BEFORE WE BEGIN,

TAKE A MOMENT AND

 We analyze and
focus separately on
each function to
understand it.
 HOW WE
UNDERSTAND
OUR WORLD
Learning Objective
■ Demonstrate the nature of sensation.
■ Explain the nature and functions of attention
■ Describe the process of perception
■ Explain perception of shape and illusions
■ Understand the problem of space perception and cues used in it
■ Describe the factors influencing perception; and
■ Describe extra sensory perception.
 DO YOU THINK WE
CAN SENSE
EVERYTHING IN OUR
?ENVIRONMENT
Sensation

occurs when energy

from external or
internal source
stimulates receptor cell
in one or more sense
organs
 Transduction
conversion of
physical energy
into coded neural
signals.
Receptor cell
specialized cell
that responds to a Perception
particular type of
energy.

Sensation
the
experience of
sensory
stimulation.
How do sensation occurs?
Sensation
threshold

For sensation to occur

physical energy within
receptor cell must reach
minimum level of intensity
 Difference
threshold or
Absolute
just-noticeable
threshold
difference (jnd)
Adaptation

Sensory
Thresholds

Absolute thresholds – the
smallest amount of energy
needed for conscious
detection of a stimulus at
least.
Difference threshold or
just-noticeable
difference (jnd) – the
smallest change in
stimulation that can be
detected 50% of the
time.

Adaptation – an
adjustment of the
senses to the level of
stimulation they are
receiving. So sensory
adaptation occurs when
sensation is unchanging.
When you walk through a busy street,
Think of
■ Attention is a central process and
perception is not possible without
attentional processes.
■ That means attention precedes perception.
■ Attentional processes serve various
functions in the organization of our
perceptions and other cognitive functions.
 The various
functions of
attention

Limited .3
Alerting .1 Selective .2
capacity Vigilance .4
function function
channel
 1.
Alerting
When the teacher asks the student in the
function classroom to pay attention to what
he is teaching, it means that the student
can voluntarily create conditions that
prepare him/her to be receptive and alert
in the class.
Attention in this sense refers
to a state of focused
awareness with readiness
to respond.
Distraction occurs when some
interference prevents the
individual to continue with the
ongoing task.
 2.
Selective
function

The cocktail –party

effect
The most important function of
attention is selectivity.
Selectivity refers to a process by
which attention is focused on
stimulus or stimuli of ongoing
interest and other stimuli are
ignored. Selective attention
acts as a filter, that allows some
information in and the other
(unwanted) out.
 3.
Limited It has been established through research that
capacity we have limited capacity to process
channel information that is available in the outside
world. That is, tasks that require attentional
resources cannot be carried out
simultaneously because we have limited
capacity to process the incoming
information. We process the task one at a
time and this is called serial processing.

However, if one task is highly

practiced or routinized then it is
possible to carry on with two tasks
simultaneously.
4.Vigilance

Maintaining attention on a
task continuously, for some
time, like looking at the
radar screen, is called
vigilance or sustained
attention.
 ‫اﺧﺘﺒﺎر ﺷﻄﺐ اﻷرﻗﺎم‬
‫‪Number Cancellation Test‬‬
‫‪The letter or‬‬
‫‪numbers‬‬ ‫اﻟﺘﻌﻠﯿﻤﺎت‪" :‬ﻣﻄﻠﻮب ﻣﻨﻚ دﻟﻮﻗﺘﻰ إﻧﻚ ﺗﺸﻄﺐ ﻋﻠﻰ ﻛﻞ ﻋﺪد ‪ 3‬ﯾﻘﺎﺑﻠﻚ ﻋﻠﻰ أن ﯾﻜﻮن اﻟﻌﺪد اﻟﻠﻰ ﻗﺒﻠﮫ ﻋﺪد زوﺟﻰ ‪ ،‬وﻋﻠﻰ ﻛﻞ ﻋﺪد ‪7‬‬
‫‪cancellation Test‬‬ ‫ﯾﻘﺎﺑﻠﻚ ﻋﻠﻰ أن ﯾﻜﻮن اﻟﻌﺪد اﻟﻠﻰ ﻗﺒﻠﮫ ﻋﺪد ﻓﺮدى"‪.‬‬
‫ﻣﺜﺎل‪:‬‬

