{"id":2124,"date":"2016-10-25T21:06:33","date_gmt":"2016-10-25T21:06:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=2124"},"modified":"2024-05-17T02:29:59","modified_gmt":"2024-05-17T02:29:59","slug":"reading-what-is-perception","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/chapter\/reading-what-is-perception\/","title":{"raw":"What is Perception?","rendered":"What is Perception?"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>Discuss the roles attention, motivation, and sensory adaptation play in perception<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>\r\nWhile our sensory receptors are constantly collecting information from the environment, it is ultimately how we interpret that information that affects how we interact with the world. <strong>Perception<\/strong> refers to the way sensory information is organized, interpreted, and consciously experienced. Perception involves both bottom-up and top-down processing. <strong>Bottom-up processing<\/strong> refers to sensory information from a stimulus in the environment driving a process, and <strong>top-down processing<\/strong> refers to knowledge and expectancy driving a process, as shown in Figure 5.2 (Egeth &amp; Yantis, 1997; Fine &amp; Minnery, 2009; Yantis &amp; Egeth, 1999).\r\n\r\nLook at the shape in Figure 1 below. Seen alone, your brain engages in bottom-up processing. There are two thick vertical lines and three thin horizontal lines. There is no context to give it a specific meaning, so there is no top-down processing involved.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_3516\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"136\"]<a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/01\/26161444\/Screen-Shot-2017-01-26-at-10.13.34-AM.png\"><img class=\"wp-image-3516 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/01\/26161444\/Screen-Shot-2017-01-26-at-10.13.34-AM.png\" alt=\"text or image of a thick vertical line and three thin horizontal lines, then another thick vertical line.\" width=\"136\" height=\"168\" \/><\/a> <strong>Figure 1<\/strong>.\u00a0What is this image? Without any context, you must use bottom-up processing.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nNow, look at the same shape in two different contexts. Surrounded by sequential letters, your brain expects the shape to be a letter and to complete the sequence. In that context, you perceive the lines to form the shape of the letter \u201cB.\u201d\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_3517\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"219\"]<img class=\"wp-image-3517 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/01\/26161456\/Screen-Shot-2017-01-26-at-10.13.51-AM.png\" alt=\"The letter A, then the same shape from before that now appears to be a B, then followed by the letter C.\" width=\"219\" height=\"113\" \/> <strong>Figure 2<\/strong>.\u00a0With top-down processing, you use context to give meaning to this image.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nSurrounded by numbers, the same shape now looks like the number \u201c13.\u201d\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_3518\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"273\"]<img class=\"wp-image-3518 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/01\/26161457\/Screen-Shot-2017-01-26-at-10.14.00-AM.png\" alt=\"The number 12, then the same shape from before that now appears to be a 13, then followed by the number 14.\" width=\"273\" height=\"120\" \/> <strong>Figure 3<\/strong>.\u00a0With top-down processing, you use context to give meaning to this image.[\/caption]\r\n\r\nWhen given a context, your perception is driven by your cognitive expectations. Now you are processing the shape in a top-down fashion.\r\n\r\nOne way to think of this concept is that sensation is a physical process, whereas perception is psychological. For example, upon walking into a kitchen and smelling the scent of baking cinnamon rolls, the <em data-effect=\"italics\">sensation<\/em> is the scent receptors detecting the odor of cinnamon, but the <em data-effect=\"italics\">perception<\/em> may be \u201cMmm, this smells like the bread Grandma used to bake when the family gathered for holidays.\u201d\r\n\r\nAlthough our perceptions are built from sensations, not all sensations result in perception. In fact, we often don\u2019t perceive stimuli that remain relatively constant over prolonged periods of time. This is known as <strong>sensory adaptation<\/strong>. Imagine going to a city that you have never visited. You check into the hotel, but when you get to your room, there is a road construction sign with a bright flashing light outside your window. Unfortunately, there are no other rooms available, so you are stuck with a flashing light. You decide to watch television to unwind. The flashing light was extremely annoying when you first entered your room. It was as if someone was continually turning a bright yellow spotlight on and off in your room, but after watching television for a short while, you no longer notice the light flashing. The light is still flashing and filling your room with yellow light every few seconds, and the photoreceptors in your eyes still sense the light, but you no longer perceive the rapid changes in lighting conditions. That you no longer perceive the flashing light demonstrates sensory adaptation and shows that while closely associated, sensation and perception are different.