Defining Perception
- Perception is the conscious experience of a stimulus or energy.
- It involves interpreting information from our senses to understand the world around us.
Stimulus vs. Sensation
- A stimulus is any change in the environment (external) or inside the body (internal). (e.g., light flashing, feeling full after eating)
- Sensation is the detection of a stimulus by our sensory organs. (e.g., detecting light with eyes, feeling stomach expansion)
- Not all sensations reach consciousness and become perceptions. (e.g., blood gas levels)
Key Points
- Perception can occur without a physical stimulus (e.g., phantom limb sensations).
- Some sensations have unconscious effects, like triggering reflexes or bodily adjustments (e.g., blood pressure regulation).
Next Steps
- The lecture will explore the challenges involved in perception.
Additional Notes
- The lecture mentions the importance of early experience in shaping visual perception, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt. Weber’s Law