‫‪7‬‬ ‫‪2‬‬ ‫‪3‬‬ ‫‪5‬‬ ‫‪6‬‬ ‫‪2‬‬ ‫‪7‬‬ ‫‪9‬‬ ‫‪4‬‬ ‫‪5‬‬ ‫‪3‬‬ ‫‪8‬‬ ‫‪5‬‬ ‫‪1‬‬ ‫‪8‬‬ ‫‪3‬‬ ‫‪6‬‬
‫‪6‬‬ ‫‪8‬‬ ‫‪3‬‬ ‫‪6‬‬ ‫‪5‬‬ ‫‪7‬‬ ‫‪3‬‬ ‫‪6‬‬ ‫‪9‬‬ ‫‪4‬‬ ‫‪5‬‬ ‫‪3‬‬ ‫‪2‬‬ ‫‪7‬‬ ‫‪6‬‬ ‫‪1‬‬ ‫‪4‬‬
‫‪7‬‬ ‫‪9‬‬ ‫‪4‬‬ ‫‪6‬‬ ‫‪7‬‬ ‫‪5‬‬ ‫‪9‬‬ ‫‪2‬‬ ‫‪4‬‬ ‫‪5‬‬ ‫‪7‬‬ ‫‪8‬‬ ‫‪3‬‬ ‫‪6‬‬ ‫‪3‬‬ ‫‪2‬‬ ‫‪5‬‬
‫‪1‬‬ ‫‪8‬‬ ‫‪3‬‬ ‫‪6‬‬ ‫‪1‬‬ ‫‪2‬‬ ‫‪9‬‬ ‫‪6‬‬ ‫‪8‬‬ ‫‪3‬‬ ‫‪7‬‬ ‫‪3‬‬ ‫‪2‬‬ ‫‪5‬‬ ‫‪6‬‬ ‫‪7‬‬ ‫‪1‬‬
‫واﻵن واﺻﻞ اﻟﻌﻤﻞ ﺑﻨﻔﺲ اﻟﻄﺮﯾﻘﺔ إﻟﻰ آﺧﺮ اﻟﺼﻔﺤﮫ‬
‫‪1‬‬ ‫‪2‬‬ ‫‪5‬‬ ‫‪6‬‬ ‫‪9‬‬ ‫‪1‬‬ ‫‪3‬‬ ‫‪6‬‬ ‫‪3‬‬ ‫‪1‬‬ ‫‪9‬‬ ‫‪2‬‬ ‫‪5‬‬ ‫‪6‬‬ ‫‪3‬‬ ‫‪7‬‬ ‫‪1‬‬
‫‪2‬‬ ‫‪6‬‬ ‫‪7‬‬ ‫‪8‬‬ ‫‪2‬‬ ‫‪7‬‬ ‫‪3‬‬ ‫‪6‬‬ ‫‪8‬‬ ‫‪1‬‬ ‫‪8‬‬ ‫‪3‬‬ ‫‪4‬‬ ‫‪5‬‬ ‫‪7‬‬ ‫‪8‬‬ ‫‪9‬‬
‫‪9‬‬ ‫‪3‬‬ ‫‪6‬‬ ‫‪8‬‬ ‫‪4‬‬ ‫‪8‬‬ ‫‪1‬‬ ‫‪7‬‬ ‫‪5‬‬ ‫‪6‬‬ ‫‪1‬‬ ‫‪2‬‬ ‫‪9‬‬ ‫‪3‬‬ ‫‪7‬‬ ‫‪1‬‬ ‫‪8‬‬
‫‪3‬‬ ‫‪7‬‬ ‫‪2‬‬ ‫‪5‬‬ ‫‪6‬‬ ‫‪3‬‬ ‫‪1‬‬ ‫‪2‬‬ ‫‪7‬‬ ‫‪5‬‬ ‫‪6‬‬ ‫‪2‬‬ ‫‪9‬‬ ‫‪3‬‬ ‫‪6‬‬ ‫‪1‬‬ ‫‪4‬‬
‫‪6‬‬ ‫‪5‬‬ ‫‪8‬‬ ‫‪3‬‬ ‫‪1‬‬ ‫‪2‬‬ ‫‪7‬‬ ‫‪9‬‬ ‫‪1‬‬ ‫‪6‬‬ ‫‪4‬‬ ‫‪7‬‬ ‫‪1‬‬ ‫‪3‬‬ ‫‪2‬‬ ‫‪7‬‬ ‫‪6‬‬
EXCELLENCE IS IN THE DETAILS.“

GIVE ATTENTION TO THE

DETAILS AND EXCELLENCE WILL
COME.”

