Lesson 2.05: Sensation and Perception

• Introduction
• Learn
• Try It
• Task

Introduction

Imagine a day at the beach: glimmering blue sky, salty water, warm sand, and squawking seagulls.

Thanks to the nose, ears, eyes, tongue, and skin, you can! Our knowledge of the world depends on the senses: vision, hearing, taste, smell, and touch. If someone bounces a ball, our eyes and ears pick up stimuli such as light and sound waves and send neural signals to the brain.

This process called sensation occurs when physical energy from objects in the world or in the body stimulates the sense organs. However, only when the signals come together meaningfully in our brain do we actually perceive the physical energy of a bouncing ball.

Perception happens when the brain organizes and interprets sensory information. Sensation and perception occur together and normally we don’t distinguish between the two separate processes. We use all five of our senses and organize the information we get from them every day of our lives.

 

SparkNotes Editors. (2005). SparkNote on Sensation and Perception. Retrieved February 7, 2014, from http://www.sparknotes.com/psychology/psych101/sensation/