Sensation, What is Perception?

what are Illusions?

Chap: 04
 Sensation
 Sensation is a process that makes possible, and facilitates our
contact with reality

 ‘To sense’ means to become aware of something

 All living organisms have sense organs. Sensation is the

process by which our sense organs respond to different
stimuli

 It is the mechanism through which stimuli from outside or

inside the body are received and felt by different faculties
e.g., hearing, sight, smell, touch, taste, and equilibrium
 Perception
Perception is:
 The process by which sensory information is actively
organized and interpreted by the brain.

 The process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting raw

sensory data into useful mental representations of the
world.

 The brain interprets and organizes this sensory

information in a process called perception.
LO 3.1 Sensation and the central nervous system
How is Perception Different from
Sensation?

 Sensation
 raw sensory data that the brain
receives from the senses
 Perception
 process of organizing, interpreting,
and giving meaning to that raw data
Example
 For example, upon walking into a kitchen and smelling
the scent of baking cinnamon rolls, the sensation is the
scent receptors detecting the odor of cinnamon, but the
perception may be “Mmm, this smells like the bread
Grandma used to bake when the family gathered for
holidays.”
Factors of Perception
 Subject Factor
 Objective Factor
Subjective Factors
Motives or Needs
 When people are motivated, they tend to see and hear what they want
to hear.
Interests and Values
 Interest and values have a great deal to do with perception

Age
 Age brings a change in perception as well.

Preparatory set
 This refers to a person’s readiness to respond to one kind sensory
input.
Social and Cultural Factors Social Factors
 The normal perceptual experiences of a culture may lead its members
to develop perceptual biases.
Objective Factors
Intensity
 The brighter a light, the more likely is to be in focus of
perception.
Size
 A big size picture is more likely to be noticed than a
smaller size.
Movement:
 Bird sitting quietly on tree are not quickly perceived as
compared to ones about fly.
Novelty:
 A novel thing is perceived sooner than old and used
things.
 Position
Duration:
 Duration also affects the perception.

Repetition:
 Repetition causes us to adapt to repeated stimulus
Kinds of Perception
Form Perception
 Perception depends on sensory information's. On the base
of these information, different forms and patterns are
perceived.
 According to wood worth, perceptual organization is
based on two thinks:
 Figure
 Ground
Background
Figure
Perception of Movement
Movement or Motion is perceived by following the progressive
change of an object’s position in space with time. It has two types

Real Movement:
 The perception of the actual movement of objects in the world
is termed as “real motion/movement “perception”.

Apparent Movement
 It is movement perceived in the absence of physical movement
of an image across the retina. This can be produced by a rapid
succession of motionless stimuli that minimize the changes that
occur in real movement.
Apparent Movement
Fig. 3-39
Illusion
Illusion
 Something that looks or seems different from what it is
something that is false or not real but that seems to be true
or real.
Visual Illusions
 Types of illusions
 Physical Illusions where the cause of the illusion is in the
behavior of the light before it reaches the eye causing us to see
something that isn't physically there
 An example of a physical illusion might be seeing water on the road
such as a mirage.
Visual Illusions
 Types of illusions
 Perceptual Illusions which occur because the stimulus contains
misleading cues that give rise to inaccurate or impossible
perceptions
 perceptual illusions can be seen in the images presented here
Fig. 3-38
Fig. 3-39
 Causes of Illusions
 Sensory deficits and defects
 Readiness and expectation
 Atmospheric variables
 Effect of drugs
 Artistic manipulation