unit two: biopsychology domain chapter 3: senation … · hearing’s psychological characteristics...

Unit Two: Biopsychology Domain

Chapter 3: Senation and PerceptionModule 7: Sensation; Module 8: Perception

SENSORY PROCESSES:

How Do We Perceive The World?

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The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog.

How many squares do you see?

Stroop Effect

experiment interference when the brain receives

conflicting stimuli

Say the color, NOT the word

Sensation

Perception

receiving information from the environment

organizing sensory information to make it meaningful

Adaptation

gradual loss of unneeded or unwanted sensory information

Interference

conflicting old and new stimuli

Habituation

brain stops attending to constant unchanging information

Perceptual Constancies:

The world around us is in constant motion; our brain

must work to hold size, color, shape, brightness and

space steady to be able to make sense of it.

Perception

Size Constancy

Color Constancy

Shape Constancy

Brightness Constancy

Space Constancy

MAC DONALD

MAC HENRY

MAC MAHON

MAC HINERY

machinery

How can expectations and experiences

influence our perception?

Perceptual Set (Expectancy): perceiving stimuli due to previous experiences or expectations.

Top-down processing: using preexisting knowledge to organize individual features into a unified whole.

Bottom-up processing: analysis of smaller features to build up to a complete perception.

Organizing Information

Gestalt

An organized whole, shape, or

form; “the sum is greater than it’s

parts.”

Gestalt Principles

Depth Perception

Binocular (retinal) disparity

Texture gradient

ability to see the relation of objects in space

difference between the images provided

by the two retinas

How rough or smooth objects appear;

used in depth perception

Depth Perception

visual cliff experiment

The two work together allowing us to see

depth; each sends a slightly different

message to the brain for processing

1960s Gibson and Walk Visual Cliff

Visual Cliff and Development Over Time

Are we born with depth perception?

Grand Canyon Skywalk

A Few Famous Illusions

Muller-Lyer Illusion

Moon Illusion

Reversible Images

Size and Shading

Kurt Wenner Sidewalk Art

So what can we learn from illusions?

1. How our brain organizes the world around us.

3. That our sense of vision….

Illusions: an inaccurate perception

2. Our environment/culture (experience) can

influence how we perceive information.

What made the green eggs and ham so unpalatable?

… dominates the senses.

Sensation: Vision

Seeing Color

Rods: see black and white for night vision

Cones: see color for day vision; vision sharpness

Colorblindness: inability to perceive certain colors

Trichromatic Theory: eyes

contain red, blue and green

cones – each for primary

colors of light. ability to

perceive certain colors

Opponent Process Theory:

proposes that color vision has

four primary colors with cones

arranged in pairs: red and

green; blue and yellow.

Afterimages: image that

remains after retina stimulation

ends; cones fire back to balance

Vision’s Psychological Characteristics

iris: colored muscle

smaller if disgusted, larger if we see something (or someone) we like; wide for

heightened emotions – including danger.

vision dominates human senses

focus of lovers

pupil: opening for light

Sensation: Hearing

hearing is energy from sound waves; measured in decibels

Tinnitus:

ringing in your ears

Hearing’s Psychological Characteristics

animals rely on sound more than humans

a loud noise can disturb sleep;

but a constant sound of 50 decibels can help sleep

some hair cells recognize specific sound patterns:

a mother’s voice;

newborn babies relax at sound of mother’s heartbeat

the “musical itch” we can’t scratch

music genre, mood and behavior:

“Earworms:”

Music and human behavior has a long history

curing earworms

Sensation: Cutaneous

Nerve receptors respond to pressure, temperature or pain

Touch and its Psychological

Characteristics

contact comfort

Harlow’s Monkeys

Harry Harlow

1906-1981

Palmer Grasp

Satisfaction from soft, physical stimulation

Sensation: Olfaction

Olfactory bulbs receive odor molecules and communicate their nature to the brain

food detection and taste

Smell and its Psychological Characteristics

our most animal-like sense

memory recall

stimulating or craving

Pheromones odor chemical that communicate a message

emotions

healing

Sensation: Taste

Taste receptors on the tongue decode molecules of food or drink:

detect sweet, sour, salty and bitter

Salt for body chemistry balance

Sugar for energy

Sour and bitter detect poisons

and spoiled food