PSYC 101 Lecture 5: Unit 5 – Sensing
Document Summary
Unit 5 sensing & perceiving (homework notes) Senses, or sensory systems systems we have throughout our bodies that allow us to detect information and transform energy into neural impulses. Organisms use both genetically transmitted knowledge and knowledge derived from experience to organize and interpret incoming sensory information: this process of organization and interpretation is called perception. Research about sensation and perception is used to help understand and better prepare people to cope with diverse events: example: driving cars, flying planes, creating robots, and managing pain. Proprioception monitoring the body"s positions: uses internal information about the position of our own body. Each sense accomplishes the basic process of transduction. Each sense organ is a specialized system for detecting energy in the external environment and initiating neural messages. Each of the senses has a specific place in the brain where information from that particular sense is processed. Not all senses are specialized to pick up information coming from the outside world.
