Saylor URL: http://www.saylor.org/books Saylor.org
The ability to detect and interpret the events that are occurring around us allows us to respond to
these stimuli appropriately (Gibson & Pick, 2000). [1] In most cases the system is successful, but
as you can see from the above example, it is not perfect. In this chapter we will discuss the
strengths and limitations of these capacities, focusing on both sensation—awareness resulting
from the stimulation of a sense organ, and perception—the organization and interpretation of
sensations. Sensation and perception work seamlessly together to allow us to experience the
world through our eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin, but also to combine what we are currently
learning from the environment with what we already know about it to make judgments and to
choose appropriate behaviors.
The study of sensation and perception is exceedingly important for our everyday lives because
the knowledge generated by psychologists is used in so many ways to help so many people.
Psychologists work closely with mechanical and electrical engineers, with experts in defense and
military contractors, and with clinical, health, and sports psychologists to help them apply this
knowledge to their everyday practices. The research is used to help us understand and better
prepare people to cope with such diverse events as driving cars, flying planes, creating robots,
and managing pain (Fajen & Warren, 2003). [2]
We will begin the chapter with a focus on the six senses of seeing, hearing,
smelling, touching, tasting, and monitoring the body’s positions (proprioception). We will see
that sensation is sometimes relatively direct, in the sense that the wide variety of stimuli around
us inform and guide our behaviors quickly and accurately, but nevertheless is always the result of
at least some interpretation. We do not directly experience stimuli, but rather we experience
those stimuli as they are created by our senses. Each sense accomplishes the basic process
of transduction—the conversion of stimuli detected by receptor cells to electrical impulses that
are then transported to the brain—in different, but related, ways.
After we have reviewed the basic processes of sensation, we will turn to the topic of perception,
focusing on how the brain’s processing of sensory experience can not only help us make quick
and accurate judgments, but also mislead us into making perceptual and judgmental errors, such
as those that allowed the Chaser group to breach security at the APEC meeting.