DEFINITION OF TERMS

SENSATION- is the simple experience that arises from the stimulation of the sense organs
SENSE ORGANS-gateways of the mind refer to sensitive nerve endings localized in certain
parts of the body.
Receptors- are cells or group of cells specialized to respond to relatively small changes in a
particular kind of energy
Stimulus- is anything which initiates an organic activity
Sensory Adaptation- is any reduction in sensitivity to stimulus as stimulation persists
through time.
Threshold- is generally the level of stimulus energy which must be exceeded before a
response occurs
Perception- refers to the interpretation of a stimulus- as differentiated from the simple
experience of stimulation

SENSORY PROCESSES
1.) Vision
a. Stimulus Light Waves
The sun emits radiant energy or electromagnetic waves. If this
enters the eyes, it becomes a visual stimulus.

b. Structural Description of the Eyes: The process of seeing

Light rays enter the eye, pass through glassy corneas, then the
watery liquid called aqueous humor, the pupil and the lens. The
pupils contract depending upon the light intensity.
The lens change in curvature according to the distance of the object
seen. This process is called accommodation is a reflex reaction
carried through the cilliary muscles and the suspensory ligaments.
After passing through vitreous humor, an imaged produced on
retina. Rods and cones are scattered on the retina. The rods are for
night time vision and contain visual purple or rhodopsin. The point
of clearest vision is located in the forvea, a sensitive depression
which contains mostly cones.
Where the nerve fibers bundle together and leave the retina, there
are no cones and rods and is called the blind spot
The eye ball is covered by three cones:
Scierotic coat is the outer tough covering
Choroid coat is the heavily pigmented layers which keeps out
all light except the pupil
Retina is the photoreceptor that translates light stimulus into
nerve impulses

c. Visual phenomena
Inverted retina image
 Visual Acuity deals with the activity iof the retina to distinguish
differences in stimulation
Visual accommodation This is the process of adjusting the lenses
of the eyes to varying distances within the visual field to obtain a
clear vision.
Visual adaptaion This is due to the difference in the avtion
between the rods and the cones. After 5minutes in the dark, for
example, the sensitivity of the cones decreases. The rods continue
to adapt and increasingly become more sensitive.

d. Common Visual defects

Monocular defects(Faulty eye structure)
Hyperopia or Far sightedness In this defect, the eyeballs are
short and the image is focused at the back of the retina. To
correct this use, convex lenses may be used.
Myopia or near sightedness Here are the eyeballs are long
and the image is focused in front of the retina. To correct this,
concave lenses are prescribed.
Astigmatism may be due to the uneven curvature of the
cornea or the lenses. Cylindrical lenses are often prescribed.
Cross-eyedness or strabismus Here ther is muscle imbalance
causing the eyes to turn inward.
Presbyopia or old-sightedness is a condition where the
lenses harden and lose the ability to accommodate

Visual Abnormalities
Hemianopsia There is blindness to one side of the visual field
due to lesions in the optic tract
Scotoma is a condition where there are blind spots in the visual
field.
Visual paresthesia is a condition where there are optic
sensations without an object
Color blindness Certain colors are seen as black and green. A
normal person can see the light-dark, yellow-blue and red-green
systems and this is called trichromat. A dichromat i=on the
other hand lacks one system(partially blind) may only see the light-
dark or any of the red-green or yellow-blue systems. The
monochromat is a totally color-blind person and can see only the
light-dark system.
Night-blindness is a defect where there is the inability to see
well at night due to the lack of vitamin A.

e. Color Vision
 Facts about color vision were by the famous English scientist Sir Isaac
Newton, who performed experiments in 1665 by passing white light
through a triangular prism and getting the color of the spectrum. The
wave lights to which the human eye is sensitive to range from 780-380
mu.
Afterimages After-images are due to the neutral action still
travelling to the brain in that very small portion of a second as we
transfer our gate at something different. There are two types of
after-image: The Negative and Positive After-image. The
Positive After-image are impressions in which the color seen is
similar to the original color or when the brightness is seen as
equally bright. Negative After-image manifest of the
complimentary color of the seen object.
Contrast Effect A red circle inside a blue background will appear
yellowish. A red surrounded by green will appear redder. Contrast
effects are maximal when he brightness of the stimulus and its
surrounding is equal.
Additive and Subtractive Mixtures A colored stimulus may
actually be composed of several wave lengths.

