PSYA01H3 Chapter 5: Chapter 5 textbook notes
Document Summary
Our senses are the means by which we experience the world; everything we learn is detected by sense organs and transmitted to our brains by sensory nerves. Sense systems do that depending on (1) specific modality of the information (2) characteristics of the information and the state of the brain at the time it receives it. Visual system provides stability in the face of rapid shifts in its input. Sound is not so variable, and is more gradual. Our auditory sense has more time to process signals. When we feel an object, the experience is active, not passive. Experience is studied by distinguishing between sensation (detection of simple properties of stimuli, such as brightness, colour, warmth and sweetness) and perception (detection of objects both animate and inanimate, their locations, movements and backrounds). Ex: seeing the colour red is a sensation, but seeing a red apple is a perception.