PERRY PAXTON
 2.

Practice
attention Manage how you
speak to
3. Remember that
yourself
in order to improve
2.Whenever you
your concentration
1. Don’t say you need to focus
you need to train
cannot concentrate. your mind, tell
it, like any other
Manage how you yourself over and
again that you skill. Train to
speak to yourself
can concentrate. focus your mind on
Telling yourself that
Tell yourself that anything you want.
you cannot
you can develop Paying attention is
concentrate only
this ability. something that is
makes it more
learned. It can also
difficult. By doing so,
be taught.
you program your
mind to lack of
concentration and
attention.
 2.

Practice 5. When you focus

your attention on
attention anything, be alert,
and when you find
yourself thinking on
something else, try
to stay patient, and
4. Make deals with bring your mind 6. Often, when
your mind. to the subject
If there is something you remember, try
that is distracting your again and again. to fix your
attention, such as
emotional problems or
attention on
unresolved business whatever you
problems, tell your mind happen to be doing
that all these problems
can wait for a little
at the moment.
while, and that you will
attend to them after
you finish what you are
doing.
 Get .7
some
Practice .exercise

attention
.12 Drink .8
Focus—and more
.Refocus .fluids

Take stock .9
Work on .11
of the
one set
important
objective at a
things in your
.time
.life

Get rid .10

of obvious
.distractions
 14. Increase the
strength of your focus
Practice gradually. 
If you decide you want to
attention physically get in shape,
but are starting at
ground zero, the worst
thing you can do is to
13. Adjust the task. throw yourself into an
If you've tried just extreme training program
about everything, and – you’ll end up injured,
you're finding that your discouraged, or both, and
still can't stay focused you’ll quit before you
on the task at hand, you even really get started.
may want to break the
task down into smaller
parts – ones that can be
completed independent
of each other in less
time.
Diagnosing ADHD: DSM-IV
● Lacks attention to detail;
makes careless mistakes
Attention ● Inattentiveness: ● has difficulty sustaining
attention
deficits ● doesn’t seem to listen
Has a minimum of 6 ● fails to follow
symptoms regularly through/fails to finish
projects
for the past six ● has difficulty organizing
months. tasks
● avoids tasks requiring
mental effort
Symptoms are present at ● often loses items
necessary for completing
abnormal levels for a task
stage of development ● easily distracted
● is forgetful in daily
activities
 Diagnosing ADHD: DSM-IV
● Hyperactivity/
Attention Impulsivity:
deficits
Has a minimum of 6 symptoms
regularly for the past six months.
Symptoms are present at
abnormal levels for stage of
development
● Fidgets or squirms
excessively
● leaves seat when
inappropriate
● runs about/climbs
extensively when
inappropriate
● has difficulty playing
quietly
● often “on the go” or
“driven by a motor”
● talks excessively
● blurts out answers
before question is
finished
● cannot await turn
● interrupts or intrudes
on others
 Diagnosing ADHD: DSM-IV
Attention
deficits ● Symptoms causing
● Additional impairment present
before age 7
Criteria:
● Impairment from
symptoms occurs in two
or more settings
● Clear evidence of
significant impairment
(social, academic, etc.)
● Symptoms not better
accounted for by
another mental disorder
ADHD and the Brain II
● Similarities of ADHD symptoms to those from
injuries and lesions of frontal lobe and prefrontal
Attention cortex
deficits ● MRIs of ADHD patients show:
● Smaller anterior right frontal lobe
● abnormal development in the frontal and
striatal regions
● Significantly smaller splenium of corpus
callosum
● decreased communication and processing of
information between hemispheres
Read out loud the text inside the
.triangle
?What do you see
What do you see?
Now, what do you see?
 The perceptual
process allows us
to experience the
world around us.

take a moment to
think of all the
things you perceive
on a daily basis. At
any given moment,
All of these things help

make up our conscious

experience and allow us
to interact with the people
and objects around us.
FROM SENSATION TO
REPRESENTATION
■ we will learn more
about how we go from
detecting stimuli in
the environment to
actually taking
action based on that
information.
What Is Perception?
■ the analysis of
sensory
information
within the brain.
■ involves brain
organizing and
interpreting
this raw data or
giving it
meaning.
Steps in the
Perceptual Process

The perceptual process is a sequence of steps that begins

with the environment and leads to our perception of a
stimulus and action in response to the stimulus.

