AP Psychology
Chapter 4: Sensation and Perception
Objectives and Schedule
Objectives:
Everything that organisms know about the world is first encountered when stimuli in the environment activate sensory
organs, initiating awareness of the external world. Perception involves the interpretation of the sensory inputs as a
cognitive process. AP students in psychology should be able to do the following:
 Discuss basic principles of sensory transduction, including absolute threshold, difference threshold, signal
detection, and sensory adaptation.
 Describe sensory processes (e.g., hearing, vision, touch, taste, smell, vestibular, kinesthesis, pain), including the
specific nature of energy transduction, relevant anatomical structures, and specialized pathways in the brain for
each of the senses.
 Explain common sensory disorders (e.g., visual and hearing impairments).
 Describe general principles of organizing and integrating sensation to promote stable awareness of the external
world (e.g., Gestalt principles, depth perception).
 Discuss how experience and culture can influence perceptual processes (e.g., perceptual set, context effects).
 Explain the role of top-down processing in producing vulnerability to illusion.
 Discuss the role of attention in behavior.
 Challenge common beliefs in parapsychological phenomena.
 Identify the major historical figures in sensation and perception (e.g., Gustav Fechner, David Hubel, Ernst Weber,
Torsten Wiesel).
Unit Outline:
Wednesday, October 29th, 2014: (Late Arrival)
1. Class Demo
2. Video Clip – Beau Lotto (TED)
3. Intro Illusions
4. Assignment: Reading Quiz (pgs. 118-125) - tomorrow
Thursday, October 30th, 2014:
1. Reading Quiz (pgs. 118-125)
2. Return and discuss Ch. 3 Exam
3. Assignment: Reading Quiz (pgs. 129-134) – Tuesday
Friday, October 31st, 2014:
1. PPT Notes: Sensation, Perception Transduction
2. Video Clip – I Hear Color (TED)
3. PPT Notes: Sensory Adaptation
4. Assignment: Reading Quiz (pgs. 129-134) – Tuesday
Monday, November 3rd, 2014:
1. PPT Notes: Absolute Threshold and JND
2. PPT Notes: Signal Detection Theory , Cocktail Party Effect
3. Subliminal Messages Activities
4. Assignment: Visual Cliff – due Thursday
Tuesday, November 4th, 2014:
1. Reading Quiz (pgs. 129-134)
2. PPT Notes: Hearing and Vision
3. Assignment: Visual Cliff due Thursday
Wednesday, November 5th, 2014: (Practice ACT- No Juniors 1-3)
1. Video: Pushing the Limits - Sensation
Thursday, November 6th, 2014:
1. Visual Cliff – due today
2. PPT Notes: Finish vision, color blindness, negative afterimages
3. Review for Senses Quiz
4. Assignment: Senses Quiz tomorrow
Friday, November 7th, 2014:
1. Senses Quiz
2. PPT: Intro to Perception
Monday, November 10th, 2014:
1. Return and discuss Senses Quiz
2. PPT Notes: Bottom-up processing, top-down processing, perceptual constancy
3. PPT Notes: Illusions, ambiguous figures
Tuesday, November 11th, 2014:
1. Veterans Day Activities
Wednesday, November 12th, 2014: (Late Arrival)
1. PPT Notes: Gestalt principles
2. PPT Notes: Binocular cues, Monocular cues
3. PPT Notes: Learning Based Inference, perceptual set
Thursday, November 13th, 2014:
1. Handouts: Chapter 5 Concept List, Drug Sheet, and Practice MC – due next Thursday
2. Review
3. Assignment: Ch. 4 Exam tomorrow
Friday, November 14th, 2014:
1. Chapter 4 Exam
2. Assignment: Chapter 5 Concept List, Drug Sheet, and Practice MC – due Thursday