1. Intro to Sensation & Perception

2. Briefly describe each picture.

5. Turn-and-Talk
How can a group of people look at the same pictures and understand each differently?

6. Sensation
Definition: when a stimulus activates a receptor of a sense organ; awareness of changing conditions
Stimulus—something that causes a bodily response
Ex: light—retina, sound—hair cells, pressure—skin, etc.
What are the five most well-known senses? (there are many more)

8. Understanding Senses Articles
Choose one of the articles describing the experiences of someone lacking one/two of their main senses
Prompt #3: Write to Share
How is their life different than most? Support with at least 3 specific examples.
What is something you wonder about this experience of lacking one/two of your senses? (can be of your reading or in general)
As you share, write down one experience that stood out about each of the other articles

9. Sensation
Definition: when a stimulus activates a sense organ’s receptors; awareness of changing conditions
Stimulus—something that causes a bodily response
Ex: light—retina, sound—hair cells, pressure—skin, etc.

10. Sensory Threshold
Absolute threshold—weakest amount of a stimulus required to produce a sensation
Detected 50% of the time
For the 5 main senses (1942 study): (do not write)
Vision—candle flame 30 miles away on a clear night
Hearing—watch ticking 20 feet away
Taste—tasting 1 tsp of sugar dissolved in 2 gallons of water
Smell—smelling 1 drop of perfume in a 3-room house
Touch—feeling a bee’s wing falling a distance of 1 cm onto your cheek

11. Test your Threshold: http://www. noiseaddicts
Sensory Threshold
Difference threshold—minimum amount of difference a person can detect between two stimuli
Ex: Optometrist—testing your vision
Weber’s Law—the larger/stronger a stimulus, the greater the change needed to notice any difference
Ex: weight in a backpack

12. Sensory Adaptation
Definition: get used to a new level and respond only to changes away from it
Ex:
What happens to your vision when you are in a movie theater?
What happens to your body when you go swimming in a cold lake?
What happened when you walked in and smell really strong perfume?

14. What is the purpose of sensory adaptation?

15. Signal-Detection Theory
Signal-Detection Theory—tendency to detect the presence of stimuli correctly (explaining thresholds)
No single threshold  affected by motivation, skill, and competing stimuli
Preattentive (automatic) vs. attentive (careful attention) processing

16. Which was more difficult? Why?
The Stroop Effect
Which was more difficult? Why?

17. Concepts Chart—separate sheet
Absolute Threshold
Difference Threshold
Weber’s Law
Sensory Adaptation
Signal-Detection Theory
Explain in your own words
Ex: Draw an image