Essentials of Understanding Psychology 9th Edition By Robert Feldman PowerPoints by Kimberly Foreman Revised for 9th Ed by Cathleen Hunt Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Chapter 3: Sensation and Perception Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

MODULE 8: Sensing the World Around Us What is sensation, and how do psychologists study it? What is the relationship between a physical stimulus and the kinds of sensory responses that result from it? Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

MODULE 8: Sensing the World Around Us Sensation Activation of the sense organs by a source of physical energy Perception Sorting out, interpretation, analysis, and integration of stimuli carried out by the sense organs and brain Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

MODULE 8: Sensing the World Around Us Stimulus Any passing source of physical energy that produces a response in a sense organ Psychophysics Study of the relationship between the physical aspects of stimuli and our psychological experience of them Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Absolute Thresholds: Detecting What’s Out There Smallest intensity of a stimulus that must be present for it to be detected Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Difference Thresholds: Noticing Distinctions Between Stimuli Smallest level of added (or reduced) stimulation required to sense that a change in stimulation has occurred Just noticeable difference Weber’s law Just noticeable difference is a constant proportion of the intensity of an initial stimulus Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Sensory Adaptation: Turning Down Our Responses An adjustment in sensory capacity after prolonged exposure to unchanging stimuli Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

MODULE 9: Vision: Shedding Light on the Eye What basic processes underlie the sense of vision? How do we see colors? Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Basic Cells of the Eye Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Illuminating the Structure of the Eye Cornea Protects eye and refracts light Pupil Opening depends on amount of light in environment Iris Colored part of eye Lens Accommodation Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Illuminating the Structure of the Eye Reaching the Retina Light is converted to electrical impulses for transmission to the brain Rods Receptor cells sensitive to light Cones Cone-shaped; responsible for sharp focus and color perception Concentrated in the fovea Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Illuminating the Structure of the Eye Sending the Message from the Eye to the Brain Optic nerve Ganglion cells Blind spot Optic chiasm Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Illuminating the Structure of the Eye Processing the Visual Message Takes place in the visual cortex of the brain Feature detection Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Color Vision and Color Blindness: The Seven-Million-Color Spectrum Explaining Color Vision Trichromatic theory of color vision Suggests that there are three kinds of cones in the retina Blue-violet colors Green colors Yellow-red colors Not successful at explaining afterimages Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Color Vision and Color Blindness: The Seven-Million-Color Spectrum Opponent-process theory of color vision Receptor cells are linked in pairs, working in opposition to each other Blue-yellow Red-green Black-white Explains afterimages Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

MODULE 10: Hearing and the Other Senses What role does the ear play in the senses of sound, motion, and balance? How do smell and taste function? What are the skin senses, and how do they relate to the experience of pain? Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011 The Ear Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011 Sensing Sound Sound Movement of air molecules brought about by a source of vibration Eardrum Vibrates when sound waves hit it Middle ear Hammer, anvil, stirrup Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011 Sensing Sound Inner Ear Changes sound vibrations into a form in which they can be transmitted to the brain Cochlea Filled with fluid and vibrates in response to sound Basilar membrane Dividing cochlea into an upper chamber and lower chamber Covered with hair cells Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011 Sensing Sound The Physical Aspects of Sound Frequency Number of wave cycles that occur in a second Pitch Amplitude Spread between the up-and-down peaks and valleys of air pressure in a sound wave as it travels through the air Decibels Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011 Sensing Sound Sorting Out Theories of Sound Place Theory of Hearing States that different areas of the basilar membrane respond to different frequencies Frequency Theory of Hearing Suggests that the entire basilar membrane acts like a microphone, vibrating as a whole in response to a sound Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Sensing Sound Balance: The Ups and Downs of Life Vestibular System Semicircular canals Main structure of vestibular system Three tubes containing fluid that sloshes through them when the head moves, signaling rotational or angular movement to the brain Otoliths Sense forward, backward, or up-and-down motion, as well as the pull of gravity Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011 Smell Olfaction Sense of smell is sparked when the molecules of a substance enter the nasal passages Olfactory cells Pheromones Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011 Taste Gustation Taste qualities Sweet Sour Salty Bitter “Umami” Taste Buds Supertasters Nontasters Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

The Skin Senses: Touch, Pressure, Temperature, and Pain Substance P Gate-control Theory of Pain Particular nerve receptors in the spinal cord lead to specific areas of the brain related to pain Acupuncture Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011 Managing Pain Medication Nerve and brain stimulation Light therapy Hypnosis Biofeedback and relaxation techniques Surgery Cognitive restructuring Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

How Our Senses Interact Synesthesia Multimodal perception Brain collects the information from the individual sensory systems and integrates and coordinates it Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

MODULE 11: Perceptual Organization: Constructing Our View of the World What principles underlie our organization of the visual world and allow us to make sense of our environment? How are we able to perceive the world in three dimensions when our retinas are capable of sensing only two-dimensional images? Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

MODULE 11: Perceptual Organization: Constructing Our View of the World What clues do visual illusions give us about our understanding of general perceptual mechanisms? Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

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The Gestalt Laws of Organization Series of principles that focus on the ways we organize bits and pieces of information into meaningful wholes gestalts Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Top-Down and Bottom-Up Processing Top-Down Processing Perception is guided by higher-level knowledge, experience, expectations, and motivations Bottom-Up Processing Consists of the progression of recognizing and processing information from individual components of a stimulus and moving to the perception of the whole Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011 Top-Down Processing Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011 Depth Perception Ability to view the world in three dimensions and to perceive distance Largely due to the fact that we have two eyes Binocular disparity Monocular cues Motion parallax Relative size Texture gradient Linear perspective Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011 Perceptual Constancy Phenomenon in which physical objects are perceived as unvarying and consistent despite changes in their appearance or in the physical environment Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Motion Perception: As the World Turns Cues about perception of motion The movement of an object across the retina is typically perceived relative to some stable, unmoving background Movement of images across the retina We factor in information about our own head and eye movements, along with information about changes in the retinal image Apparent movement Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Perceptual Illusions: The Deceptions of Perceptions Visual Illusions Physical stimuli that consistently produce errors in perception Muller-Lyer illusion Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Culture and Perception Cultural differences are reflected in depth perception Zulu vs. Westerner perspectives Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Subliminal Perception Perception of messages about which we have no awareness Called priming Written word Sound Smell Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011

Extrasensory Perception (ESP) Perception that does not involve our known senses Most psychologists reject the existence of ESP, asserting that there is no sound documentation of the phenomenon Psychological Bulletin “Anomalous process of information transfer” or psi Copyright McGraw-Hill, Inc. 2011