PSYCH 1F03 Chapter 5: text 5
31 May 2016
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The relationship between an external object and our internal perception of it depends on the brain"s ability to correctly interpret the information it gets from the senses. Sensation is the process by which information (in the form of energy) Perception is everything that happens from the time sensory information reaches the brain until we have a conscious awareness of the object. Transform energy reaching the body from outside into the electrical and chemical energy of nerve impulses. Sensory receptors transduce only a tiny fraction of all the energy that arrives at the body"s surface from external objects/events. We cannot hear very high/low sounds, for example. Visible light consists of electromagnetic waves with wavelengths between 400-700 nanometres. Our perceptions of the world are based on a very limited sample of the energies that surround us all of the time. Any stimulus has physical characteristics, such as intensity or amplitude. Transduction allows us to experience that stimulus psychologically.
