• Sensation- physical energy (a stimulus) from the environment and convert it into neural signals• Perception- interpretation of the stimulusBottom-up Processing and Top-down • Data to whole (Bottom-up)• Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes as we construct perceptions, drawing on our experience and expectations (Top-down)Thresholds• Absolute Threshold: minimum stimulation needed to detect a particular stimulus 50% of the time• Always changingVision• Sense: sight• Wavelength (width) determines hue• Amplitude (height) determines intensity• Color deficient vision, what does it "look like"?• Stimulus: light waves• Sense organ: eye• Sensory receptors: generate neural signals carried to the brain - in retina• Rods• Detect while, gray, and black• twilight vision• Cones• detect color and fine detail• Primary colors of light: red, green, blue• Trichromatic color representation: RGB• Opponent process theory- red/green, blue/yellow, white/black• Parallel processing: processing of several aspects of the stimulus simultaneously• the brain divides a visual scene into subdivisions such as color, depth, form, movement, etc.Hearing• Wavelength (frequency) determines pitch• Amplitude (strength) determines loudness• Stimulus: sound waves• Sense organ: the ear• Sensory receptors: 16,000 hair cells in the cochlea• Loudness of sound: decibels (80+ can produce hearing loss)Touch• The sense of touch is a mix of four distinct skin senses- pressure, warmth, cold, and pain• Skin senses: only pressure has identifiable receptors• Pain control: number of therapies including drugs, surgery, acupuncture, exercise, hypnosis, and distractionTaste• Traditionally, taste sensations consisted of sweet, salty, sour, and bitter• Recent addition is "umami" (savor)• Cultural differences in taste:• Research example• IV: Pregnant/recent given birth• Drink carrot juice every day last 2 months of pregnancy/after birth• Drink same amount of water every day last 2 months of pregnancy/after birth• When the babies were several months old, were given carrot juice• Babies preferred whatever mother drank, regardless of pregnant or after birthSmell:• Stimulus: airborne odor molecules• Sensory organ: nose• Brain region of smell is closely connected with the brain regions involved with
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