PSYCH101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Two-Streams Hypothesis, Basilar Membrane, Parallax

• School: University of Waterloo
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYCH101
• Professor: Paul Wehr

Document Summary

Module 4. 1: sensation and perception at a glance. Sensation: the process of detecting external events by sense organs and turning those stimuli into neutral signals: raw sensory information is relayed to the brain where perception occurs. Transduction of light occurs when it reaches receptors at the back of the eye. As a result, the brain is continually bombarded by waves of neural impulses representing the world in all its complexity. Idea that different senses are separated in the brain was proposed by german physiologist johannes muller and is known as the doctrine of specific nerve energies. Perception is a skill that our brain learns through experience. Orienting response: describes how we quickly shift our attention to stimuli that signal a change in our sensory world. William gustav fechner: early researcher, physicist, philosopher: psychophysics: the field of study that explores how physical energy such as light and sound and their intensity relate to psychological experience.