Alana - PSY1010 Sensation and Perception Webquest

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Utah Valley University *

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Psychology

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Jun 18, 2024

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Sensation and Perception Web Quest Part One: Read the article about sensation and perception and answer the questions below. a. What is sensation? Sensation refers to the physical perception of things, particularly through the sense of touch. For instance, the intensity of the pain was such that she completely lost all feeling. b. What is perception? Perception consists of being aware of things through the senses, particularly sight. For example, drugs can change your perception of reality. It can also refer to someone's ability to identify and understand things that are not obvious to others. For example, her sense of perception is extraordinary for someone so young. c. What are sensory receptors? Where do you find them? The eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and other specialized organs, as well as internal organs, contain sensory receptors. In the nervous system, sensory receptors detect changes in the environment and convert them into electrical signals. d. Define the term transduction as it relates to sensation and perception. You may need to go to your textbook for this one. Throughout the central nervous system, different types of cells respond to stimuli, creating signals that are then translated into sensations through transduction. e. Define the term absolute threshold. Give an example of how a stimulus in your life did or did not pass your absolute threshold. According to the definition of absolute threshold, it is the minimum amount of stimulation that can be detected by an individual. Smell, touch, vision, hearing, and taste are activated by this stimulus. The absolute threshold may be perceived in a number of ways, such as seeing the flame from a fire 30 miles away on a clear night, an eyelash falling on your cheek, or hearing a ticking clock from 20 feet away. f. What is a stimulus below your absolute threshold called? Subliminal stimulus; used to describe stimuli that aren't enough to reach the absolute threshold. g. What is the mere exposure effect? How does it occur? Give an example of a time you were influenced by the mere-exposure effect. Our tendency to form preferences for things simply because we are familiar with them is explained by the Mere Exposure Effect (also known as the Familiarity Principle). I, for example, tend to order the same things over and over again in a restaurant instead of trying something new because I'm familiar with it and I know I'll like it. h. Summarize the experiment John Bargh did on priming. What were the results of this experiment? A study conducted by John Bargh in 1996 showed that a person's behavior can change based on what they read, hear, or see. There were three groups of participants in this experiment: one group was challenged to unscramble harsh words such as aggressive, angry, and bold; the other group was challenged to unscramble polite words such as supportive, patient, and respectful; and the third group was a control group that was neutral. He asked all three groups ahead of time to proceed toward the instructor after they had completed their tasks. A long, fake conversation was set up for the instructor by Bargh to test the participants' patience. Within 10 minutes, the instructor was interrupted 60% of the time by the group that unscrambled harsh words, 40% by the neutral group, and only 20% by the polite group. As a result of this experiment, Bargh's theory that people can be primed to act in a certain way proved to be true. Behavioral and social priming are both terms used to describe this concept. i. What is just a noticeable difference (jnd) or the difference threshold? The difference threshold (just noticeable difference or JND) is the smallest possible difference between two stimuli that can be detected half the time .

j. Explain Weber’s Law. For a difference to be perceptible, two stimuli must differ by a constant proportion. k. Give a real-world example of how Just Noticeable Difference can change as a function of stimulus intensity. For instance, if a person holds two standard envelopes and one contains a quarter while the other is empty, it is easy to detect the weight difference between the two. In comparison, when those envelopes are placed inside two textbooks of equal weight, determining which is heavier becomes more difficult. l. Explain the difference between bottom-up and top-down processing. Bottom-up processing occurs when we let the stimulus itself determine our perception without imposing any preconceptions. The top-down processing method involves interpreting what we see based on our previous knowledge and expectations. m. Imagine that you enter a classroom that smells of burnt popcorn. It smells terrible when you first arrive, but after a few minutes, you no longer notice the smell. Explain why this is. This is called sensory adaptation. It occurs when sensory receptors change their sensitivity to the stimulus. n. What is signal detection theory? Predicts how and when someone will detect the presence of a given stimulus in the presence of other sensory signals. o. Why are the Zulu people of South Africa less susceptible to the Muller-Lyer illusion? An illusion known as the Müller-Lyer illusion arises when one of two equal lines with opposite end shapes is incorrectly perceived as longer than the other. The Müller-Lyer illusion seems to be less prevalent in non-Western cultures due to the lack of exposure to carpentry environments with square angles and straight lines that are common in Western cultures. p. Think about a time when you failed to notice something around you because your attention was focused elsewhere. If someone pointed it out, were you surprised that you hadn’t noticed it right away? Explain. Known as inattentional blindness, this is a common phenomenon. I experienced this just today while watching ''Break Point'' with a friend, which is a tennis reality show. While watching one of the matches, my friend said, 'This is so badly edited.' As I didn't understand what she was saying, she rewound the video and pointed out that the ball should have fallen in the right box of the court when one player was serving, but when the camera shifted to the other player, it fell in the left box. This means that they combined two very different clips to make one. It was hard for me to comprehend how I missed that since I have played tennis for years, but I must have been distracted by or focused on something else at the time. Part Two: Look at the photograph here a. Can you spot the leopard? Yes, it took me a few minutes, though. b. Explain how this image is related to signal detection theory. If you’re not sure, you can watch this video for more information on signal detection theory. An important aspect of signal detection theory is the idea that the intensity of the stimuli and a person's psychological and physical state influence the ability to detect the stimuli. The leopard can be seen by some people right away; for some, it may take some time, and for others, they may not even be able to find it out on their own. This depends on each person; how alert they are, how much attention they pay to details, etc.

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