2.)Audition
a. Stimulus Sound Waves
Sounds are forms of energy activated when objects vibrate. The
sound waves thus set up by these vibrating bodies are
transmitted through the air and into the eardrum. Vibrating
Objects move in one direction pushing the air in front of it. The
crowding motion that moves farther and farther out from the
vibrating object is called Compression Waves. The zone
rarefied air moving away and away from the vibrating bodies
produces the rarefaction wave. One compression and one
rarefaction compromise one sound wave.

b. The Auditory Apparatus: the Process of Hearing

The Outer Ear The pinna is the external proending er part that
assembles the sound vibrates to the auditory canal
Middle Ear The eardrums vibrates and transmits sounds waves
to the three small bones- Hammer, anvil, and the strirrups.
Inner Ear Inside the inner ear are two structures- Semi-Circular
canal at the upper part and the Cochlea which contains sensitive
structure for hearing. It is a small-like structure with three
canals- the vestibular canal, lymphanic and coclear. The
first two are filled with a liquid called pertlymph and the
cochlear with endolymph.
 c. Auditory Phenomena (Pitch, Masking, Loudness, Timbre, Noise,
Response)
There are three dimensions of tone
o Pitch depends on the number of vibrations per second-
the frequency off sound waves
o Loudness is correlated with the amplitude of sound
waves- the degree of displacement of the vibrating
body from its resting position.
o Timbre or tonal quality of a sound in the complexity of
vibration.

Resonance occurs when another object vibrates as the

result of regular impulses sent out by another vibrating
body

d. Auditory Defects
Conduction deafness is due to disturbance in the
conduction of air waves from the outer to the inner ear due
to any of the following causes: the ear may stopped up, the
eardrum may be ruptured or the ossicles of the middle ear
may be damaged.
Nerve Deafness there is a loss of sensitivity of thereceptors
due to infection or injury

3.)Chemical Senses
Olfaction: Stimulus-Odors

The stimulus for olfaction are odors or gaseous particles which result
stimulate the olfactory epithelium in order to be perceived

Hennings 6 Basic Odors: Fragrant, Fruity, Spicy, Putrid,

Resinous, Burned
Other Classification: Fruity, Flowery, Spicy, Rexinous, Smoky,
Putrid.

Olfactory Receptors- Nose

At the top and back of the nasal passage between the nose and
the throat is the olfactory epithelium or the Schneiderian
membrane. Here olfactory bulbs or nerve endings are found. The
olfactory region is for odor- the lower portion is for respiration- to
filter warm the air filtered.
Gustation: Stimulus- taste qualities

The stimulus for taste are soluble substance in the saliva. There are
four known taste qualities- sweet, sour, salty and bitter
Taste receptors- The tonge

At the back of the tongue are protrusions called Papillae for

bitter taste, at the sides and the tip are fungiform papillae for
sour and weet

Gustatory Phenomena

Each of the 10,000 taste buds has around 15-20 taste cells.
These taste cells are continuosly reproducing themselves at the
rate of a complete turnover every seven days. The number of
taste buds decreases with age, hence, older people are less
sensitive to taste qualities than the younger ones.

Taste Process

The initial step is a chemical one. Stimulation by taste solution

depolarizes the taste cell and cell and a weak bond is forms between
the ion and molecule of the substance and the molecular structure of
the taste cell.