\r\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\r\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\r\nhttps:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/fcb9455e-eb51-4705-9d6f-81300e6aaca2\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/47093eb3-1611-43b9-a820-7e4e46917dfa\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<h2>Attention and Perception<\/h2>\r\nThere is another factor that affects sensation and perception: attention. Attention plays a significant role in determining what is sensed versus what is perceived. Imagine you are at a party full of music, chatter, and laughter. You get involved in an interesting conversation with a friend, and you tune out all the background noise. If someone interrupted you to ask what song had just finished playing, you would probably be unable to answer that question.\r\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\r\n<h3>Watch It<\/h3>\r\nSee for yourself how inattentional blindness works by watching this selective attention test from Simons and Chabris (1999):\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo\r\n\r\nYou can <a href=\"https:\/\/oerfiles.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/Psychology\/Transcriptions\/SelectiveAttentionTest.txt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">view the transcript for \"selective attention test\" here (opens in new window)<\/a>.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\nOne of the most interesting demonstrations of how important attention is in determining our perception of the environment occurred in a famous study conducted by Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris (1999). In this study, participants watched a video of people dressed in black and white passing basketballs. Participants were asked to count the number of times the team dressed in white passed the ball. During the video, a person dressed in a black gorilla costume walks among the two teams. You would think that someone would notice the gorilla, right? Nearly half of the people who watched the video didn\u2019t notice the gorilla at all, despite the fact that he was clearly visible for nine seconds. Because participants were so focused on the number of times the team dressed in white was passing the ball, they completely tuned out other visual information. <strong>Inattentional blindness<\/strong> is the failure to notice something that is completely visible because the person was actively attending to something else and did not pay attention to other things (Mack &amp; Rock, 1998; Simons &amp; Chabris, 1999).\r\n\r\nIn a similar experiment, researchers tested inattentional blindness by asking participants to observe images moving across a computer screen. They were instructed to focus on either white or black objects, disregarding the other color. When a red cross passed across the screen, about one third of subjects did not notice it (Figure 5.3) (Most, Simons, Scholl, &amp; Chabris, 2000).\r\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\r\n<h3>Link to Learning<\/h3>\r\nRead more on <a href=\"https:\/\/nobaproject.com\/modules\/failures-of-awareness-the-case-of-inattentional-blindness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">inattentional blindness at\u00a0the\u00a0Noba Project website<\/a>.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<figure>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"488\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/902\/2015\/02\/23224706\/CNX_Psych_05_01_Cross.jpg\" alt=\"A photograph shows a person staring at a screen that displays one red cross toward the left side and numerous black and white shapes all over.\" width=\"488\" height=\"292\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpg\" \/> <strong>Figure 4<\/strong>. Nearly one third of participants in a study did not notice that a red cross passed on the screen because their attention was focused on the black or white figures. (credit: Cory Zanker)[\/caption]<\/figure>\r\n<h2>Motivations, Expectations, and Perception<\/h2>\r\nMotivation can also affect perception. Have you ever been expecting a really important phone call and, while taking a shower, you think you hear the phone ringing, only to discover that it is not? If so, then you have experienced how motivation to detect a meaningful stimulus can shift our ability to discriminate between a true sensory stimulus and background noise. The ability to identify a stimulus when it is embedded in a distracting background is called <strong>signal detection theory<\/strong>. This might also explain why a mother is awakened by a quiet murmur from her baby but not by other sounds that occur while she is asleep. Signal detection theory has practical applications, such as increasing air traffic controller accuracy. Controllers need to be able to detect planes among many signals (blips) that appear on the radar screen and follow those planes as they move through the sky. In fact, the original work of the researcher who developed signal detection theory was focused on improving the sensitivity of air traffic controllers to plane blips (Swets, 1964).\r\n\r\nOur perceptions can also be affected by our beliefs, values, prejudices, expectations, and life experiences. As you will see later in this module, individuals who are deprived of the experience of binocular vision during critical periods of development have trouble perceiving depth (Fawcett, Wang, &amp; Birch, 2005). The shared experiences of people within a given cultural context can have pronounced effects on perception. For example, Marshall Segall, Donald Campbell, and Melville Herskovits (1963) published the results of a multinational study in which they demonstrated that individuals from Western cultures were more prone to experience certain types of visual illusions than individuals from non-Western cultures, and vice versa. One such illusion that Westerners were more likely to experience was the M\u00fcller-Lyer illusion (Figure 5): The lines appear to be different lengths, but they are actually the same length.