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Sensation, Perception and Attention

All outside information comes into us through our senses.

Sensation—the process of detecting, receiving, converting, and transmitting information

resulting from stimulation of sensory receptors.

Perception—the process of selecting, identifying, organizing, and interpreting sensory

input into a useful and meaningful mental representation of the world in the light of relevant

memories from past experiences.

Attention- is the focus of consciousness on a particular object or idea at a particular time,

to the exclusion of other objects or ideas.

Basic functions

The basic function of sensation is detection of sensory stimuli, whereas perception

generally involves interpretation of the same stimuli.

Our senses tell us something is out there. Our perception tells us what that something is.

In practice, sensation and perception are virtually impossible to separate, because they are

part of one continuous process.

The Human Senses

Vision (sense of sight) sensitive to light energy

Auditory (sense of hearing) stimulated by sound energy

Olfaction (sense of smell) stimulates our nostrils by chemical energy

Gustation (sense of taste)

Tactile (skin senses for pressure, temperature, pain) thermal energy

Vestibular (sense of balance)

Kinesthesia (sense of posture and movement)

Organic (sensation from internal organs such as hunger, thirst, drowsiness)

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The Processes of Sensation and Perception

How Sensation and Perception Work?

Our sense organs translate physical energy from the environment into electrical impulses

processed by the brain. For example, light, in the form of electromagnetic radiation, causes

receptor cells in our eyes to activate and send signals to the brain.

But we do not understand these signals as pure energy. The process of perception

allows us to interpret them as objects, events, people, and situations.

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Without the ability to organize and interpret sensations, life would seem like a

meaningless jumble of colors, shapes, and sounds. A person without any perceptual ability would

not be able to recognize faces, understand language, or avoid threats.

Sensory Reduction

The process in which we filter and analyze sensory information before they are sent to

the brain.

Why do we need to reduce the amount of sensory information we receive?

So that the brain is not overwhelmed with unnecessary information because it needs to be

free to respond to stimuli that have meaning for survival. All species have evolved selective

receptors that suppress or amplify information to allow survival.

Parts of the Brain Stimulated by Senses

Synesthesia— literally means “mixing of senses,” people with synesthesia routinely

blend their sensory experience.

Sensory adaptation— repeated or constant stimulation decreases the number of sensory

messages sent to the brain, which causes decreased sensation.

Threshold—refers to a point above which a stimulus is perceived and below which it is

not perceived. It determines when we first become aware of a stimulus.

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Sensory Thresholds

How close does an approaching bumble bee have to be before you can hear it buzzing?

How far does a brewing coffee pot have to be, for you to detect the aroma of the coffee?

Difference threshold—or just noticeable difference, is the smallest change in stimulus

that we can detect. Example: An artist might detect the difference between two very similar

shades of color

Absolute threshold— the smallest amount of stimulus that can be detected.

▪ When a stimulus has more energy than the absolute threshold, we can detect its

presence.

▪ When a stimulus has less energy than the absolute threshold, we cannot detect its

presence.

▪ People have different thresholds, because some People have better hearing than others,

and some People have better visions than others.

Understanding Perception

What is Perception?

The word perception comes from the Latin perception-, percepio, meaning "receiving,

collecting, action of taking possession, apprehension with the mind or senses." To identify a

pattern of sensory input is to categorize it, in which various expectations, motives, experiences

are brought into play.

The Perceptual Process

The first step in perception is selection—choosing where to direct our attention.

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Role of Attention in Perception

What is the Nature of Attention?

What are the Determinants of Attention?

Nature— whether visual or auditory, words or images, animate or inanimate objects

Reality— real, concrete things are more attention-getting than hypothetical, abstract or

Mental

Familiarity— people pay more attention to things that are familiar

Location/Proximity— we pay attention to things that are near than those that are far

Novelty— we pay attention to things that are new and different in contrast to what is

customary

Suspense— people pay attention to things that build suspense.

Conflict— people pay attention to a good fight.

Humor— people pay attention to things that are funny.

The vital people nearly always pay attention to matters that affect their health, reputation,

property, or employment.
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Activity—things that move, flash or blink

Intensity—sounds that are louder are more attention-getting than soft music

The Second step in perception is Organize: Having selected incoming information, we

organize it into patterns and principles that will help us understand the world.

