PSYCHOLOGY
(9th Edition)
David Myers
PowerPoint Slides
Aneeq Ahmad
Henderson State University
Worth Publishers, © 2010
1
Sensation and
Perception
Chapter 6
2
Sensation
Sensing the World:
Some Basic Principles
 Thresholds
 Sensory Adaptation
Vision
 The Stimulus Input: Light Energy
 The Eye
 Visual Information Processing
 Color Vision
3
Hearing
 The Stimulus Input: Sound Waves
 The Ear
 Hearing Loss and Deaf Culture
Other Important Senses
 Touch
 Pain
 Taste
 Smell
4
Perceptual Organization
 Form Perception
 Depth Perception
 Motion Perception
 Perceptual Constancy
5
Perceptual Interpretation
 Sensory Deprivation and Restored
Vision
 Perceptual Adaptation
 Perceptual Set
 Perception and the Human Factor
6
Is There Extrasensory Perception?
 Claims of ESP
 Premonitions or Pretensions?
 Putting ESP to Experimental Test
7
Sensation & Perception
How do we construct our representations of the
external world?
To represent the world, we must detect physical
energy (a stimulus) from the environment and
convert it into neural signals. This is a process
called sensation.
When we select, organize, and interpret our
sensations, the process is called perception.
8
Bottom-up Processing
Analysis of the stimulus begins with the sense
receptors and works up to the level of the brain
and mind.
Letter “A” is really a black blotch broken down into
features by the brain that we perceive as an “A.”
9
Top-Down Processing
Information processing guided by higher-level
mental processes as we construct perceptions,
drawing on our experience and expectations.
THE CHT
10
Making Sense of Complexity
Our sensory and perceptual processes work
together to help us sort out complex images.
“The Forest Has Eyes,” Bev Doolittle
11
Sensing the World
Senses are nature’s gift that suit an organism’s
needs.
A frog feeds on flying insects; a male silkworm
moth is sensitive to female sex-attractant odor; and
we as human beings are sensitive to sound
frequencies that represent the range of human
voice.
12
Exploring the Senses
What stimuli cross our threshold for
conscious awareness?
13
Psychophysics
A study of the relationship between physical
characteristics of stimuli and our psychological
experience with them.
Physical World
Psychological
World
Light
Brightness
Sound
Volume
Pressure
Weight
Sugar
Sweet
14
Thresholds
Proportion of “Yes” Responses
1.00
0.50
0.00
Absolute Threshold: Minimum stimulation needed
to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time.
0
5
10
15
20
Stimulus Intensity (lumens)
25
15
Subliminal Threshold
Subliminal Threshold:
When stimuli are below
one’s absolute threshold for
conscious awareness.
Kurt Scholz/ Superstock
16
Weber’s Law
Two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum
percentage (rather than a constant amount), to be
perceived as different. Weber fraction: k = dI/I.
Stimulus
Constant (k)
Light
8%
Weight
2%
Tone
3%
17
Sensory Adaptation
Diminished sensitivity as a consequence of
constant stimulation.
Put a band aid on your arm and after awhile
you don’t sense it.
18
Now you see, now you don’t
19
Vision
20
Transduction
In sensation, the transformation of stimulus energy
(sights, sounds, smells) into neural impulses.
21
Both Photos: Thomas Eisner
The Stimulus Input: Light Energy
Visible
Spectrum
22
Physical Characteristics of Light
1. Wavelength (hue/color)
2. Intensity (brightness)
23
Wavelength (Hue)
Hue (color) is the
dimension of
color determined
by the
wavelength of the
light.
Wavelength is the
distance from the
peak of one wave
to the peak of the
next.
24
Wavelength (Hue)
Violet
Indigo
400 nm
Short wavelengths
Blue
Green
Yellow
Orange
Red
700 nm
Long wavelengths
Different wavelengths of light result
in different colors.
25
Intensity (Brightness)
Intensity:
Amount of
energy in a
wave
determined by
the amplitude.
It is related to
perceived
brightness.
26
Intensity (Brightness)
Blue color with varying levels of intensity.
As intensity increases or decreases, blue color
looks more “washed out” or “darkened.”
27
The Eye
28
Parts of the eye
1. Cornea: Transparent tissue where light enters
the eye.
2. Iris: Muscle that expands and contracts to
change the size of the opening (pupil) for light.
3. Lens: Focuses the light rays on the retina.
4. Retina: Contains sensory receptors that process
visual information and sends it to the brain.
