Sensation Perception

Digital Scavenger Hunt & Web Quest

/ Name (Last, First): ______
______
Block: ______

Sensationrefers to the process of sensing our environment through touch, taste, sight, sound, and smell. This information is sent to our brains in raw form whereperceptioncomes into play.Perceptionis the way we interpret the sensationsand therefore make sense of everything around us. Individually you will explore the S & P in all its complexity through the internet on this Sensation Perception Digital Scavenger Hunt & Web Quest!

Use any or all of the following sites and resources:

(The interactive transcript can be found at:

Classroom textbooks! Either or both of Rathus and Myers.

Part I. Scavenger Hunt Questions – Self-Discovery of Information

GENERAL

  1. Differentiate between bottom-up processing and top-down processing.
  1. What is the absolute threshold?
  1. What is JND (just noticeable difference)?

Give two examples of JND (not from textbook).

  1. Define transduction.

VISION (aka sight)

  1. What determines the color that we see?
  1. Define accommodation (as it relates to the eye).
  1. What is the Young-Helmholtz trichromatic theory? What are the three types of color receptors (cones)?

AUDITION (aka sound)

  1. How does the brain interpret loudness?
  1. How does the brain interpret pitch?
  1. Distinguish between place theory and frequency theory.

TOUCH

  1. How do we sense hot if we don’t have hot receptors?
  1. What is the gate control theory? How is it similar to a Florida intercostal drawbridge?

OLFACTION & GUSTATION (aka smell and taste)

  1. What is the only sense that does NOT travel through the thalamus?
  1. What are papillae and their purpose?
  1. What is sensory interaction and how does it relate to olfaction and gustation?

Part II. Structures of the eye and ear

Explain in your words the function, location, and associated processes of each of the following parts of the eye.

  1. Cornea -
  1. Iris -
  1. Pupil -
  1. Lens -
  1. Retina -
  1. Fovea -
  1. Blind Spot -

Explain in your words the function, location, and associated processes of each of the following parts of the ear.

  1. Ear canal -
  1. Tympanic membrane -
  1. Semicircular canals -
  1. Cochlea -
  1. Eustachian tube -

Part III. Perception. How do we take various neural stimuli that come to us broken into various components and put them together in order to make sense of the world?

Directions: Define each of the following principles and draw an example of how each one is used by the brain to perceive the world. Be ready to present your findings to the class:

1. Form Perception

Gestalt Principles

Figure-Ground

Grouping

1. Proximity

2. Similarity

3. Continuity

4. Connectedness

5. Closure

2. Depth Perception: Put together cues from the world around us to create a sense of depth out of 2 dimensional images falling on our retina.

Binocular cues

1. Retinal Disparity

Monocular Cues

1. Relative Height

2. Relative Size

3. Interposition

4. Linear perspective

5. Light and shadow

6. Texture Gradient

7. Relative motion

3. Motion Perception

Phi phenomenon

4. Organizational principles is used by the brain in order to perceive the world.

Perceptual Constancy

  1. Shape and size constancy
  1. Lightness/Brightness constancy
  1. Color constancy

Illusions

  1. Moon illusion
  1. Ponzo illusion
  1. Ames Room
  1. Horizontal-vertical illusion
  1. Muller-Lyers Illusion