Sensation and Perception

This unit includes the following chapters.

“Why It Matters: Sensation and Perception” is an introduction on how our sensory system provides important information about our surroundings.

“Introduction to Sensation and Perception” defines sensation and perception as two separate processes that are closely related.

“Introduction to Perception” explains how our perceptions are not infallible.

“What is Sensation?” defines sensation and explains its connection to the concepts of absolute threshold, difference threshold, and subliminal messages.

“Introduction to Vision” is an introduction on how the visual system constructs a mental representation of the world around us.

“How We See” describes the basic anatomy of the visual system and how light waves enable vision.

“Gestalt Principles or Perception” gives examples of gestalt principles, including the figure-ground relationship, proximity, similarity, continuity, and closure.

“Color and Depth Perception” describes the trichromatic theory of color vision and the opponent-process theory, and how monocular and binocular cues are used in the perception of depth.

“Introduction to Hearing” is an introduction on how the auditory system converts pressure waves into meaningful sounds.

“How We Hear” describes the basic anatomy and function of the auditory system, and how we encode and perceive pitch and localized sound.

“Pitch Perception and Hearing Loss” explains how we encode and perceive pitch and localize sound and describes types of hearing loss.

“Introduction to Other Senses”  is an introduction on the functions of taste, smell, touch, pain, and the vestibular sense.

“Taste and Smell” summarizes the chemical process of taste and smell.

“Touch and Pain” explains the receptors that respond to touch and examines the experience of pain, including how expectations and context affect pain and touch experiences.

“The Vestibular Sense” describes the basic functions of the vestibular, proprioceptive, and kinesthetic sensory systems.

“What is Perception?” is an introduction to perception as the way sensory information is organized, interpreted, and consciously experienced.

“Multi-Modal Perception” defines the basic terminology and basic principles of multimodal perception and give examples of multimodal and crossmodal behavioral effects.

“Illusions” explains how and why psychologists use illusions.

“Psych in Real Life: Illusions” describes Jessica Witt’s research on golf and its connection to the Ebbinghaus illusion.

“Putting It Together: Sensation and Perception” gives a summary of the learning objectives covered throughout the unit.

“Discussion: Sensation and Perception” gives an assignment to write a post and to respond to the posts of 2 classmates.