Sensation and perception Flashcards
sensation
physical process when sensory organs respond to external stimuli
perception
psychological process where brain interprets sensory information into useful infomation
transduction
transforming external stimuli into energy for the brain to understand
- sensation
light or a sound wave is converted into a form of energy the brain can understand
transduction
building blocks of the mind
sensation, perception, attention, memory
is our perception or sensation accurate?
not really, we do not see everything (we can only see visible light)
does sensation vary across people (how)
yes
- supertasters more sensitive to stronger flavors, have more papillae on tongue
- colorblind people
categories of perception
identification and categorization
visual perception
mind automatically makes certain assumptions about environment (color, shadows and depth) to help us see accurately despite having limited data to work with
how does shadows affect visual perception
shadows make surfaces darker, so we see colors against shadows to be light than they actually are
how do we determine what is an object
proximity: dots close together -> group
similarity: texture
closure: complete shapes/boundaries (overlapping circle and square)
good continuation (two lines over lapping)
common movement
cues of depth
haze/blurriness (further objects are blurrier)
binocular: both eyes
monocular
binocular disparity
images give slightly different information to each eye that allows us to perceive depth
convergence
at close distances, how much your eye is crossed gives the brain information about depth
muller-lyer illusion
<—->
>—-<
inward pointing lines signify horizontal line is closer so it looks shorter
bottom line looks longer because it also looks farther
ponzo illusion
. / __ \
/ __ \
Because we know things converge in the distance, top line looks further away and therefore shorter
motion parallax
objects in the foreground move at different speeds (faster) than objects in the background (slower)
shepard’s table illusion
tables at 45 degree angles are actually same dimensions
Ebbinghaus illusion
6 dots of different size and distance make center dots look different sizes
how do your expectations alter your taste?
if you think something is coming from a better place or color (red dyed), it will taste better
why is our perception limited
it would be overwhelming and would make no different for our survival
heuristics
brain uses shortcuts to give useful picture of environment and takes context into account
why is perception not perfect
because brain uses shortcuts and we consider visual context such as shadows, surroundings
how can visual cues shape auditory perception / describe mcgurk effect
: because visual and auditory systems work together to provide information, if they are conflicting, the system providing more information will combine or override effect
