Chapter 4:

Notes

Chapter 4: Sensation and Perception Sensation vs. Perception Sensation- process of receiving stimulus energies from the external environment Perception- process of organizing and interpreting sensory information Bottom-up vs. Top-Down Processing Bottom up- starts with the sensory input—what you see, hear, or feel—and builds up to your brain making sense of it. It’s like putting pieces of a puzzle together from scratch. Top down- uses what you already know, your experiences, and expectations to interpret the sensory information. It’s like having a picture on the puzzle box to guide you. Sensory perceptors - Photo reception- (vision) detection of light Mechanoreception- (touch, hearing) detection of pressure, vibration, and movement Chemoreception- (smell and taste) detection of chemical stimuli Absolute threshold- the minimum amount of energy an organism can detect 50% of the time ● Ex. Imagine you are sitting in a room that is completely dark. On the far wall, I display a dim light. Although you may not be able to perceive the light when it is at its lowest level, if I gradually make the light brighter, you will eventually see it. The point where you will see the light is known a...