29
The Lens
Lens: Transparent
structure behind the
pupil that changes shape
to focus images on the
retina.
Accommodation: The
process by which the
eye’s lens changes shape
to help focus near or far
objects on the retina.
30
Retina
Retina: The lightsensitive inner
surface of the eye,
containing receptor
rods and cones in
addition to layers of
other neurons
(bipolar, ganglion
cells) that process
visual information.
31
Optic Nerve, Blind Spot & Fovea
Optic nerve: Carries neural impulses from the eye to the
brain. Blind Spot: Point where the optic nerve leaves the
eye because there are no receptor cells located there.
Fovea: Central point in the retina around which the eye’s
cones cluster.
http://www.bergen.org
32
Test your Blind Spot
Use your textbook. Close your left eye, and fixate
your right eye on the black dot. Move the page
towards your eye and away from your eye. At
some point the car on the right will disappear due
to a blind spot.
33
Photoreceptors
E.R. Lewis, Y.Y. Zeevi, F.S Werblin, 1969
34
Bipolar & Ganglion Cells
Bipolar cells receive messages from
photoreceptors and transmit them to ganglion
cells, which converge to form the optic nerve.
35
Visual Information Processing
Optic nerves connect to the thalamus in the
middle of the brain, and the thalamus connects to
the visual cortex.
36
Feature Detection
Ross Kinnaird/ Allsport/ Getty Images
Nerve cells in the visual cortex respond to
specific features, such as edges, angles, and
movement.
37
Shape Detection
Ishai, Ungerleider, Martin and Haxby/ NIMH
Specific combinations of temporal lobe activity
occur as people look at shoes, faces, chairs and
houses.
38
Visual Information Processing
Processing of several aspects of the stimulus
simultaneously is called parallel processing. The
brain divides a visual scene into subdivisions such
as color, depth, form, movement, etc.
39
From Sensation to Recognition
40
Color Vision
Trichromatic theory: Young and von Helmholtz
suggested that the eye must contain three receptors
that are sensitive to red, blue and green colors.
Standard stimulus
Comparison stimulus
Max
Medium
Low
Blue
Green
Red
41
Color Blindness
Genetic disorder in which people are blind to
green or red colors. This supports the
Trichromatic theory.
Ishihara Test
42
Opponent Colors
Gaze at the middle of the flag for about 30
Seconds. When it disappears, stare at the dot and report
whether or not you see Britain's flag.
43
Hearing
44
Hearing
The Stimulus Input: Sound Waves
Sound waves are compressing and expanding air
molecules.
45
Sound Characteristics
1. Frequency (pitch)
2. Intensity (loudness)
46
The Ear
Dr. Fred Hossler/ Visuals Unlimited
47
The Ear
Outer Ear: Collects and sends sounds to the
eardrum.
Middle Ear: Chamber between eardrum and
cochlea containing three tiny bones (hammer,
anvil, stirrup) that concentrate the vibrations
of the eardrum on the cochlea’s oval window.
Inner Ear: Innermost part of the ear,
containing the cochlea, semicircular canals,
and vestibular sacs.
48
Cochlea
Cochlea: Coiled, bony, fluid-filled tube in the
inner ear that transforms sound vibrations to
auditory signals.
49
Intensity (Loudness)
Intensity
(Loudness):
Amount of energy
in a wave,
determined by the
amplitude, relates
to the perceived
loudness.
50
Loudness of Sound
Richard Kaylin/ Stone/ Getty Images
120dB
51
70dB
Frequency (Pitch)
Frequency (pitch):
The dimension of
frequency
determined by the
wavelength of
sound.
Wavelength: The
distance from the
peak of one wave
to the peak of the
next.
52
Localization of Sounds
Because we have two ears, sounds that reach
one ear faster than the other ear cause us to
localize the sound.
53
Localization of Sound
1. Intensity differences
2. Time differences
Time differences as small as 1/100,000 of a second
can cause us to localize sound. The head acts as a
“shadow” or partial sound barrier.
54
Touch
Bruce Ayers/ Stone/ Getty Images
The sense of touch is a mix of four distinct skin
senses—pressure, warmth, cold, and pain.
55
Touch
Outline
• Skin is the largest sense organ
• There are receptors for pressure,
temperature, and pain
• Touch appears to be important not just as
a source of information, but as a way to
bond with others
• Touch Localization
– Touch localization depends on the relative
lengths of the pathways from the stimulated
parts to the brain.
