Sensation and Perception

Sensation:
The activation of the sense organs by a source of physical energy. Sensation is actually sensing the world through our sense organs. It is the basic thing of our life that makes sense of the world around us. At the level of sensation human and animals are same because at the level of sensation there is no recognition of any sort at all. Sensation work is to detect the information, what the information is it do not identify. We have five sense organs then there are five senses Eye sight Ear sound Skintouch Nose smell Tongue taste

Extra Sensory Perception:

But we are not limited to what we call these five senses, Psychology is gone beyond them there are also other senses such as sense of pain, sense of pleasure, sense of temperature etc.

Psychophysics:
The study of relationship between the physical expects of something and our psychological experience of them Psychophysics is the study of how physical phenomena are translated in to psychological experience. For example colors have chemical energy in it. You can not see colors without physical object with this physical object we experience something e.g. its sharp color, cool color etc. imagine that there is no physical object around us then the sense of feeling will not work. We all imagine things. There are always physical things behind our feelings. Basic concept of psychophysics:

1. Absolute threshold:
The smallest intensity of a stimulus that must be present for something to be detected. It means what is out there. Absolute threshold is a concept of psychophysics that brings us awareness about the capacity of minimum amount of energy present in our surrounding or in our physical world.

2. Absolute threshold of vision:

The sense of human vision is so sensitive that a candle flame can be seen on a clear dark night from a desistence of 30 miles.

3. Absolute threshold of hearing:

Sense of hearing is that we can hear the ticking of watch under quite condition from a distance of 20 feet away.

4. Absolute threshold of sense of taste:

Sense of taste can be as like if one tea spoon sugar is added and dissolve in 2 gallon of water so the taste of sugar is still be tasted by you. Absolute threshold of sense of touch:

5. Absolute threshold of sense of smell:

The Absolute threshold of sense of smell is if in a three room apartment a drop of perfume is falling so you can still feel the fragrance of the perfume drop in anywhere in the apartment.

2. Just noticeable difference:

The point on which you start felling the difference, the slightest difference that is just noticeable difference. The smallest level of added or reduced stimulation has occurred is known as just noticeable difference. In a just noticeable difference we try to differentiate the things or the objects depend on the initial intensity of stimulus. Just noticeable difference is based on a law known as Webers law.

Webers Law:
Webers law states that a just noticeable difference is the constant proportion of the intensity of an initial stimulus rather than a constant amount. Weber found that the just noticeable difference for weight is 1:50. So if the weight is 500 so the just noticeable difference will be 10. According to this law we are able to hear the sound differences when we are in a quite silent place.

Stimulus:
Energy that produce response.

Sensory adaptation:
An adjustment in sensory capacity after prolonged exposure to unchanging stimuli. Sensory adaptation occurs as people become use to, to a stimulus and change their frame of reference. In a sense, our brain mentally turns down the volume of the stimulation that its experiencing regularly. Example of sensory adoption is cinema. When we go in cinema to watch movie because of the darkness in the room we cant see anything but as the time pass our eyes become use to to the darkness and we can see people in darkness.

Perception:
Constructing our view of the world. The process through which brain organizes and interprets the objects in to meaningful information.

Laws of perception: Gestalts Laws of perception: Law of perceptual organization:

Based on two important concepts. The concept of Figure and Ground Figure can not be defined without a background.

1. Law of Closure:
It states the brain has the tendency to fill the missing gaps or what is missing in the figure / picture or anything and then completes it into a complete form. Law of closure is based on past experience the more past experience you have the stronger the tendency of the brain of filling the missing gaps. Brain always shows us a complete picture/ figure.

2. Law of Proximity
Whenever we see objects that are near together we interprets them as group

3. Law of Similarity:
It states that: The brain has a tendency to perceive the things in similar pattern of shape color and size, and on the basis of it the differences of it can be recognized.

4. Law of Simplicity/Continuity:
It states that: When we observe a pattern, we perceive it in the most basic, straightforward manner that we can.