Sensory Perception & Attention: Core Psychological Concepts

Sensoperception: Core Concepts

Sensoperception refers to the initial processes of detection and encoding of environmental energy.

Sensation

Sensation involves the initial contact between an organism and its environment.

Sensations refer to certain immediate and direct fundamental experiences. They are developed with the awareness of qualities and attributes associated with the physical environment, such as "tough" or "cold," and are generally produced from simple, isolated physical stimuli.

Perception

Perception refers to the product of psychological processes that are implicated in meaning, relationships, context, and memory.

It is the result of the organization and integration of sensations into an awareness of environmental objects and events.

Relationship Between Sensation and Perception

Learning depends on the perception of the relationships between various sensory experiences.

Transduction

The basic process by which an organism perceives the world is known as transduction.

Transduction is the process by which organisms convert ambient sensory energy into neuronal activity.

Anatomical Coding

The brain interprets the location and type of sensory input according to which nerve fibers are active.

Temporal Coding

This refers to the transmission of information in terms of time. The simplest form of temporal coding is the rate of neural firing.

Gestalt Laws of Perception

The Gestalt principles describe how humans naturally perceive objects as organized patterns and objects.

• Law of Pragnanz (Good Figure): Any stimulus pattern will tend to be perceived in the simplest possible form.
• Law of Similarity: Stimuli that are similar are perceived as part of the same perceptual unit.
• Law of Continuity: We tend to perceive as part of a unit all stimuli that maintain continuity between them.
• Law of Proximity: Stimuli that are nearby tend to be perceived as part of the same unit.
• Law of Common Fate: We tend to perceive as being part of a perceptual unit those stimuli that move in the same direction and at the same speed.
• Law of Closure: Any incomplete figure tends to be perceived as a complete figure.

Attention

Attention is a selective process necessary for information processing.

Characteristics of Attention

• Capacity: Refers to the amount of information that can be processed, or the number of tasks that can be simultaneously performed.
• Selectivity: Refers to the type of stimuli or tasks that are selected, both quantitatively and qualitatively.
• Intensity: Refers to the amount of effort or focus provided to an object or related task. The alert level is not constant.
• Oscillations: Refers to the continual change in attention when the subject has to accommodate different tasks.
• Control: One of the most important functions of attention, it directs thought and action towards a goal.