Unit 4: Sensation & Perception
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Unit 4: Sensation & Perception
With a Partner
Make a guess:
What is the difference between sensation and perception?
Sensations:
What’s moving?
What colors are you seeing?
What sounds do you hear?
Can you feel the texture of your clothing?
Can you feel the pressure of the chair you’re sitting on?
Do you have any lingering tastes in your mouth?
What do you smell?
Sensation
The process by which our sensory systems (eyes, ears, etc) and nervous system receive stimuli from our environment
Perception
The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information
Bottom-Up Processing
Information processing that focuses on the raw material entering through the eyes, ears, and other organs of sensation
Top-Down Processing
Information processing that focuses on expectations and experiences in interpreting incoming sensory information
“Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in what oredr the ltteers in a word are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is that the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can still raed it wouthit a porbelm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the word as a wlohe.
Our experience and expectations enable us to immediately perceive the scrambled letters as meaningful words and sentences.
Do you see something different if you focus on the circles versus focusing on the x?
The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus
Mom tells you to do chores while watching tv
Not paying attention in class, tune it out
14
Is this just the new thing adults are complaining about?
Are they guilty too?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs0iwz3NEC0
Simmons & Chabris (1999) - half of the observers failed to see the gorilla
The inability to see an object or a person in our midst.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v3iPrBrGSJM
18
Change blindness is a form of inattentional blindness
The Door Study: 50% of individuals giving directions failed to notice a change in the individual asking for directions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWSxSQsspiQ
19
© 1998 Psychonomic Society Inc. Image provided courtesy of Daniel J. Simmons.
Isn’t it crazy that our brain processes light as something meaningful?
Sound waves can make us cry
Transduction: Conversion of one form of energy into another Taking sights, sounds, smells and converting it to neural
impulses that our brain can interpret
So what does it take for us to detect
something with our senses?
What is a threshold?
An edge or a boundary
Raise your hand when you can start hearing the sound
Then put it down when you stop hearing it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNf9nzvnd1k
Did you see how we raised our hands at different times?
Absolute Threshold Definition: The minimum stimulation needed to detect a
particular stimulus
How far away do you think we have to be to hear your alarm clock?
How hard does someone have to touch you in order for you to feel them?
How strong does it have to be in order for you to smell someone’s “passed gas”?
Let’s test your Absolute Threshold
http://www.garyfisk.com/anim/threshold.swf
Do other things affect how
good we are at sensing
something?
Like what? What could get in the way of us “sensing” something?
Signal Detection Theory (SDT)• A theory predicting how and when we detect the
presence of a faint stimulus amid background
noise
• Depends partly on a person’s:
• Experience
• Expectations
• Motivation
• Level of fatigue
Caro
l Lee/ T
ony S
tone Im
ages
What about the stimuli that fall under our absolute threshold?
Even though we don’t detect them, can they still affect us?
Stimuli BELOW our absolute threshold
Can they influence us even if we aren’t aware of them?
Ways that people claim subliminal messages can have an affect on us:
in film and video commercials
embedded sexual imagery in print and video advertising,
self-audible messages in self-help tapes
or backward or barely audible messages
Could 1/30th of a second really influence
impressions of Al Gore?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NPKxhfFQMs
EAT
POPCOR
N
James Vicary- Subliminal Projection Company
New Jersey, 1956: 6 week study
Flashed messages every 5 seconds
1/3 millisecond “Eat Popcorn” – 57.5% increase
“Drink Coke” – 18.1% increase
FCC investigated and concluded“Minds have been broken and entered”
Subliminal messaging banned in Britain and Australia
1962- Vicary admitted to making the whole thing up
The President of the Psychological Corporation challenged him to repeat it No significant increase in sales
2 teenage boys committed suicide after listening to Judas Priest… Lyrics promoted Satanism and suicide
Rock music w/ satanic messages when played backwards Beatles, The White Album: “John is dead now, miss him, miss
him, miss him.”
Led Zeppelin, Stairway to Heaven
"I sing because I live with Satan. The Lord turns me off. There's no escaping it. Here's to my sweet Satan. Whose power is Satan. He will give you 666. I live for Satan."
Metallica http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRU80x7WD5c&feature=related
Led Zeppelin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNE75XznfIE&feature=fvwrel
Madonna http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5qtNeTdbII
The Beatles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEhxaKuh4_M
The Beatles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJF8edZZmWE&feature=relmfuBrittany Spears:
Do subliminal messages work in advertising?
Sexual imagery in ads Wilson Bryan Key: “sex” in ice cubes,
nude figures in images from butter to icing in cake mix ads.
Even if images aren’t consciously perceived, they put us in good mood and pay more attention to ad
Not subliminal
Subliminal self-help tapes - $50 million Relax, you are good, you are capable, calm
Utah’s South Pt. Prison
Texas Rangers’ Pitching Staff
Department Store Music
Pictures of people
Told to rate them
Flashed Kitten & romantic couples VS.
Werewolf & dead body
Perceived a flash of light,
Rated people associated with kittens & couples more positively
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