Links to Learning Objectives

ABCs OF SENSATION CHEMICALS & SOMASTHETICS

LO 3.1 Sensation & the CNS LO 3.6 Taste & smell

LO 3.7 Touch, pain, motion and balance

SCIENCE OF SEEING

LO 3.2 Light ABCs OF PERCEPTION

LO 3.3 How the eyes see LO 3.8 Perception and constancy

LO 3.9 Gestalt principles

HEARING SENSE
LO 3.15 Infant development and depth
LO 3.4 Sound and the ear
LO 3.16 Visual illusions
LO 3.5 Hearing impairment

CNS Ignoring Light The Eye Seeing Sound The Ear

Taste/Smell Touch/Pain Movement Perception Gestalt Depth cues Illusions

Chemicals &
Somasthetics

Taste (Gustation)
3.6 How do the senses of taste and smell work?

• Tongue
– taste buds
– papillae
• Five primary
tastes (including Bitter
umami) Sour
Salty
Sweet

CNS Ignoring Light The Eye Seeing Sound The Ear

Taste/Smell Touch/Pain Movement Perception Gestalt Depth cues Illusions

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 Smell (olfaction)

• Airborne substances dissolved in the

mucus in the nose
• Smells sensed by olfactory receptors
(1,000 different types
• Pathway: Olfactory cilia Æ neural
impulse Æ olfactory nerve Æ olfactory
bulb (brain)
– Does not go through thalamus

CNS Ignoring Light The Eye Seeing Sound The Ear

Taste/Smell Touch/Pain Movement Perception Gestalt Depth cues Illusions

Somasthetic Senses

• Soma =
body
• Esthetic =
feeling

CNS Ignoring Light The Eye Seeing Sound The Ear

Taste/Smell Touch/Pain Movement Perception Gestalt Depth cues Illusions

Touch & Pain

3.7 What allows people to experience touch, pain, motion and balance?

Kinesthetic
& Vestibular Pain & Gate
Control
Skin
Senses

CNS Ignoring Light The Eye Seeing Sound The Ear

Taste/Smell Touch/Pain Movement Perception Gestalt Depth cues Illusions

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 Kinesthetic & Vestibular

Pain & Gate

Control

Kinesthetic Skin
& Vestibular Senses

CNS Ignoring Light The Eye Seeing Sound The Ear

Taste/Smell Touch/Pain Movement Perception Gestalt Depth cues Illusions

ABCs of Perception

erception
Method
by
which
sensations
are
organized
and
interpreted

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 Perceptual Constancy
3.8 What are perception and perceptual constancies?

• Size and shape

constancy
– Are these two
objects the
same shape?
Size?
• Brightness
constancy

CNS Ignoring Light The Eye Seeing Sound The Ear

Taste/Smell Touch/Pain Movement Perception Gestalt Depth cues Illusions

The Gestalt Principles

3.9 What are the Gestalt principles of perception?

• These principles are based on the idea that

people have a natural tendency to force
patterns onto whatever they see.

You can hyperlink among the slides focusing on Gestalt principles, using the buttons on those slides.
Blinking yellow buttons can be selected to show more content on a specific slide.