The Final step in perception is Interpretation: After selectively sorting through

incoming sensory information and organizing it into patterns, the brain uses this information to

explain and make judgments about the external world.

Try to read the following passage

Can you read this text when it is upside down?

Knowledge and experience are extremely important for perception because they help us

make sense of the input to our sensory systems. In the example above, you did not stop to read

every single letter carefully. Instead, you probably perceived whole words and phrases.

Principles of Perceptual Organization

1) Law of Proximity

In mentally organizing stimuli, objects that are physically close to one another are

grouped together or seen as a unit.

2) Law of Similarity

In organizing stimuli, elements that appear similar in color, lightness, texture, shape, or

any other quality are grouped together.

3) Law of Continuity
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The law of continuity leads us to see a line as continuing in a particular direction, rather

than making an abrupt turn. We tend to favor smooth or continuous paths when interpreting a

series of points or lines.

4) Law of Closure
In organizing stimuli, we tend to fill in any missing part or incomplete figures and see
them as complete figures.

5) Law of Symmetry

In organizing stimuli, we tend to favor symmetrical objects or relationships.

6) Law of Prägnanz

The law of prägnanz is sometimes referred to as the law of good figure or the law of

simplicity. This law holds that when you're presented with a set of ambiguous or complex

objects, your brain will make them appear as simple as possible. For example, when presented

with the Olympic logo, you see overlapping circles rather than an assortment of curved,

connected lines.

The word prägnanz is a German term meaning "good figure."

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7) Law of Figure and Ground

In organizing a stimulus, we tend to automatically distinguish between a figure or

foreground (object with more details) and a ground (has less detail).

Reversible Figures

Gestalt psychologists have devised ambiguous figure- ground relationships— that is,

drawings in which the figure and ground can be reversed—to illustrate their point that the whole

is different from the sum of its parts. Reversible figures are those objects that are so shaped that

both may be seen as either the figure or the ground— the object that the individual is set to

perceive will probably be noticed first.

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What do you see?

Factors that Influence Perception

Personal characteristics that affect perception include a person’s attitudes, personality,

motives, interests, past experiences, and expectations. There are some factors that influence

the target such as- novelty, motion, sounds, size, background, proximity, similarity, etc.

Characteristics of the target being observed can affect what is perceived. Because targets

are not looked at in isolation, the relationship of a target to its background also influences

perception, as does our tendency to group close things and similar things together.

There are also some situational factors like the time of perceiving others, work settings,

social settings, etc. which influence the perception process.

Besides these, there are some other factors like perceptual learning which is based on

past experiences or any special training that we get, every one of us learns to emphasize some

sensory inputs and to ignore others.

Another factor is the mental set, which refers to preparedness or readiness to receive

some sensory input. Such expectancy keeps the individual prepared with good attention and

concentration. The level of knowledge we have may also change the way we perceive his or her

behaviors.
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For Example

If a person knows that her friend is stressed out over family problems, then she might

overlook her snappy comments. Learning has a considerable influence on perception. It creates

expectancy in people. The nature of the things which have to be perceived is also an influential

factor. By nature, we mean, whether the object is visual or auditory, and whether it involves

pictures, people, or animals.

Perception is determined by both physiological and psychological characteristics of the

human being whereas sensation is conceived with only the physiological features.

Thus, perception is not just what one sees with the eyes it is a much more complex

process by which an individual selectively absorbs or assimilates the stimuli in the environment,

cognitively organizes the perceived information in a specific fashion and then interprets the

information to make an assessment about what is going on in one’s environment. When an

individual looks at a target and attempts to interpret what he or she sees that interpretation is

heavily influenced by the personal characteristics of the individual perceiver.

Errors in Perception

As seen above perception is the process of analyzing and understanding a stimulus as it

is. But it may not be always possible to perceive the stimuli as they are. Knowingly or

unknowingly, we mistake the stimulus and perceive it wrongly. Many times, the prejudices in the

individual, time of perception, unfavorable background, lack of clarity of stimulus, confusion,

conflict in mind and such other factors are responsible for errors in perception.

There are some errors in perception.

 Illusion  Stereotyping  Contrast

 Hallucination  Similarity

 Halo Effect  Horn Effect

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Illusion

The illusion is a false perception. Here the person will mistake a stimulus and perceive it

wrongly. For example, in the dark, a rope is mistaken as a snake or vice versa. The voice of an

unknown person is mistaken as a friend’s voice. A person standing at a distance who is not

known may be perceived as a known person.