This process is continual, but you do not spend a great deal

of time thinking about the actual process that occurs when
you perceive the many stimuli that surround you at any
1) The
Environmental
Stimulus
The world is full of stimuli that
can attract our attention through
various senses.
This might include anything that can
be seen, touched, tasted, smelled, Imagine that you are
out on a morning
or heard. It might also involve the walking heading to
your university.
movements of the arms and legs or
the change in position of the body
in relation to objects in the
environment.
2) The Attended
Stimulus
The attended stimulus is the specific object
in the environment on which our attention is
focused.

In many cases, we might focus on stimuli that

are familiar to us, such as the face of a
friend in a crowd of strangers at the local
coffee shop.
In other instances, we are likely to attend to
stimuli that have some degree of novelty.
3) The Image
on the Retina
*The eye relies on light which
passes through the cornea

*This light is focused by the

lens and the cornea onto the
retina.

*It is the receptor cells in the

retina that translate the light
into images.
3) The Image
on the Retina
*As you might already be aware, the
image on the retina is actually upside
down from the actual image in the
environment.
*At this stage of the perceptual
process, this is not terribly
important.
*The image has still not been
perceived, and this visual information
will be changed even more
dramatically in the next step of the
process.
4) Transduction

* The image on the retina is

then transformed into
electrical signals in a
process known as
transduction. This allows
the visual messages to be
transmitted to the brain to
be interpreted.
5) Neural
Processing

*The electrical signals then

undergo neural processing. The
path followed by a particular
signal depends on what type of
signal it is (i.e. an auditory signal
or a visual signal).
*Through the series of
interconnecting neurons located
throughout the body, electrical
signals reach the brain.
 6) Perception
* In the next step of the
perception process, we actually
perceive the stimulus object in
the environment.
* It is at this point that we
become consciously aware of the
stimulus.
Perception occurs when the informational medium
carries information about a distal object of a
person. When the person’s sense receptors pick up
on the information, we never experience the
distal stimulus directly. Energy from it must
activate our sensory system. We call the
information that reaches our sensory receptors
the proximal stimulation.
Perceptual Proximal Information Distal Object Modality
Object Stimulation medium

Grandma’s face Photon Reflected light Grandma’s Vision—

absorption in from Grandma’s Face sight
the rod face (visible
and cone cells electromagnetic
of the retina, waves)
the
receptor
surface in the
back of
the eye
(physical
representation
of the stimulus)
 7) Recognition

*Perception doesn't just involve becoming

consciously aware of the stimuli.

*It is also necessary for our brain to categorize

and interpret what it is we are sensing.

*Our ability to interpret and give meaning to the

object is known as recognition.
8) Action

*The final step of the perceptual

process involves some sort of
action in response to the
environmental stimulus.
*This could involve a variety of
actions, such as turning your head
for a closer look or turning away
to look at something else.
The action phase of perceptual
development involves some type of
motor activity that occurs in
response to the perceived and
recognized stimulus.
Observer Characteristics

• Motivation and
Many emotion
• Values
personal • Expectations
factors • Cognitive style
influence • Experience and
perceptions culture
• Personality
 Motivation and
Despite the fact that Emotion – people’s
all humans have the
same sense organs and desires, needs, and
perceptual capabilities, fears shape their
several personal perceptions.
factors can influence
one’s perceptions.

Values – the value that

people place on an
object can influence
their perception of the
object.

Cognitive style – people develop

ways of dealing with the
environment that affect how they Expectations – people
perceive the world. see what they expect
For example, field-dependent to see, overlooking
individuals tend to perceive the stimuli that are
environment as a whole and do not inconsistent with their
tend to focus on individual features expectations.
or objects in their visual field.
Field-independent individuals tend
to analyze the field and become
interested in its details.
Experience and Culture –
cultural differences cause
people to attend to different
things while viewing the same
image; a person’s attention is
often drawn to what is novel.
Also, a person with much
experience or expertise in a
subject can perceive more
subtle features of a stimulus
than someone with less
experience or expertise.