\r\n<figure>\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"aligncenter\" width=\"731\"]<img src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/902\/2015\/02\/23224707\/CNX_Psych_05_01_MullerLyer.jpg\" alt=\"Two vertical lines are shown on the left in (a). They each have V\u2013shaped brackets on their ends, but one line has the brackets angled toward its center, and the other has the brackets angled away from its center. The lines are the same length, but the second line appears longer due to the orientation of the brackets on its endpoints. To the right of these lines is a two-dimensional drawing of walls meeting at 90-degree angles. Within this drawing are 2 lines which are the same length, but appear different lengths. Because one line is bordering a window on a wall that has the appearance of being farther away from the perspective of the viewer, it appears shorter than the other line which marks the 90 degree angle where the facing wall appears closer to the viewer\u2019s perspective point.\" width=\"731\" height=\"366\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpg\" \/> <strong>Figure 5<\/strong>. In the M\u00fcller-Lyer illusion, lines appear to be different lengths although they are identical. (a) Arrows at the ends of lines may make the line on the right appear longer, although the lines are the same length. (b) When applied to a three-dimensional image, the line on the right again may appear longer although both black lines are the same length.[\/caption]<\/figure>\r\nThese perceptual differences were consistent with differences in the types of environmental features experienced on a regular basis by people in a given cultural context. People in Western cultures, for example, have a perceptual context of buildings with straight lines, what Segall\u2019s study called a carpentered world (Segall et al., 1966). In contrast, people from certain non-Western cultures with an uncarpentered view, such as the Zulu of South Africa, whose villages are made up of round huts arranged in circles, are less susceptible to this illusion (Segall et al., 1999). It is not just vision that is affected by cultural factors. Indeed, research has demonstrated that the ability to identify an odor, and rate its pleasantness and its intensity, varies cross-culturally (Ayabe-Kanamura, Saito, Distel, Mart\u00ednez-G\u00f3mez, &amp; Hudson, 1998).\r\n\r\nChildren described as thrill seekers are more likely to show taste preferences for intense sour flavors (Liem, Westerbeek, Wolterink, Kok, &amp; de Graaf, 2004), which suggests that basic aspects of personality might affect perception. Furthermore, individuals who hold positive attitudes toward reduced-fat foods are more likely to rate foods labeled as reduced fat as tasting better than people who have less positive attitudes about these products (Aaron, Mela, &amp; Evans, 1994).\r\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\r\n<h3>Watch It<\/h3>\r\nReview the\u00a0differences between sensation and perception in this\u00a0CrashCourse Psychology video:\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=unWnZvXJH2o\r\n\r\nYou can<a href=\"https:\/\/oerfiles.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/Psychology\/Transcriptions\/SensationAndPerceptionCrashCoursePsychology5.txt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> view the transcript for \"Sensation and Perception: Crash Course Psychology #5\" here (opens in new window)<\/a>.\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\r\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\r\nhttps:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/c28cc66d-a427-4341-8b6c-2b165c0f99a0\r\n\r\nhttps:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/9c040141-77d9-492a-adb2-a6582c599e6a\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\r\n<h3>Think It Over<\/h3>\r\nThink about a time when you failed to notice something around you because your attention was focused elsewhere. If someone pointed it out, were you surprised that you hadn\u2019t noticed it right away?\r\n\r\n<\/div>\r\n<section data-depth=\"1\"><section>\r\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\r\n<h3>Glossary<\/h3>\r\n<div data-type=\"definition\"><strong>bottom-up processing:\u00a0<\/strong>system in which perceptions are built from sensory input<\/div>\r\n<div data-type=\"definition\"><strong>inattentional blindness:\u00a0<\/strong>failure to notice something that is completely visible because of a lack of attention<\/div>\r\n<div data-type=\"definition\"><strong>perception:\u00a0<\/strong>way that sensory information is interpreted and consciously experienced<\/div>\r\n<div data-type=\"definition\"><strong>sensory adaptation<\/strong>: the reduction in sensitivity after prolonged exposure to a stimulus<\/div>\r\n<div data-type=\"definition\"><strong>top-down processing:\u00a0<\/strong>interpretation of sensations is influenced by available knowledge, experiences, and thoughts<\/div>\r\n<\/div>\r\n<\/section><\/section>","rendered":"<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Learning Objectives<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Discuss the roles attention, motivation, and sensory adaptation play in perception<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p>While our sensory receptors are constantly collecting information from the environment, it is ultimately how we interpret that information that affects how we interact with the world. <strong>Perception<\/strong> refers to the way sensory information is organized, interpreted, and consciously experienced. Perception involves both bottom-up and top-down processing. <strong>Bottom-up processing<\/strong> refers to sensory information from a stimulus in the environment driving a process, and <strong>top-down processing<\/strong> refers to knowledge and expectancy driving a process, as shown in Figure 5.2 (Egeth &amp; Yantis, 1997; Fine &amp; Minnery, 2009; Yantis &amp; Egeth, 1999).