Sensation- the process of receiving stimulus energies
from the external environment.
Perception- the process of organizing and interpreting
sensory information.
Bottom-up processing- initiated by sensory input /
outside world’s influence on perception.
Top-down processing- initiated by cognitive processing
/ internal or mental world’s influence on perception /
expectations and prior understanding.
Unified information processing system
Sensation
Sensory receptors- specialized cells that selectively
detect and transmit sensory info to the brain / cells
send signals via distinct neural pathways.
Synaesthesia- one sense induces an experience in
another sense (eg- lexical or grapheme synaesthesia).
Phantom limb pain
Sensory Receptors: Vision, Hearing, Touch, Smell, and
Taste.
Photoreception- (vision) detection of light.
Mechanoreception- (touch) detection of pressure,
vibration, and movement.
Chemoreception- (smell and taste) detection of
chemical stimuli.
Sensory Thresholds
Absolute thresholds- the minimum amount of energy
an organism can detect 50% of the time.
Noise- irrelevant and competing stimuli.
Difference thresholds- just noticeable difference (JND)
/ how much stimulus change is necessary for detection?
/ JND increases with stimulus magnitude.
Weber’s law- two stimuli must differ by a constant
minimum percentage (not a constant amount) to be
perceived as different.
Subliminal Perception- influence of information below
the level of conscious awareness / Vicary: EAT
POPCORN / Strahan: thirsty vs non-thirsty words.
Signal Detection Theory
Decision “Did I detect something?”- information
acquisition / criterion (basis/motive for judgment)
Possible outcomes: hit, miss, false alarm, correct
rejection.
Factors Affecting Perception
Attention- focusing awareness on a narrowed aspect of
the environment / selective attention: cocktail party
effect (automatic selection) ; stroop effect (failure of
selection) / novelty, size, color, movement, emotions /
emotion-induced blindness / inattentional blindness
Perceptual Set- predisposition or readiness to perceive
something in a particular way.
Ethnicity and Perception- ethnicity and perceptual
error (reactions influenced not by personal prejudice
but by knowledge of cultural streotypes)
Extrasensory Perception- perceive thoughts or events
in the absence of concrete sensory input /
parapsychology / problematic (doubtful) for science
Properties of Light
Wavelength- distance between peaks (perceived as hue
/ some wavelengths beyond human sensation)
Amplitude- height of wave (perceived as brightness)
Purity- mixture of wavelengths (perceived as
saturation)
Structure of the Eye: Retina
Rods- sensitive to even dim light, but not color /
function well in low illumination / humans have approx.
120 million rods.
Cones- respond to color / operate best under high
illumination / humans have approx. 6 million cones.
Fovea- densely populated with cones / vital to many
visual tasks.
Bipolar and Ganglion Cells
Optic Nerve
Blind Spot- where optic nerve leaves the eyeball /
perception involves top-down processing.
Visual Processing

Pathway of Visual Information:

optic nerve - optic chiasm - … - visual cortex

Optic chiasm: Optic Nerve Fibers Divide- left visual field

(right hemisphere) / right visual field (left hemisphere)

Primary Visual Cortex- occipital lobe / initial visual

processing.

Color Vision Theories:

Trichromatic Theory

Three types of receptors- green, red, and blue cones .

Color blindness- one or more cone types is inoperative.

Afterimage- sensation remains after a stimulus is

removed / trichromatic theory can’t explain afterimage.

Opponent process theory- complementary color pairs.

Visual Perception- organizing and interpreting visual

signals / dimensions: shape, depth, motion, constancy.

Figure Ground Relationship

Visual Perception: Shape

Visual Perception: Depth- the brain constructs

perception of 3D from 2D images processed by the
retina / binocular cues (disparity and convergence) /
monocular cues (pictorial cues)- familiar size, height in
the field of view, linear perspective, overlap, shading,
texture gradients.