1. Sensation and Perception

2. “Everything you see or hear or experience in any way at all is specific to you. You create a universe by perceiving it, so everything in the universe you perceive is specific to you.” – Douglas Adams

3. Sensation The process of taking in information from the environment

4. Transduction The process of changing raw sensory data into an electrochemical message that will be sent to the brain for interpretation.

5. Perception How we recognize, interpret, and organize our sensations

6. Input comes primarily from these five external senses: – Visual (Eyes) – Audio (Ears) – Cutaneous/Tactile (Touch) – Olfaction (Smell) (Nose) – Gustation (Taste) (Tongue)

7. Kinesthetic Sense The kinesthetic sense monitors the position and movements of muscles, bones, and joints. Receptors in the joints and tendons send the brain information about the angle of your limbs.

8. Vestibular Sense The system for balance. Fluid in the semicircle canals of the inner-ear maintain the body’s sense of balance.

9. Detection Threshold or Absolute Threshold The minimum intensity of energy required to produce sensation in a receptor cell at least 50% of the time

10. Difference Threshold or Just Noticeable Difference The smallest change in stimulation that you can detect

11. Weber’s Law The greater the magnitude of the stimulus, the larger the difference must be in order to be noticed – IE. If you are carrying 20 lbs. and add 5 lbs., it’s noticeable. If you are carrying 100 pounds and add 5 pounds, it may not be noticeable. You may need to add 20 lbs. to 100 pounds to make it noticeable.

12. Sensory Adaptation Diminished sensitivity as a result of constant and unchanging stimulation. You jump into a swimming pool of cold water, but eventually you “get used to it”. Or, you wear your glasses so often that you sometimes forget that they are on.

13. Subliminal Perception Thresholds imply that there must be stimulus below and beyond our current levels of detection. Can human behavior be influenced by stimulus that is below or beyond our level of awareness? Subliminal Perception

15. Extrasensory Perception Some people claim to have extra powers of perception, or the ability to respond to an unknown event that is not presented to any of the known senses. Parapsychology

16. Examples of Extrasensory Perception Telepathy: Transfer of information on thoughts or feelings between individuals by means other than the five classical senses Precognition: Perception of information about future places or events before they occur. Clairvoyance: Obtaining information about places or events at remote locations, by means unknown to current science.

17. Does ESP Exist? Remote Viewing? Telepathy?

18. Paranormal Activity A&E Series Paranormal State A&E Series Psychic Kids

19. Visual Sensation

20. How Do We See? Visual Sensation and Perception Vision And Behavior

21. Human Eyeball

23. Cornea transparent protective coating over the front part of the eye

24. Iris the colored part of the eye – this muscle dilates or contracts the pupil to allow more or less light to enter

25. Pupil the small, adjustable center of the iris that allows light to enter the eye

26. Lens flexible enough to focus on objects near or far (accommodation) – if an object is very close is gets smaller and rounder; if an object is further away, it get larger and wider

27. Retina The inner lining of the back of the eyeball. The lens focuses an image from the outside world on the retina, and the retina in turn transduces the image.

28. Fovea On the retina, directly behind the lens. The area of sharpest picture.

29. Acuity – the sharpness of vision Nearsightedness – the misshapen eyeball focuses light rays in front of the retina – you will see near objects well, but not far away objects Farsightedness – the light rays from nearby objects reach the retina before they have been focused – you will see far objects better than near objects

32. Rods and Cones In the retina. Rods determine shades of light and dark and detect motion. Cones determine color.

33. Optic Nerve Carries the transduced visual information from the eye and sends it to the brain for processing.

34. Blind Spot The area closest to the optic nerve, that has no receptor cells. Also known as the optic disc.

35. Optic Chiasm The point in the brain at which messages from the visual fields are split to the appropriate areas of the brain – Prosopagonosia - stroke victim disorder in which victims cannot recognize faces, but can still see well and recognize emotions on faces

37. Stereopsis (Contralateral Shift)

38. Color Vision There are two theories of color vision: – Trichromatic Theory – Opponent-Process Theory

39. Young-Helmholtz Theory Trichromatic Theory Rods and cones are pre-set to be sensitive to RED, GREEN, and BLUE. All of the colors that we see are combinations of those three colors.

