This article is about a topic of Psychology. sensation. It contains some important points related to the sensation and has some relevant examples.

1. Sensation and Perception
Sensation
• Sensation is the impact of a stimulus on
receptor cells in our sensory organs: the eyes,
ears, nose, tongue, and fingertips (among
other parts of the body that sense
feeling/touch). Stimuli from the environment
are transformed into neural signals

2. Perception
• Perception is the mental process of understanding
the sensory input received in our brains: it is
awareness or understanding of the real-world cause
of the sensory input. The neural signals we receive
from our sensory organs are processed in the brain,
and the brain creates useful information and
meaning about the world around us.
• The mental process by which the brain organizes and
interprets sensory information.

3. Transduction
• Transduction is the process of turning
environmental information into neural impulses.
• In the eyes, light waves create neural impulses
• In the nose, chemical reactions from gaseous
molecules create neural impulses
• On the tongue, chemical reactions create neural
impulses
• In the ear, sound waves create neural impulses
• Within the skin, pressure, pain, and temperature
create neural impulses

4. Transduction
• Transduction Information gathered from your
sensory organs is converted into neural
impulses that are carried through the
peripheral nervous system to your brain. After
this process of “transduction” has occurred,
the brain can convert the impulses into
information.

5. Measuring Senses
• Absolute threshold
• Difference threshold
• Signal-detection theory

6. Measuring Senses
Absolute Threshold
• The smallest quantity of physical energy that
can be reliably detected by an observer.
Difference Threshold
• The smallest difference in stimulation that can
be reliably detected by an observer when two
stimuli are compared;
• Also called Just Noticeable Difference (JND).

7. Signal-Detection Theory
• It is impossible to process every simultaneous
stimulus equally in our brains. Instead, we focus
our attention on certain things while at the same
time attempting to ignore the flood of
information entering our senses. When we do
this, we are making a determination as to what is
important to sense and what should be in the
background. This concept is referred to as signal
detection because we detect what we want to
focus on, and ignore or minimize everything else.

8. Signal-Detection Theory
• Signal Detection Theory Signal detection theory is
also about our individual ability to recognize a
stimulus when others are present. Will you hear
your phone ring if music is playing on the radio?
Your ability to recognize a stimulus is called a
“hit”: failure to recognize one is called a “miss.”
You can also experience a “false alarm” if you
think you noticed a stimulus, but there was
actually none present (like when you think your
phone rang, but it really didn’t)! Signals

9. Stimulus is
Present
Stimulus is
Absent
Response:
“Present”
Hit False Alarm
Response:
“Absent”
Miss Correct Rejection

10. Sensory Adaptation and Deprivation
• Adaptation
– The reduction or disappearance of sensory
responsiveness when stimulation is unchanging or
repetitious.
– Prevents us from having to continuously respond
to unimportant information.
• Deprivation
– The absence of normal levels of sensory
stimulation.

11. Sensory Adaptation
• Sensory adaptation is our ability become to less
sensitive to an unchanging stimulus. Ever wonder
why we notice certain smells or sounds right
away and then after a while they fade into the
background? If a stimulus has become redundant
or remains unchanged for an extended period of
time, we begin to ignore it. Without sensory
adaptation, you would feel the constant pressure
of clothes on your body - you would be
bombarded with sensory information.

12. Sensory Overload
• Overstimulation of the senses.
• occurs when one or more of the body's senses
experiences over-stimulation from the
environment. There are many environmental
elements that affect an individual.
• Examples of these elements are crowding, noise,
mass media, technology.
• Can use selective attention to reduce sensory
overload.
– Selective attention
• The focusing of attention on selected aspects of the
environment and the blocking out of others.

13. Perception is the organization,
identification, and interpretation of
sensory information in order to
represent and understand the
presented information, or the
environment.