Sensation And Perception

Experienced educator, writer, and counselor Robert Fettgather Ph.D. teaches general psychology and developmental psychology at Mission College in Santa Clara, California, where he serves as associate faculty.

Sensation is the process by which sensory organs in the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, skin, and other tissues receive and detect stimuli. When sensory information is detected by a sensory receptor, then sensation has occurred.

Perception focuses on the organization and interpretation of these stimuli within the human brain. These two work closely together to allow us to experience the world as coherent and meaningful. Of course, an Escher print (and other optical illusions) is one example of visual stimuli that challenges our ability to form a coherent perception.

Cloud gazing invites our own projections. A first glance, at a cloud embodies a sensation associated with your sense of vision-a cloud is just a cloud! But after gazing for awhile your brain may organize what you see into a perception of a face or the silhouette of a dog.

What is the relationship of sensation to perception? Think of it this way- sensation is input about the physical world obtained by our sensory receptors, and integrates with perception, the process by which the brain selects, organizes, and interprets these sensations.

Let’s consider another example. Have you ever noticed how the “hum” of a computer or an appliance might be bothersome at first- and then you don’t notice the sound at all? A sensation becomes a tuned out perception. That phenomenon is referred to as habituation.

The sound of a refrigerator “hum” is an example.

Specifically, habituation might be described as a decrease in response to a the hum after continuous or repeated presentations. Another example, might be a new phone ringtone, that initially draws your attention or even becomes distracting. With habituation the sensation is barely noticed. This quality appears to have the essential function of enabling us to ignore repetitive and irrelevant stimuli so that we can remain responsive to sporadic stimuli, typically of greater significance to us. That allows us to focus on studying and not hear the constant sound of talking, television or other distractions. But sometimes habituation is a nuisance as when we ignore parts of conversations with a friend or family member.

from WordPress https://ift.tt/HlFPokC
via IFTTT