Personality – personality
characteristics can serve to
prime individuals or make
them more likely to perceive
stimuli that are consistent
with characteristics of
their personality.
 INVESTIGATING COGNITIVE
PSYCHOLOGY
The Ganzfeld Effect
Cut a Ping-Pong ball in two halves or use two plastic spoons.
Paint them uniformly in red, for example, making sure there
are no streaks so that you really have one uniform field of
color. Put the ball halves or the spoons over your eyes so that
your eyes are completely covered. Then gaze toward a light
source for a few minutes. At some point, your perception will
change from the color red to gray because your cells have
adapted to the constant stimulus. Some people also perceive
hallucinations and experience altered states of consciousness
when exposed to a Ganzfeld (Wackermann, Puetz, & Allefeld,
2008).
 CAN MESSAGES
OUTSIDE OUR
AWARENESS AFFECT
?OUR BEHAVIOR
 Concept of absolute threshold implies that some
events occur below our awareness

Perception
Subliminal Implies possibility of presenting stimuli
subliminally

Subtle effect on behavior in laboratory setting

Subliminal
Perception

Some messages occur subliminally – below one’s

level of awareness. The ongoing debate is whether
or not subliminal messages influence behavior.
In a controlled laboratory setting, people
can process and respond to information
presented subliminally.
Subliminal message outside the laboratory
has no significant effect on behavior.
Perceptual Processing
Gestalt Principles
Rules that summarize how we tend to organize bits and pieces of information into
meaningful wholes

■ Gestalt Psychology
Tend to perceive the world in wholes. Gestalt means whole, shape, or form.
■ Similarity
* We group like things
* One of these things is not like the other
■ Closure
* We have fill in the details to complete a picture
* I don’t have a problem with closure…
■ Proximity
* We group things that are near
Gestalt Principles of Perceptual
Organization
 HOW DO WE PERCEIVE
THINGS AS UNCHANGING
DESPITE CHANGING
?SENSORY INFORMATION
Perceptual Constancies

Perceptual constancy
Size constancy

Shape constancy

Color constancy

Brightness
constancy
Size

Objects are
perceived as
remaining
the same
size
regardless
of distance.
Color and Brightness

Objects are
perceived as
remaining the
same color and
brightness
regardless of
lighting
Space

The ability
to keep
objects in
the
environment
steady
What is an
illusion?

Caused by
an
Muller-Lyer illusion
inaccurate
One line is perceived
perception as being farther away
so we mentally
stretch it. This make
it appear longer.
What is an
illusion?

Reversible Figure
One object is
interpreted in an
alternate
manner
 Deficits in
Perception

■ Clearly, cognitive psychologists learn a great deal

about normal perceptual processes by studying
perception in normal participants. However, we
also often gain understanding of perception by
studying people whose perceptual processes differ
from the norm.
 Agnosias
and
Ataxias

Remember that there are two distinct visual pathways, one for identifying objects
(“what”), the other for pinpointing where objects are located in space and how to
manipulate them (“where” or “how”).

Difficulties
Perceiving
the “What”

■ Consider first the “what.” People who suffer from an agnosia have trouble to perceive
sensory information.
■ Agnosias often are caused by damage to the border of the temporal and occipital lobes
or restricted oxygen flow to areas of the brain, sometimes as a result of traumatic brain
injury. There are many kinds of agnosias. Not all of them are visual.
Difficulties
Perceiving
the “What”

■ Generally, people with agnosia have normal sensations of what is in front of them.
They can perceive the colors and shapes of objects and persons but they cannot
recognize what the objects are—they have trouble with the “what” pathway.
■ People who suffer from visual-object agnosia can see all parts of the visual field,
but the objects they see do not mean anything to them. For example, one agnosic
patient, on seeing a pair of eyeglasses, noted first that there was a circle, then
that there was another circle, then that there was a crossbar and finally guessed
that he was looking at a bicycle. A bicycle does, indeed, comprise two circles and a
crossbar.
 Difficulties
in Knowing
the “How”

■ A different kind of perceptual deficit is associated with damage to the “how”

pathway. This deficit is optic ataxia, which is an impairment in the ability to
use the visual system to guide movement.
■ People with this deficit have trouble reaching for things. All of us have had the
experience of coming home at night and trying to find the keyhole in the front
door. It’s too dark to see, and we have to grope with our key for the keyhole,
often taking quite a while to find it. Someone with optic ataxia has this problem
even with a fully lit visual field. The “how” pathway is impaired.

■ Ataxia results from a processing failure in the posterior parietal cortex, where
sensorimotor information is processed. People with ataxia can
improve their movements toward a visible aim when they hold off with their
movements for a few seconds.