1. SENSATION AND PERCEPTION

2. DEFINITIONS  Sensation: the process in which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment  Perception: the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

3. THRESHOLDS  Absolute threshold: the minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50 percent of the time  Subliminal: below one’s absolute threshold for conscious awareness  Difference threshold: the minimum difference between two stimuli required for detection 50 percent of the time  Webster’s Law: the principle that, to be perceived as different, two stimuli must differ by a constant minimum percentage (rather than a constant amount)  Sensory adaption: diminished sensitivity as a consequence of constant stimulation

4. VISION  Our eyes receive light energy and transduce it into neural messages that our brain then processes into what we consciously see.  Two physical characteristics of light are the wavelength – the distance from one wave peak to the next and the intensity or brightness/energy of the light waves

5. THE EYE

6. VISUAL PROCESSING

7. HEARING  Our audition or hearing is very adaptive  The physical characteristics of sounds are its frequency of waves and the pitch of the sound

8. THE EAR

9. AUDIO PROCESSING

10. TOUCH  Skin sensations vary into four groups – pressure, warmth, cold, and pain  Kinesthesis: the system for sensing the positions and movement of our individual body parts  Vestibular sense: the sense of body movement and position, including balance  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxwn1w7MJvk http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxwn1w7MJvk

11. TASTE  Basic tastes are: sweet, salty, sour, bitter  Sensory interaction includes smell plus texture equals flavor

12. TASTE ZONES

13. SMELL

14. HOW SENSES GO WITH PERCEPTION  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OelrPzpQ6Q http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OelrPzpQ6Q

15. VIDEOS  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNbF006Y5x4&playnext=1&lis t=PLBAA093DAADDF09A6&feature=results_main http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNbF006Y5x4&playnext=1&lis t=PLBAA093DAADDF09A6&feature=results_main  Your senses concluding assumption  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCV2Ba5wrcs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCV2Ba5wrcs  Perception explained