Unit 3 Guide: Sensation and Perception
Sensation and Perception: Unit Objectives
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Explain the difference between sensation and perception.
Explain the difference between bottom-up and top-down processing.
Name and define the two types of thresholds.
Describe Signal Detection Theory and why it is used.
Evaluate the scientific basis behind subliminal messages and ESP.
Describe different types of ESP.
Describe and give examples of sensory adaptation (light, dark, etc).
Differentiate between selective attention, cocktail party effect, inattentional blindness, and change blindess.
Describe the nature and characteristics of light (wavelength, intensity).
Describe the path that light takes as it makes its way through the eye.
Locate eye parts on a diagram, and identify their functions (including the process of accommodation).
List the three types of cells that are present in the retina.
Explain the difference between rods and cones.
Describe the two major theories of color vision.
Describe feature detectors and where visual information is processed in the brain.
Describe the nature and characteristics of sound (wavelength, amplitude).
Identify the path that sound takes as it makes its way through the ear, and locate eye parts on a diagram.
Differentiate between pitch (hearing) theories.
Describe how we locate sounds.
Describe the major causes of deafness.
Identify the “smell” center of your brain; Identify where smell is processed in the brain.
Describe how your sense of smell is affected by gender and age.
Identify the chemical senses.
Locate the receptor cells for taste.
Define your major body senses: vestibular and kinesthetic.
Identify the sensations that skin receptors give rise to.
Describe the phenomenon of paradoxical heat.
Differentiate between the Gate-Control Theory and Biopsychosocial Theory of pain.
Recognize and explain the perceptual organizational principles (figure-ground; proximity; similarity; closure;
continuity).
Define perceptual constancy and distinguish between size, shape, color, and brightness constancy.
Explain the two types of cues that we use to determine depth perception.
Describe how the visual cliff has added to our understanding of depth perception.
Describe the major monocular cues of depth perception including: interposition, linear perspective, aerial perspective,
elevation (relative height), texture gradient, shadowing, and relative motion, relative size.
Describe the major binocular depth cues including stereoscopic vision, retinal disparity, and convergence.
Explain the difference between monaural and binaural sound cues.
Describe the major ways in which we perceive movement including: stroboscopic motion, the phi phenomenon, and
the autokinetic illusion.
Explain what causes visual illusions.
Vocabulary
1. Transduction/Receptor Cells
2. Psychophysics
3. Thresholds: Absolute, Difference
4. Weber’s Law
5. Signal Detection Theory
6. Processing: Top-Down, Bottom-Up
7. Attention: Selective Attention, Inattentional Blindness,
Change Blindness
8. Sensory Adaptation
9. Eye Parts: Cornea, Pupil, Iris, Lens, Retina, Fovea, Blind
Spot, Optic Nerve, Optic Chasm*
10. Eye Cells: Rods/Cones, Bipolar Cells, Ganglion Cells*
11. Feature Detectors
12. Color Theories: Trichromatic (Young-Helmholtz),
Opponent-Process
13. Ear Parts: Ear Canal, Tympanic Membrane, Ossicles, Oval
Window, Cochlea, Basilar Membrane, Organ of Corti,
Auditory Nerve, Hair Cells*
14. Theories of Hearing: Place, Frequency, Volley
15. Hearing Disorders: Sensorineural, Conduction
16. Olfactory Bulb
17. Pheromones
18. Body Senses: Kinesthesis(Kinesthetic), Vestibular
19. Pain Theories: Gate-Control, Biopsychosocial
20. Gestalt Principles of Organization: Proximity, Similarity,
Closure, Continuity, Figure- Ground*
21. Perceptual Constancies: Size, Shape, Color, Brightness*
22. Monocular Depth Cues: Retinal Disparity, Convergence
23. Binocular Depth Cues: Interposition, Linear Perspective,
Aerial Perspective, Elevation (Relative Height), Texture
Gradient, Shadowing, Relative Size, Relative Motion
24. Monaural v. Binaural Cues
25. Perception of Motion: Autokinetic Illusion, Stroboscopic
Motion, Phi Phenomenon
26. Perceptual Adaptation, Perceptual Set
Names
1. Richard Axel
2. Georg von Bekésy
3. Linda Buck
4. Gustav Fechner
5. Eleanor Gibson
6. Ewald Hering
7. David Hubel
8. Harry McGurk
9. Ronald Melack
10. James Randi
11. Herman von Helmholtz
12. Richard Walk
13. Patrick Wall
14. Ernst Weber
15. Torsten Wiesel
16. Thomas Young