pheromones??
• Smells connected to memory, and are powerful.
• Smell based on chemical processes sniffing
  circulates more air through nose.

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Taste

• Sweet, sour, salty, bitter
• Flavor smell taste
• gt200 taste buds that each respond to chemicals in
  food.
• Taste diminishes with age, smoking, and alcohol
  use.
• Movie Tasters and Supertasters.

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References

• http//honolulu.hawaii.edu/distance/sci122/Program
  s/p3/vasebach.html
• Myers, D. (2005). Exploring Psychology (6th ed.).
  New York Worth Publishers.
• Myers, D. (2005). Instructors Resource CD-ROM
  To Accompany David G. Myers Exploring Psychology,
  6th ed. Computer Software. New York Worth
  Publishers.
• CH05_illustration (D\PowerPoints\Illustration
  PPTs)
• Ch5 (D\PowerPoints\Lecture PPTs)
• www.eyetec.net/ group3/M11S1.htm
• www.wesleyan.edu/wesmaps/ course0304/psyc222s.htm