Sensation and Perception

• Sensation is the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment.

• Perception is the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.

Are the disks moving?

Are the Disks Moving? (ctd.)

• Perception of movement

• A question to ponder: Is perception reality?

• If the disks are not moving, why do we think they are?

• Is there knowledge in deception?

• What sort of questions should you ask before you decide something is true?

What Do You See?

Diamonds or Squares?

Kanizsa Figure

Count the Elephant’s Legs

What Do You See?

Why Do People Wear Labels?

• How information is presented affects how we perceive.

Are the Red Squares the Same Color?

Are the Gray-Green Squares the Same Color?

Can You Read This?

• Acrcndiog to resecarh at Cimdrgabe Unierivsty, it deson’t meattr what oderr the lertets in a word are, the only ionramptt thing is that the frist and last lttrees are at the right palce. The rset can be a toatl mess and you can still raed it wutihot a pboelrm. This is becsuae we do not raed every letetr by itself but the word as a whloe.

• The brain is imposing meaning on something that is inherently meaningless.

How Many F’s Can You Count?

• Instructions: Count only once – don’t go back!!

• Finished files are the result of years of scientific study combined with the experience of years.

Results• If you counted…

6 = You are a genius!

5 = You are pretty darn smart.

4 = You are above average.

3 = You are of average intelligence.

• Most people overlook “of” words – the human brain tends to process them as v’s.

Paradigms

• There is too much sensory information!!• A paradigm is a way of organizing and condensing

sensory information.• A paradigm is a set of unwritten rules and

regulations that:– Establish and define boundaries.– Tell us how to behave inside boundaries in order to be

successful.

• Paradigms may be personal, political, or cultural.• Paradigms are contextually based.

Paradigms (ctd.)

Time flies like an arrow.

Fruit flies like a banana.

-Groucho Marx

• What’s funny about this? Why doesn’t it make sense at first?

• Examples of paradigms: breakfast food, history, science, rap music.

Perception and Art

What Does this Photo Depict?

One Picture – Many Perspectives

One Picture – Many Perspectives

• Writing Assignment: Based on the previous photo of the girl jumping onto a pile of leaves …– Write a paragraph celebrating the joys of

childhood.– Write a paragraph warning parents of the

dangers of “leaf-jumping.”– Develop an outline for a fairy tale.– Write an ad for Tide laundry detergent.

Concluding Thoughts

• What we experience is not simply the “world out there” as it is.

• Human experience is the product of– The external world– The physical environment– Personal ideas and values

• What about bias?– If everything is biased, then nothing is biased.

Final Questions

• How, if at all, can the influences of our biases be overcome?

• Do perceptions perform different functions in different AoK’s?

• What are the obstacles to perception and how might they be overcome?