San Beda CollegeCollege of Arts and SciencesDepartment of Psychology

Refers to the process of receiving stimulus energies from the external environment.

The registry of stimulus to any of our sense organs.

The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information to give it meaning.

The process of analyzing information that went through the process of sensation.Note:

the purpose of perception is to represent information from the outside world.

DETECTING PROCESSING INTERPRETING

where TRANSDUCTION happens

information travels throughneural networks (AFFERENT)

information reaches the brain for PERCEPTION

begins with sensory receptors registering environmental information and sending it to the brain for integration and cognitive processing.

processing of perceptual information that starts out with cognitive processing at the higher levels of the brain.

All sensations begin with SENSORY RECEPTORS

SENSORY RECEPTORS are specialized cells that detect and transmit stimulus information to the sensory nerves and the brain.

1. Photoreceptors (detection of light, perceived as sight)

2. Mechanoreceptors (detection of pressure, vibration, and movement perceived as touch, hearing, and equilibrium)

3. Chemoreceptors (detection of chemical stimuli detected smell and taste)a. Odor Receptorsb. Taste Receptors

SENSORY NEURON

SENSORY RECEPTOR

CELL

BRAIN

ENERGY STIMULUS

studies the link between physical properties of a stimuli and a person’s experience of them.

THRESHOLD

the strength at which a stimuli is just perceived;

refers to the minimum intensity or value of a signal.

the minimum amount of energy a person can detect.

the ability to detect information below the level of conscious awareness.

or Just Noticeable Difference

the smallest difference in stimulation required to discriminate one stimulus from another 50 percent of the time.

the principle that two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount) to be perceived as different.

The theory that focuses on decision making about stimuli in the presence of uncertainty.

Detection depends on a variety of factors besides the physical intensity of the stimulus and the sensory abilities of the observer.

Selective Attentionattending to a specific stimuli at a

given situation and time;

focusing on a specific aspect of experience while ignoring others.

Divided Attentionattending to two or more different

stimulus simultaneously.

predisposition or readiness to perceive something in a particular way.

Light-is a form of electromagnetic

radiation that can be described in terms of wavelengths.

Light waves have hue (color), amplitude (height), and purity (saturation).

Sclera is the white outer part of the eye that shapes and protects the eye.

Iris is the colored part of the eye.

Pupil is the opening in the center of the iris. It functions to control the amount of light entering the eye.

Cornea is the clear curved membrane just in front of the eye, covering the pupil and iris. It functions to focus light on the retina.

Lens is located behind the pupil and iris. It fine-tunes the focus of the image by flexing its curvature (accommodation).

Retina is the light-sensitive surface in the back of the eye that houses light receptor cells: the rods and the cones.

Note:Transduction takes place when a neural impulse travels through layers of cells in the retina.

Rods are receptors in the retina that are sensitive to light but not very sensitive to color.

Rods function well under low-light conditions and in peripheral vision.

Cones are the receptor cells that detect color and require large amounts of light.

Cones are compacted in a minute area in the center of the retina called the fovea.

Figure-Ground Relationship

organizing perceptual field into stimuli that stand out (figure) and those that are left over (background).

Meaning shape, configuration, and pattern.

“the whole is better than the sum of its parts”

The gestalt principles of closure, proximity, and similarity demonstrate our ability to organize visual exerience.

Depth perception is the ability to perceive objects three-dimensionally.

Binocular cues involve the comparison of retinal images from each eye.

Monocular cues such as familiar size, linear perspective, and texture gradient provide depth cues that can be extracted from one eye only.

Motion is perceived both through motion-detecting neurons and feedback from our bodies.

Stroboscopic motion is the illusion of movement created when a rapid stimulation of different parts of the retina occurs. Movement aftereffects happen when we watch continuous movement.

Perceptual constancy is the recognition that an object’s size, shape, or brightness remains the same despite changes in the actual image cast on the retina.

Frequency of the sound wave, or the number of cycles that pass through a point in a given time, determines pitch.

Amplitude, is the amount of pressure produced by a sound, determines loudness.

Complex sounds and frequencies blended together determine tone color or timbre.

Pinnae are the earlobes; they help to localize sound and channel it to the ear via the external auditory canal.

The eardrum is a membrane that vibrates in response to sound.

The middle-ear bones (hammer, anvil, and stirrup) amplify sound waves and transmit them to the fluid-filled inner ear.

The stirrup is connected to the oval window, which transmits sound waves to the cochlea.

The cochlea is a fluid-filled, coiled structure that is lined by the basilar membrane.

Sound waves traveling in the fluids of the cochlea stimulate hair cells to move and gen erate nerve impulses.

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Touch is the detection of mechanical energy or pressure against the skin.

Our sensitivity to touch varies depending on the area of the body.

Thermoreceptors, located just under the skin, respond to increases or decreases in temperature.

Warm and cold are the two types of thermoreceptors.

Pain receptors are dispersed widely throughout the body and come in several types.

Mechanical receptors respond to pressure.

Heat receptors respond to strong heat.

Many pain receptors respond to both pressure and heat.

The surface of the tongue is covered with papillae that contain taste buds.

The taste buds respond to four types of tastes: sweet, sour, salty, bitter.

Different regions of the tongue are more or less sensitive to the four types of tastes.

The olfactory epithelium lines the roof of the nasal cavity and contains a sheet of receptor cells for smell.

b. Receptors are covered with millions of minute hair-like antennae that contact the air.

c. Smells often trigger memories and emotions because they are processed by the limbic system.

Study the following:1.Memory

The Atkinson-Shiffrin ModelLong term, short term, and

sensory memory2.Motivation

Hierarchy of Needs by MaslowMc Clelland’s Theory of

MotivationMc Gregor’s Theory of MotivationThe ERG Model of Motivation