Sensation and Perception Sensation Sensation is the activation

Sensation and Perception

Sensation • Sensation is the activation of the sense organs by a source of physical energy. • Stimulus or stimuli : energy that produces a response in a sense organ • Five senses – more than just 5

Perception • The sorting out, analysis and integration of stimuli by the sense organs and your brain • How we see, feel, hear and taste the world is not the same as anyone else • Psychophysics – the study of the relationship between the physical aspects of stimuli and our psychological experience of them

Thresholds • Absolute threshold – the smallest intensity of a stimulus that must be present for the stimulus to be detected • Difference threshold – the smallest amount added or reduced stimulation required to sense that a change in stimulation has occurred • Weber’s Law – A just noticeable difference is in constant proportion to the intensity of an initial stimulus

Sensory Adaptation • An adjustment in sensory capacity after a prolonged exposure to unchanging stimuli • Hot sand • Sensory nerve cells cannot fire indefinitely, they sense changes in stimuli but once the message is sent they shut off until there is a change in stimuli

Sense integration • Our senses do not operate alone • If something tastes good we are using taste, smell and touch while eating it. If one of these senses is a negative reaction, eg. A nasty texture we might not enjoy the food. • Sounds without context are extremely hard to identify

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