Sensation and Perception Sensation: your window to the world Perception: interpreting what comes in your window.

Sensation The process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive stimulus from the environment. (stuff inputed from our 5ish senses)

Transduction Transforming signals into ___________. Information goes from the senses to the thalamus , then to the various areas in the brain.

Thresholds Absolute Threshold Difference Threshold Just Noticeable Difference Weber’s Law Signal Detection Theory Yea sayers v. Nay sayers

__________ Threshold The minimum stimulation needed to detect a stimulus _______of the time.

Difference Threshold The minimum difference that a person can detect _____________________. Also known as _________________________ or (JND)

Can you tell the difference? Girls are better at this.

Weber’s Law The idea that, to perceive a difference between two stimuli, they must differ by a ____________________; not a constant amount.

Application for Weber’s Law Would you drive 10 minutes away to save $20 on a meal? Would you drive across town to save $100 on a $30,000 car? Since $100 is such a small percentage of a car’s price, you don’t think of it as much money.

Sensory Adaptation ___________ responsiveness to stimuli due to _________ stimulation. Do you feel your underwear all day?

Cocktail-party phenomenon The ___________________describes the ability to focus one's listening attention on a single talker among a mixture of conversations and background noises, ignoring other conversations. Form of selective attention.

Energy v. Chemical senses Energy Senses Chemical Senses

Vision Our most dominating sense. Visual Capture

Vision- Spectrum of Electromagnetic Energy

Phase Two: Getting the light in the eye

Phase Three: Transduction

Transduction Continued Order is Rods/Cones to Bipolar to Ganglion to Optic Nerve. Sends info to thalamus- area called lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN). Then sent to cerebral cortexes. Where the optic nerves cross is called the optic chiasm.

Phase Four: In the Brain Goes to the Visual Cortex located in the Occipital Lobe of the Cerebral Cortex Feature Detectors Parallel Processing We have specific cells that see the lines, motion, curves and other features of this turkey. These cells are called feature detectors.

Parallel Processing The processing of several aspects of a problem ___________________. Motion Form Color Depth

But…not all human eyes are the same!

Color Vision Two Major Theories

Trichromatic Theory Three types of cones: Red Blue Green These three types of cones can make millions of combinations of colors. Does not explain ___________ or color ___________ well.

Mixing lights is additive color mixing because the process adds wavelengths and thus increases light – white. Mixing paints is subtractive color mixing because it subtracts wavelengths from reflected light – brown or black.

Color Blindness Red/green is most common Mostly happens in _______

If you can’t see the number then you are missing one of your cones.

Afterimages On the next few slides are afterimages. Stare at the center for about 20 seconds. Then I’ll explain why they happen.

Opponent-Process theory The sensory receptors come in ______. Red/Green Yellow/Blue Black/White If one color is stimulated, the other is __________.

The phenomenon of a negative afterimage is caused by _____________________. After staring at one object for a long time, the stimulated cells use up resources, and begin to get 'tired'. Once the object is removed, these cells will have to fire below baseline for a bit to recover lost resources. Meanwhile, their opponent cells will fire at baseline- at a relatively higher rate. This causes a negative afterimage. Try it out!

Stare at the red dot

Hearing Aka: Audition

Important! Hearing goes straight to the temporal lobes without going through the thalamus.

Vision…got it. Sound…got it. Touch…got it. What about taste and Smell?!

How do we taste? What is the central muscle involved in taste? Taste (and smell) are chemical senses. What is the central muscle involved in taste?

Taste We have bumps on our tongue called __________. Taste buds are located on the papillae (they are actually all over the mouth). Sweet, salty, sour bitter, and _______ *Think Parmesan Cheese

PTC Strips

And now… the 6th Sense! And also the 7th…

Vestibular Sense Tells us where our _______________ in space. Our sense of balance. Located in our semicircular canals in our ears.

Kinesthetic Sense Tells us where our __________. Receptors located in our ________ and ________. Without the kinesthetic sense you couldn’t touch the button to make copies of your buttocks.