40. All other colors can be derived by combining these three.

41. Opponent-Process Theory Sensory receptors in the retina come in pairs: – Red/Green – Yellow/Blue – Black/White

42. Opponent-Process Theory If one sensor is stimulated, the other is inhibited If one sensor is over-stimulated, and fatigues, the paired sensor will be activated, causing an afterimage If a person is missing a particular pair of sensors, they will be colorblind to those hues – Dichromatic Color Blindness have difficulty seeing shades of red and green, or yellow and blue

43. Hue – the color that we see is determined by the wavelength (the distance from one wave peak to the next) of the light wave that the eye is receiving

44. Brightness is influenced by the height of the waves (amplitude) of light that are received by the eye

45. The shorter the wavelength, more bluish colors The longer the wavelength, more reddish colors The higher the wave, more yellowish The lower the wave, more greenish

46. Color Range

48. Visual Perception Magic Fools The Eye

49. The Visual Cliff

50. Figure/Ground Dynamic The ability to distinguish different objects from one another Analyzing separate information allows us to re-act to each individual object accordingly – Camouflage – when figures blend into the background

51. Figure-Ground Dynamic

52. Camouflage

53. © E.R. Degginger/Anils Animals

54. Gestalt Rules – Gestalt Psychologists focused on how we normally perceive images as groups, not isolated elements – Several factors influence how we will group objects: Proximity Similarity Continuity Closure

55. Proximity When objects are close together we tend to perceive them as together rather than separate

56. Proximity

57. Similarity Objects that are similar in appearance are more likely to be perceived as belonging in the same group

58. Similarity

59. Closure The tendency to overlook incompleteness, and tocomplete objects so that they fit into our mental preconceptions of what objects are supposed to look like

60. Closure

63. Continuity To perceive lines and motion in fluid forms rather than jagged motions

64. Continuation

65. Constancy Despite changes in distance or lighting, objects still maintain their original properties – Size Constancy – Shape Constancy – Brightness Constancy

66. Size Constancy Objects closer to us will produce bigger images on our retinas, and as they move away they project a smaller image. The actual size of the object does not change. – IE. When a man is right in front of us, he is 6 ft. tall. As he walk further and further away, his image gets smaller. He hasn’t shrunk; he is still 6 ft. tall.

67. Size Constancy

68. Shape Constancy Objects viewed from different angles will produce different shapes on our retina. Though we may change our position, the shape doesn’t change. – IE. Looking at the top of a glass one way makes it look round; from another angle it looks elliptical. The actual shape hasn’t changed…it is still round.

70. Brightness Constancy We perceive objects as having a constant color, despite lighting, shading, etc. – A brick wall is still red, whether bright sunlight is on it, or darkness has made it look gray.

71. Depth Cues Depth Cues allow us to perceive the world in three dimensions. – Monocular Cues are depth cues that do not depend on having two eyes working in conjunction together – Binocular Cues are depth cues that depend on having two eyes working in conjunction with each other

72. Monocular Cues Linear Perspective Relative Size Interposition Texture Gradient Shadowing Motion Parallax

73. Linear Perspective Parallel lines seem to converge the further they get from us. The gradual reduction of image size as distance from the object increases Vanishing Point – where two parallel lines connect in the distance

76. Relative Size Objects that project a smaller image on the retina are perceived as further away; larger images are closer

78. Elevation Objects on top of our horizon are smaller and further away, objects below are closer and larger

80. Interposition Near objects partially obscure objects further away

84. Texture Gradient Patterns of distribution tend to grow more dense with distance – things further away seem more smooth, up close more detailed

88. Shadowing Lighted objects seem closer, darker further away

92. Motion Parallax As images move across the retina, the perception of movement is created. Objects further away move slower across the retina, closer objects move faster.

93. Binocular Cues Binocular Disparity/Retinal Disparity Convergence

94. Binocular Disparity Each of our eyes sees an object from a slightly different angle and projects that image onto the retina. The closer an object is, the further apart the two retinal images are. Further, closer images.

96. Convergence As objects get closer and further from us, our eyes move towards each other or away. The closer they are, the closer the object.