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Sensation and Perception
IN THIS CHAPTER
Summary:If you had to give up one of your senses, which one would it be?
Most people choose the sense of smell or taste; no one ever chooses sight or
hearing. What we see and hear are more essential for our survival than what
we smell and taste. Vision is the most studied sense, and has the largest area
of our cerebral cortex devoted to it of all of our senses.
All species have developed special sensory mechanisms for gathering infor-
mation essential for survival. Sensationis the process by which you detect phys-
ical energy from your environment and encode it as neural signals. Perception
is the process that organizes sensory input and makes it meaningful. What you
perceive is influenced by your memory, motivation, emotion, and even culture.
The study of sensation and perception is rooted in physics. Psychophysicsis
the study of the relationship between physical energy and psychological
experiences. Psychophysics asks questions about our sensitivity to stimuli.
This chapter focuses on the conversion of sensations to perceptions that
give you your view of your world.Key Ideas
✪Thresholds
✪Vision
✪Hearing (Audition)
✪Touch (Somatosensation)
✪Chemical senses—Taste (Gustation) and Smell (Olfaction)
✪Gestalt organizing principles
✪Depth perception
✪Perceptual constancy
✪Perceptual adaptation and Perceptual set
✪ESPKEY IDEACHAPTER
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