Unit 4: Sensation & Perception

Module 17Perceptual Interpretation

Unit 4: Sensation & PerceptionPerceptual InterpretationHow important is experience in shaping our perceptual interpretation?

Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) maintained that knowledge comes from our inborn ways of organizing sensory experiences. John Locke (1632-1704) argued that we learn to perceive the world through our experiences.

Perceptual InterpretationPeople born without sight, but gain it later have trouble recognizing shapes.There is a critical period shortly after birth when normal sensory and perceptual development takes place.

Perceptual AdaptationPerceptual Adaptation the ability to adjust to changed visual input.Ex. if you wear goggles that distort your vision and reach for an object, you will miss at first.Eventually, your vision will correct itself, even if the goggles flip your vision 180.

Perceptual SetPerceptual Set a tendency to see one thing and not another.

Our experiences, assumptions, and expectations greatly influence what we perceive.Schemas Schemas concepts that organize and interpret unfamiliar information.What we perceive not only comes from the environment but also from our minds. Schemas, or concepts, develop through experience.Schemas Childrens schemas represent reality as well as their abilities to represent what they see.

Schemas 1. We see something.2. Our experience organizes the information in our minds.3. We interpret the information.

Perception and the Human Factor Human factors psychologists helps design appliances, machines, and work settings to fit our natural perceptions.

Extrasensory PerceptionESP (extrasensory perception): the controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input.Are there people who can read minds, see through walls, or tell the future?Extrasensory PerceptionParapsychology: the study of paranormal events that investigates claims of ESP, including:A. Telepathy: Communicating with our minds only. B. Clairvoyance: Ability to see remote events, things that happen at another location. (Psychics, Long Island Medium, etc.)

Extrasensory PerceptionC. Precognition: Ability to see the outcome of future events. D. Psychokinesis: Ability to move objects with your mind.

Extrasensory PerceptionIn 1998, a National Research Council investigation on ESP concluded that the best available evidence at that time did not support the contention that these phenomena exist.THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS ESP!