Skin Senses
Only pressure has identifiable receptors. All other
skin sensations are variations of pressure, warmth,
cold and pain.
Pressure
Burning hot
Vibration
Vibration
Cold, warmth and pain
57
PAIN
• Pain tells the body that something has
gone wrong. Usually pain results from
damage to the skin and other tissues
• Pain is the only sense that does NOT have
sensory adaptation
58
Pain
CONGENITAL INSENSITIVITY TO PAIN
Rare disease in which the afflicted person feels no pain.
i.e. hot stove, appendix
AP Photo/ Stephen Morton
Ashley Blocker (right) feels neither pain
nor extreme hot or cold.
59
PAIN: Biopsychosocial Influences
60
Gate-Control Theory
Melzack and Wall (1965, 1983) proposed that our
spinal cord contains neurological “gates” that
either block pain or allow it to be sensed.
Gary Comer/ PhototakeUSA.com
61
Pain Control
Pain can be controlled by a number of therapies
including, drugs, surgery, acupuncture, exercise,
hypnosis, and even thought distraction.
Todd Richards and Aric Vills, U.W.
©Hunter Hoffman, www.vrpain.com
62
Taste
Traditionally, taste sensations consisted of sweet,
salty, sour, and bitter tastes. Recently, receptors for
a fifth taste have been discovered called “Umami”.
Sweet
Sour
Salty
Bitter
Umami
(Fresh
Chicken)
63
Sensory Interaction
When one sense affects another sense, sensory
interaction takes place. So, the taste of strawberry
interacts with its smell and its texture on the
tongue to produce flavor.
64
Smell
Like taste, smell is a chemical sense. Odorants
enter the nasal cavity to stimulate 5 million
receptors to sense smell. Unlike taste, there are
many different forms of smell.
65
Age, Gender, and Smell
Outline
Ability to identify smell peaks
during early adulthood, but steadily
declines after that. Women are
better at detecting odors than men.
Smell and Memories
The brain region for
smell (in red) is closely
connected with the
brain regions involved
with memory (limbic
system). That is why
strong memories are
made through the sense
of smell.
67
Body Position and Movement
The sense of our body parts’ position and
movement is called kinesthesis. The vestibular
sense monitors the head (and body’s) position.
Bob Daemmrich/ The Image Works
http://www.heyokamagazine.com
Whirling Dervishes
Wire Walk
68
Vestibular Senses
Outline
• Vestibular senses provide information
about equilibrium and body position
• Fluid moves in two vestibular sacs
• Vestibular organs are also responsible for
motion sickness
• Motion sickness may be caused by
discrepancies between visual information
and vestibular sensation
Why do we feel dizzy?
Outline
• The inner parts are open spaces filled with fluid. The
inside walls of the spaces are covered with tiny hairs.
Each hair is connected to a nerve cell that carries signals
to the brain. When the head moves, the fluid sloshes
around and bends the hairs. As each hair bends, it
makes its nerve cell send a signal, telling the brain about
that movement.
• When we spin around, the fluid starts spinning, too. That
gives us the sensation of spinning. When we stop, the
fluid keeps moving (and bending tiny hairs and signaling
the brain). That may make us feel that we are spinning
backward. We call that "feeling dizzy."
Outline
Proprioception/Kinesthetic
Sense
• from Latin proprius, meaning "one's own", "individual"
and perception, is the sense of the relative position of
neighboring parts of the body and strength of effort being
employed in movement.
Perceptual Organization
How do we form meaningful perceptions
from sensory information?
We organize it. Gestalt psychologists
showed that a figure formed a “whole”
different than its surroundings.
72
Form Perception
Organization of the visual field into objects
(figures) that stand out from their surroundings
(ground).
Time Savings Suggestion, © 2003 Roger Sheperd.
73
Grouping
After distinguishing the figure from the ground,
our perception needs to organize the figure into
a meaningful form using grouping rules.
74
Grouping & Reality
Although grouping principles usually help us construct
reality, they may occasionally lead us astray.
Both photos by Walter Wick. Reprinted from GAMES
Magazine. .© 1983 PCS Games Limited Partnership
75
Depth Perception
Innervisions
Depth perception enables us to judge distances.
Gibson and Walk (1960) suggested that human
infants (crawling age) have depth perception. Even
newborn animals show depth perception.
Visual Cliff
76
Binocular Cues
Retinal disparity: Images from the two eyes differ. Try
looking at your two index fingers when pointing them
towards each other half an inch apart and about 5 inches
directly in front of your eyes. You will see a “finger
sausage” as shown in the inset.