Somesthesia or Skin Senses: Pressure, Touch, Warmth, Pain

o Relative Frequencies of Skin Snese in Descending Order
Pain
Pressure
Cold
Warmth

Proprioceptive Sense- Kinesthesis and Vestibular Sense

Kinesthetic Sense- is the sensory system that tells us of
position and movement of the parts of the body. This
sense is found in three distinct places:

Muscles- where free nerve endings surround small muscle

spindites and which signal stretch of muscles

Tendons- connect muscles to bones

Joint linings- possibly the Pacinian corpuscles are stimulated

Vestibular Sense- the equilibratory senses deal with total

body position in relation to gravity and with motion of the
body as whole. While kinesthesis deals with the relation of
 the body parts o each other and to external objects, the
equilibratory sense deals with the orientation of the body
in space
The Sense organs for equilibrium are located in the bony labyrinth of the
inner ear and in parts other than the cochlea. There are two systems-
semicircular canal and vestibular sacs
Equilibratory Phenomena
o Receptors for equilibrium do not react to continuous rotation but rather
to the rate of rotation.
o Ballet dancers and acrobat whose work it is to rotate their heads have
learned to adopt rapid rotary movement by keeing their heads as still
possible while flexing at the same objects and picking at near fixation
points as the body turns
o Vestibular reaction also controls a number off reflex movements which
automatically compensate when the body or head is thrown out of
balance.
o The vestibular receptors also control the compensatory movement of
the eye
o Motion sickness are effects of vestibular stimulation although anxiety
can also cause such reaction

THE PERCEPTIVE PROCESS

Sensation does not result from the stimulation of a receptor alone but is a
function of the brain(cerebral cortex) activated which receives the information. Th
interruption of a stimulus is called Perception.

CHARACTERISTICS OF PERCEPTTION

LIMITED TO SENSORY DISCRIMINATION

PERCEPTION IS SELECTIVE AND SUBJECTIVE

EXTERNAL FACTORS:

Intensity and size The stimulus that is most intense- either louder, bigger,
or brighter, is noticed first

Contrast A chance in usual stimulation to which we have already adapted

catches our attention

Repetition A single shot that less likely to catch attention than a burst of
gun fire

Movement Involuntarily, our attention is caught by something moving as

when the moving signs catch our attention involuntarily

INTERNAL FACTORS:
 Motives Attention is directly related to our needs and interests

Set or Expectancy

Perception is Constant it tends to be relatively constant in spite of changes

in the stimulation of the sense organs

Perception has organizing tendencies

TYPES OF PERCEPTION

VISUAL PERCEPTION

Superimposition depth factor or relative position

Linear perspective is shown by the convergence of parallel lines as

they become more distant so that the lines of a railroad track appear to meet at the
horizon

Gradients of texture in a collection of items as they become more

distant also provide for depth cues

Lack of clarity

Relative movement of near or far objects

Eye convergence

AUDITORY PERCEPTION

TIME DIFFENCE- Sound waves arriving at one side of the car is detected as
coming from that direction

INTENSITY DIFFERENCE- Sounds more intense in one direction are

perceived as coming from that direction

PHASE DIFFERENCE The pressure of a sound wave at any part, place, or

movement

LEARNING EXPERIENCES- Through learned localizations, we turn towards

the surce of sounds familiar to us i.e., we turn towards the source of sounds familiar
to us

ECHOS AND DISTORTIONS

ERRORS OF PERCEPTION
 ILLUSION- is an impression from experience which does not correctly
represented the objective situation outside the observer. It may be used to denote
error in immediate perception and in meaning

HALLUCINATIONS AND DELUSIONS are perceptual errors of an abnormal

type, while illusions are part of normal perception. Illusions are experienced in the
same way by all people, while hallucinations are unique to the individual concerned.
Delusions are false beliefs organized from both perception and memory

EXTRA SENSORY PERCEPTION is so called because it is perception without the

mediation of the senses. It includes clairvoyance, psychokenesis, precognition and
telepathy

Clairvoyance extrasensory awareness of objects

Precognition is foreknowledge of specific events without any rational means

Psychokinesis is mind over matter

Telepathy is thought transmission from one mind to another