PSY 1101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 6: Introspection Illusion, Change Blindness, Parapsychology

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 1101
• Professor: Najwa Haddad

Document Summary

To construct the outside world inside our heads we must detect physical energy from the environment (bottom-up) and then encode it as neural signals (a process traditionally called sensation). We must also select, organize, and interpret (top-down) our sensations (a processing traditionally called perception). Our perceptions are affected by the biology of our sensory systems, but also by our previous experiences and cultural expectations. In transforming sensations into perceptions, we create the meaning. Perceptions come to us moment by moment, one perception vanishing as the next appears. 1. Selective attention: the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus, as in a cocktail party effect. By estimate, our five senses take in 11 000 000 bits of information per second, of which we consciously process about 40. Example: you can shift your attention to your peripheral vision. Example: cocktail party effect: your ability to attend to only one voice among many.