Hallucination

Sometimes we come across instances where the individual perceives some stimulus, even

when it is not present. This phenomenon is known as a hallucination. The person may see an

object, person, etc. or he may listen to some voice though there are no objects and sounds in

reality.

Selective Perception

Selective perception means the situation when people selectively interpret what they see

on the basis of their interests, background, experience, and attitudes. It means any characteristics

that make a person, object, or event stand out will increase the probability that it will be

perceived. Because it is impossible for us to assimilate everything we see, only certain stimuli

can be taken in.

Halo Effect

The individual is evaluated on the basis of perceived positive quality, feature or trait.

When we draw a general impression about an individual on the basis of a single characteristic,

such as intelligence, sociability, or appearance, a halo effect is operating. In other words, this is

the tendency to rate a man uniformly high or low in other traits if he is extraordinarily high or

low in one particular trait: If a worker has few absences, his supervisor might give him a high

rating in all other areas of work.

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Stereotyping

People usually can fall into at least one general category based on physical or behavioral

traits then they will be evaluated. When we judge someone on the basis of our perception of the

group to which he or she belongs, we are using the shortcut called stereotyping. or example, a

boss might assume that a worker from a Middle East country is lazy and cannot meet

performance objectives, even if the worker tried his best.

Similarity

Often, people tend to seek out and rate more positively those who are similar to

themselves. This tendency to approve of similarity may cause evaluators to give better ratings to

employees who exhibit the same interests, work methods, points of view or standards.

Horn Effect
When the individual is completely evaluated on the basis of a negative quality or feature

perceived. This results in an overall lower rating than an acceptable rate. He is not formally

dressed up in the office, that’s why he may be casual at work too.

Contrast

The tendency to rate people relative to other people rather than to the individual

performance he or she is doing. Rather will evaluate an employee by comparing that employee’s

performance with other employees.

In the early 20th Century, Wilhelm Wundt identified contrast as a fundamental principle

of perception, and since then the effect has been confirmed in many different areas. These effects

shape not only visual qualities like color and brightness but other kinds of perception, including

how heavy an object feels. One experiment found that thinking of the name “Hitler” led to

subjects rating a person as more hostile.

Basically, we use the above shortcuts when we judge others. Perceiving and interpreting

what others do is burdensome. As a result, individuals develop techniques for making the task

more manageable.
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These techniques are frequently valuable-they allow us to make accurate perceptions

rapidly and provide valid data for making projections. But sometimes it also creates problems.

Because firstly, we have said that these are the shortcuts. In these ways, we can judge others in a

short period of time but sometimes we mistakenly judge others by these shortcuts.

When Perception Fails

Perception often provides a false interpretation of sensory information. Such cases are

known as illusions, a term used by psychologists to refer to incorrect perceptions. There are two

types of illusions: those due to physical processes and those due to cognitive processes.

Illusions due to distortion of physical conditions include hallucination, in which an individual

perceives objects which are non-existent, as for example, water on a dry road.

Cognitive processes result in many illusions but more common shape illusions which

often result in unsettling consequences. Consider a real-world example involving the Poggendorf

illusion.

In this illusion, a line disappears at an angle behind a solid figure, reappearing at the other

side at what seems to be the incorrect position. Incorrect perceptions of the world around them

may lead to problems for personnel.

Budding managers who flame out do so because they fail to read situations properly and

act accordingly. They develop poor working relationships, are too authoritarian, or have a

conflict with upper management. As a result, their careers come to screeching halt. This should

be avoided and they had been able to correctly perceive what they should be doing and had the

emotional maturity and ability to make the necessary changes.

Extra Sensory Perception

A phenomenon related to the study of perception and well known in the popular domain

is called extrasensory perception (ESP). The belief is that one can have a perceptual experience

without any sensory input. Types of reported ESPs include

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 Mental telepathy, the ability to read another person's thoughts

 Forecasting, the ability to predict future incidents accurately (for example, who will win

a race or engage in a particular activity)

 Clairvoyance, the awareness of some event that one cannot see (for example, knowing

where a body is hidden)

 Psychokinesis, the ability to cause things to move by virtue of thought processes.