CNS Ignoring Light The Eye Seeing Sound The Ear

Taste/Smell Touch/Pain Movement Perception Gestalt Depth cues Illusions

The Gestalt Principles

Figure ground Proximity Similarity

Closure Continuity Contiguity

CNS Ignoring Light The Eye Seeing Sound The Ear

Taste/Smell Touch/Pain Movement Perception Gestalt Depth cues Illusions

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 The Gestalt Principles

Figure ground Proximity Similarity

Closure Continuity Contiguity

CNS Ignoring Light The Eye Seeing Sound The Ear

Taste/Smell Touch/Pain Movement Perception Gestalt Depth cues Illusions

The Gestalt Principles

Figure ground Proximity Similarity

Closure Continuity Contiguity

CNS Ignoring Light The Eye Seeing Sound The Ear

Taste/Smell Touch/Pain Movement Perception Gestalt Depth cues Illusions

The Gestalt Principles

Figure ground Proximity Similarity

Closure Continuity Contiguity

CNS Ignoring Light The Eye Seeing Sound The Ear

Taste/Smell Touch/Pain Movement Perception Gestalt Depth cues Illusions

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 The Gestalt Principles

Figure ground Proximity Similarity

Closure Continuity Contiguity

CNS Ignoring Light The Eye Seeing Sound The Ear

Taste/Smell Touch/Pain Movement Perception Gestalt Depth cues Illusions

The Gestalt Principles

• Two events that happen close

together in time and/or space
are causally associated (e.g.,
thunder and lightning)

Figure ground Proximity Similarity

Closure Continuity Contiguity

CNS Ignoring Light The Eye Seeing Sound The Ear

Taste/Smell Touch/Pain Movement Perception Gestalt Depth cues Illusions

3.10 How do infants develop perceptual abilities, including depth perception?

Depth Perception: Visual Cliff

Eleanor Gibson and Michael Walk wondered if infants could
perceive the world in three dimensions. They built a special
table. The whole table was then covered by a clear glass top,
so that a baby could safely be placed on or crawl across the
“deep” side. Most babies—81 percent—refused to crawl over
the deep side…

-Page 120 (Ciccarelli & White)

CNS Ignoring Light The Eye Seeing Sound The Ear

Taste/Smell Touch/Pain Movement Perception Gestalt Depth cues Illusions

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 Depth Perception

• Usually divided into two types:

– Binocular - depth cues that involve
comparing the left and right eye images
(“retinal disparity”)
– Monocular - depth cues that appear in the
image in either the left or right eye

CNS Ignoring Light The Eye Seeing Sound The Ear

Taste/Smell Touch/Pain Movement Perception Gestalt Depth cues Illusions

Linear Perspective

Relative Size
Interposition
Arial Perspective

Texture Gradient
Motion Parallax

Linear Perspective
Relative Size
Interposition
Arial Perspective

Texture Gradient
Motion Parallax

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Linear Perspective

Relative Size
Interposition

Arial Perspective
Texture Gradient
Motion Parallax

Linear Perspective

Relative Size
Interposition
Arial Perspective

Texture Gradient
Motion Parallax

Linear Perspective
Relative Size
Interposition
Arial Perspective

Texture Gradient
Motion Parallax

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Linear Perspective

Relative Size
Interposition

Arial Perspective
Texture Gradient
Motion Parallax

llusion

Mismatch
between
perception
and
reality

LO 3.11

9
 Muller-Lyer Illusion: Culture

• Muller-Lyer illusion more common in

industrialized societies

CNS Ignoring Light The Eye Seeing Sound The Ear

Taste/Smell Touch/Pain Movement Perception Gestalt Depth cues Illusions

The Moon Illusion

• Moon illusion –
comparison
with horizon
objects leads
to subjective
magnification
of moon

CNS Ignoring Light The Eye Seeing Sound The Ear

Taste/Smell Touch/Pain Movement Perception Gestalt Depth cues Illusions

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 Illusions of Motion

• Autokinetic effect - small, stationary light

in darkened room appears to move
• Stroboscopic motion - rapid series of still
pictures appears to be in motion
• Phi phenomenon – lights turned on in a
sequence appear to move

Phi example

CNS Ignoring Light The Eye Seeing Sound The Ear

Taste/Smell Touch/Pain Movement Perception Gestalt Depth cues Illusions

Factors Influencing Perception

Analyze

smaller
features
BOTTOM-
UP piece-by-
preexisting piece
knowledge TOP-
DOWN
theory-
driven

biases

CNS Ignoring Light The Eye Seeing Sound The Ear

Taste/Smell Touch/Pain Movement Perception Gestalt Depth cues Illusions

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