Sensation and Perception

Let’s begin with some basic

definitions…
 Sense – physical system that receives physical
stimulation from surrounding environment and
translates that stimulation into an electrochemical
message
 Sensation – detecting physical energy in environment
and encoding it as neural signals. Neurons transmit
the information from the sense organ to the brain.
 Perception – processing of information done by the
brain – mental processes that organize and interpret
sensory information that has been transmitted to the
brain.
 Perception
Gestalt principles of perceptual organization
 Figure-ground
 Organization depends on what we see as figure (object) and
what we perceive a ground (context).
 Similarity
 Objects that have similar characteristics are perceived as unit.
 Proximity
 Objects close together in space or time perceived as
belonging together.
 Continuity
 We tend to perceive figures or objects as belonging together if
they appear to form a continuous pattern.
 Closure
 We perceive figures with gaps in them to be complete.
 Gestalt principles of perceptual
organization
 Figure-ground
perception
 You can see a white
vase as figure against
a black background,
or two black faces in
profile on a white
background
 Gestalt principles of
perceptual organization
 Proximity
 Marks that are near
one another tend to
be grouped together
Gestalt principles of perceptual
organization
 Closure
 We tend to fill in gaps
in a figure
 Similarity
 Marks that look alike
tend to be grouped
together
Gestalt principles of perceptual
organization
 Continuity
 Marks that tend to fall along a smooth curve
or a straight line tend to be grouped together
 Perceptual Organization
 Perceptual Constancy
 Our tendency to
perceive objects as
stable and unchanging
despite changing
sensory information
 Size constancy
 Shape constancy
 Brightness constancy
 Color constancy
 Depth Perception
 How is it that we perceive a 3-dimensional world
when our eyes only project a 2-dimensional
image on our retinas??!
 Our brain uses different cues to perceive depth
 Binocular disparity
 Since we use both our eyes to focus on an image, the angles
used by each eye to put the image on the fovea of our retina
is used by the brain to perceive distance
 Depth Perception
 Monocular cues
 Our brain also uses information from the stimulus that does
not involve our use of both eyes
 Motion
 Specifies distance of an object based on its movement
 Motion parallax
 Texture gradient
 Progressive changes in surface texture that signal distance
 Linear perspective
 Parallel objects seem to get closer together as they get farther away
Texture Gradient
Linear Perspective
 Color Blindness
 Inability to perceive colors
 Total color blindness is rare
 Color Weakness: Inability to distinguish some
colors
 Ishihara Test: Test for color blindness and color
weakness
 Perception

 Illusion
 A false perception of actual stimuli involving a
misperception of size, shape, or the relationship of
one element to another
 Illusion

 Müller-Lyer Illusion
– The two lines above are the same length, but the
diagonals extending outward from both ends of the
lower line make it look longer than the upper line
 Extrasensory Perception (ESP):
Fact or Fallacy?
 Parapsychology: Study of ESP and other psi phenomena
(events that seem to defy accepted scientific laws)
 Clairvoyance: Purported ability to perceive events
unaffected by distance or normal physical barriers
 Telepathy: Purported ability to read someone else’s
mind
 Precognition: Purported ability to accurately predict
the future
 Psychokinesis (Mind Over Matter): Purported ability to
influence inanimate objects by willpower
Thank you