Perception
• The study of how the “contents” of the mind got there!
• How we gain knowledge of reality
• Our only access to the world “outside” our body
• Some philosophers argued that there is no physical
reality - only our ideas
Sensation and Perception - intro.ppt © 2001 Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
How do we know that we share the same reality?
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Color blindness
Blindness
Deafness
Schizophrenia
Virtual reality
Sensation and Perception - intro.ppt © 2001 Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
Characteristics of Perception
• Selective - limited range, voluntary attention
• Appropriate to the environment – adaptive
• Objective - defines reality
• Controlled by “patterns” - responds only to change
• Active - interpretive and requires stimulation
Sensation and Perception - intro.ppt © 2001 Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
Four Fields Of Study
• Physiology - anatomy and pathways
• Psychophysics - relationship between our conscious
experience and changes in the stimulus
• Perception- processes that build an internal
representation (often unconscious)
• Cognition - changes in perception due to learning,
personality, etc.
Sensation and Perception - intro.ppt © 2001 Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.
Metatheories
• Gibsonian - “direct perception”
– perception as an adaptation to the environment
• Information Processing – stages that construct an internal representation
• Computational – mathematical and computer modeling
Sensation and Perception - intro.ppt © 2001 Laura Snodgrass, Ph.D.