none

. 

1. Which body sense (choose only 1) do you think is most important? Explain in 1-2 paragraphs why and provide at least 2 examples. Cite source 

Lecture Notes: Sensation and Perception

We have 5 senses!

Vision (sight), Olfaction (smell), Gustation (taste), Tactile (touch), Audition (hearing) 

Our sensory systems are cool!

Important terms time! Let’s start with the term stimulus or stimuli. Stimuli are simply things in the physical environment which impact our sensory systems (e.g., light, odors). So, light rays are a stimulus for vision. 

Now, let’s learn about what is known as the absolute threshold. As defined in your text this is the minimum amount of stimulation energy needed to detect a stimulus 50% of the time. With regard to vision, on a clear night we can detect a candle flame from thirty miles away!  Whoa!

We must also consider what has been termed the just noticeable difference (JND). The issue here is how much difference must there be between two stimuli to detect a difference between them.

Our sensory systems can adapt to stimuli—this is termed sensory adaptation. 

Now, in order for perception to occur we must pay attention to things in our environment. The capacity forselective attention allows us to do so. Selective Attention(SA), allows us to focus our attention on one aspect of our environment, while screening out all other stimuli. For example. SA allows you to focus on your professor for an entire lecture while not being distracted by either internal (e.g., hunger) or external (e.g., someone sneezing) stimuli.

Sometimes, when we are so focused on one element of the environment we may fail to notice certain other things that are going on around us. Inattentional Blindnessoccurs when we fail to see something that we should have seen because we were focused on something else. Watch the in-text video for a great example!

Vision-The eye is a complicated sense organ. The anatomy of the eye is presented in the text. There are two specialized groups of cells in our retinas that allow for vision. They are rods (which allow for black and white vision), and cones (which allow for color vision). 

Depth Perception-The use of both eyes (binocular cues) allows us to perceive depth.  Binocular cues are contrasted with monocular cues (using one eye).

Hearing (Audition)-The anatomy of the ear is presented in the text. There are 3 bones or ossicles of the middle ear (malleus, incus, and stapes) or alternatively (hammer, anvil, and stirrup). They are connected to the inner ear. Soundwaves cause these 3 bones to vibrate which sets off a pattern of movement of the inner ear structures resulting in the perception of sound.

To localize sound in our environment we use both monaural (one ear) and binaural (two ear) cues.

Hearing Loss

Some people are born deaf—this is termed congenital deafness.

There are two other different types of hearing loss—conductive and sensorineural.  

Taste (Gustation)

We can detect sweet, sour, salty, and bitter tastes. We can also detect a taste known as umami.

Smell (Olfaction)

Odor molecules have a direct route to the brain. Those who use inhalant drugs (“huffers”) often experience brain damage as the vapors quickly enter the brain and destroy neurons. 

Vestibular System

Know the difference between proprioception and kinesthesia.

Perception

Gestalt Psychology—our brains do not like randomness. Think of chaser lights at Christmas. All you really have are individual lights blinking on and off. However, our brains attempt to make sense of this by perceiving that they move in a certain direction—Whoa that’s cool!!

The term Gestalt means form or pattern—so we try to perceive forms or patterns in things!!  Here is an important statement regarding Gestalt Psychology: “the whole is greater than the sum of it’s parts.” Think about it—the individual lights blinking on and off are individual parts. Our brain, however, perceives a whole or pattern—movement of these lights in a certain direction.

Your text presents several of the classic Gestalt principles:

Figure-Ground Relationships, Proximity, Similarity, Continuity or Good Continuation, and Closure.

2. In this chapter, you learned about Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory. Consider the many different behaviors that you engage in on a daily basis and identify one or two that you think you learned through modeling. In one to two paragraphs discuss these behaviors (only discuss positive behaviors!) and how they came to be modeled. Cite source

Collepals.com Plagiarism Free Papers

Are you looking for custom essay writing service or even dissertation writing services? Just request for our write my paper service, and we'll match you with the best essay writer in your subject! With an exceptional team of professional academic experts in a wide range of subjects, we can guarantee you an unrivaled quality of custom-written papers.

Get ZERO PLAGIARISM, HUMAN WRITTEN ESSAYS

Why Hire Collepals.com writers to do your paper?

Quality- We are experienced and have access to ample research materials.

We write plagiarism Free Content

Confidential- We never share or sell your personal information to third parties.

Support-Chat with us today! We are always waiting to answer all your questions.