77
Monocular Cues
Relative Size: If two objects are similar in size, we
perceive the one that casts a smaller retinal image
to be farther away.
78
Monocular Cues
Interposition: Objects that occlude (block) other
objects tend to be perceived as closer.
Rene Magritte, The Blank Signature, oil on canvas,
National Gallery of Art, Washington. Collection of
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon. Photo by Richard Carafelli.
79
Monocular Cues
Relative Height: We perceive objects that are higher in our
field of vision to be farther away than those that are lower.
Image courtesy of Shaun P. Vecera, Ph. D.,
adapted from stimuli that appered in Vecrera et al., 2002
80
Monocular Cues
Relative motion: Objects closer to a fixation point
move faster and in opposing direction to those
objects that are farther away from a fixation point,
moving slower and in the same direction.
81
Monocular Cues
Linear Perspective: Parallel lines, such as railroad
tracks, appear to converge in the distance. The
more the lines converge, the greater their
perceived distance.
© The New Yorker Collection, 2002, Jack Ziegler
from cartoonbank.com. All rights reserved.
82
Monocular Cues
Light and Shadow: Nearby objects reflect more light into
our eyes than more distant objects. Given two identical
objects, the dimmer one appears to be farther away.
From “Perceiving Shape From Shading” by Vilayaur
S. Ramachandran. © 1988 by Scientific American, Inc.
All rights reserved.
83
Perceptual Constancy
Perceiving objects as unchanging even as
illumination and retinal images change.
84
Color Constancy
Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent
color even when changing illumination filters
the light reflected by the object.
Color Constancy
85
Size-Distance Relationship
The distant monster (below, left) and the top red
bar (below, right) appear bigger because of
distance cues.
Alan Choisnet/ The Image Bank
From Shepard, 1990
86
Size-Distance Relationship
Both girls in the room are of similar height.
However, we perceive them to be of different
heights as they stand in the two corners of the
room.
Both photos from S. Schwartzenberg/ The Exploratorium
87
Ames Room
The Ames room is designed to demonstrate the sizedistance illusion.
88
Lightness Constancy
The color and brightness of square A and B are the same.
89
Perceptual Interpretation
Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) maintained that
knowledge comes from our inborn ways of
organizing sensory experiences.
John Locke (1632-1704) argued that we learn to
perceive the world through our experiences.
How important is experience in shaping our
perceptual interpretation?
90
Sensory Deprivation & Restored
Vision
After cataract surgery,
blind adults were able
to regain sight. These
individuals could
differentiate figure and
ground relationships,
yet they had difficulty
distinguishing a circle
and a triangle
(Von Senden, 1932).
91
Facial Recognition
Courtesy of Richard LeGrand
After blind adults
regained sight, they were
able to recognize distinct
features, but were unable
to recognize faces.
Normal observers also
show difficulty in facial
recognition when the
lower half of the pictures
are changed.
92
Sensory Deprivation
Kittens raised
without exposure to
horizontal lines later
had difficulty
perceiving horizontal
bars.
Blakemore & Cooper (1970)
93
Perceptual Adaptation
Courtesy of Hubert Dolezal
Visual ability to adjust
to an artificially
displaced visual field,
e.g., prism glasses.
94
Perceptual Set
A mental predisposition to perceive one thing
and not another. What you see in the center
picture is influenced by flanking pictures.
From Shepard, 1990.
95
Perceptual Set
Other examples of perceptual set.
Dick Ruhl
Frank Searle, photo Adams/ Corbis-Sygma
(a) Loch ness monster or a tree trunk;
(b) Flying saucers or clouds?
96
Context Effects
Context can radically alter perception.
Is the “magician cabinet” on the floor or hanging from the
ceiling?
97
Cultural Context
Context instilled by culture also alters
perception.
To an East African, the woman sitting is balancing a metal
box on her head, while the family is sitting under a tree. 98
Perception Revisited
Is perception innate or acquired?
99
Is There Extrasensory Perception?
Perception without sensory input is called
extrasensory perception (ESP). A large percentage
of scientists do not believe in ESP.
100
Claims of ESP
1. Telepathy: Mind-to-mind communication. One
person sending thoughts and the other
receiving them.
2. Clairvoyance: Perception of remote events,
such as sensing a friend’s house on fire.
3. Precognition: Perceiving future events, such as
a political leader’s death.
101