Sensation and Perception

Instructor
Ms. Mehreen Ashraf
 What is what?

Sensation Perception
The process of detecting physical The mental process of organizing
energies with the sensory organs. sensations into meaningful
patterns.
 Sensation (Concept of Threshold)
Types of Senses: (Visual, Hearing, Touch, Smell & Taste)
Stimulus: Any source of physical energy that activates a sense organ.
Absolute Threshold of Sensation: The minimum amount of physical
energy necessary to produce a sensation/
Minimum stimulation needed to register a particular stimulus fifty
percent of the time.
Differential Threshold/Just Noticeable Difference (JND): The
minimum difference between two stimuli that is detectable to an
observer.
 Weber’s Law
The size of JND is proportional to the intensity of the
stimulus.
• If the stimulus intensity is high=the difference/JND
required will also be large
• For example: ??
• If the stimulus intensity is low, the JND/ difference
required will be smaller
• For example: ??
 Subliminal Threshold
• When stimuli are below one’s absolute threshold for conscious
awareness.
•  An example would be Visual Stimuli that is flashed so quickly on a screen
that a person can't process it so therefore they are unaware they have seen
anything.
• Subliminal stimulation can also be Auditory where a noise is played so quietly
it cannot be consciously heard. 
QUESTION?
Is it a good marketing strategy?
Can subliminal messages make target population buy something that you are
marketing?
 Signal Detection Theory
• Predicts how and when we detect the presence of a faint
stimulus (signal) amid background noise (other stimulation).
• Assumes that there is no single absolute threshold and
detection depends on:
• Person’s experience
• Expectations
• Motivation
• Level of fatigue
 Perception
• Every experience is a perceptual connection
• According to Pillsbury, perception is the combination
of sensation and memory.
Perception= Sensation + Memory
 Gestalt Law’s of Perception and
Perceptual Organization
How are sensations organized into perceptions?
• The Gestalt psychologists proposed that the simplest organization
involves grouping some sensations into an object, or figure, that stands
out on a plainer background.
Gestalt Law’s of Perception (Continued)
How are sensations organized into perceptions?

The complete perception

The whole is bigger
Gestalt of a thing is more perfect
than the sum of it’s
Psychologists and organized than the
parts
analysis of it’s parts

They say that individual organizes

things or stimuli into groups during
perception
 Gestalt Law’s of Perception (Continued)
The laws whereby stimuli are grouped are called laws of Perceptual
Organization.
• Figure and Ground
• Proximity
• Similarity
• Good Form
• Good Continuation
• Closure
• Simplicity