<\/p>\n<p>Look at the shape in Figure 1 below. Seen alone, your brain engages in bottom-up processing. There are two thick vertical lines and three thin horizontal lines. There is no context to give it a specific meaning, so there is no top-down processing involved.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3516\" style=\"width: 146px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/01\/26161444\/Screen-Shot-2017-01-26-at-10.13.34-AM.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3516\" class=\"wp-image-3516 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/01\/26161444\/Screen-Shot-2017-01-26-at-10.13.34-AM.png\" alt=\"text or image of a thick vertical line and three thin horizontal lines, then another thick vertical line.\" width=\"136\" height=\"168\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-3516\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 1<\/strong>.\u00a0What is this image? Without any context, you must use bottom-up processing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Now, look at the same shape in two different contexts. Surrounded by sequential letters, your brain expects the shape to be a letter and to complete the sequence. In that context, you perceive the lines to form the shape of the letter \u201cB.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3517\" style=\"width: 229px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3517\" class=\"wp-image-3517 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/01\/26161456\/Screen-Shot-2017-01-26-at-10.13.51-AM.png\" alt=\"The letter A, then the same shape from before that now appears to be a B, then followed by the letter C.\" width=\"219\" height=\"113\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-3517\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 2<\/strong>.\u00a0With top-down processing, you use context to give meaning to this image.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Surrounded by numbers, the same shape now looks like the number \u201c13.\u201d<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_3518\" style=\"width: 283px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3518\" class=\"wp-image-3518 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/855\/2017\/01\/26161457\/Screen-Shot-2017-01-26-at-10.14.00-AM.png\" alt=\"The number 12, then the same shape from before that now appears to be a 13, then followed by the number 14.\" width=\"273\" height=\"120\" \/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-3518\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 3<\/strong>.\u00a0With top-down processing, you use context to give meaning to this image.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>When given a context, your perception is driven by your cognitive expectations. Now you are processing the shape in a top-down fashion.<\/p>\n<p>One way to think of this concept is that sensation is a physical process, whereas perception is psychological. For example, upon walking into a kitchen and smelling the scent of baking cinnamon rolls, the <em data-effect=\"italics\">sensation<\/em> is the scent receptors detecting the odor of cinnamon, but the <em data-effect=\"italics\">perception<\/em> may be \u201cMmm, this smells like the bread Grandma used to bake when the family gathered for holidays.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Although our perceptions are built from sensations, not all sensations result in perception. In fact, we often don\u2019t perceive stimuli that remain relatively constant over prolonged periods of time. This is known as <strong>sensory adaptation<\/strong>. Imagine going to a city that you have never visited. You check into the hotel, but when you get to your room, there is a road construction sign with a bright flashing light outside your window. Unfortunately, there are no other rooms available, so you are stuck with a flashing light. You decide to watch television to unwind. The flashing light was extremely annoying when you first entered your room. It was as if someone was continually turning a bright yellow spotlight on and off in your room, but after watching television for a short while, you no longer notice the light flashing. The light is still flashing and filling your room with yellow light every few seconds, and the photoreceptors in your eyes still sense the light, but you no longer perceive the rapid changes in lighting conditions. That you no longer perceive the flashing light demonstrates sensory adaptation and shows that while closely associated, sensation and perception are different.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\n<p>\t<iframe id=\"assessment_practice_fcb9455e-eb51-4705-9d6f-81300e6aaca2\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/fcb9455e-eb51-4705-9d6f-81300e6aaca2?iframe_resize_id=assessment_practice_id_fcb9455e-eb51-4705-9d6f-81300e6aaca2\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none;width:100%;height:100%;min-height:300px;\"><br \/>\n\t<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\t<iframe id=\"assessment_practice_47093eb3-1611-43b9-a820-7e4e46917dfa\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/47093eb3-1611-43b9-a820-7e4e46917dfa?iframe_resize_id=assessment_practice_id_47093eb3-1611-43b9-a820-7e4e46917dfa\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none;width:100%;height:100%;min-height:300px;\"><br \/>\n\t<\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Attention and Perception<\/h2>\n<p>There is another factor that affects sensation and perception: attention. Attention plays a significant role in determining what is sensed versus what is perceived. Imagine you are at a party full of music, chatter, and laughter. You get involved in an interesting conversation with a friend, and you tune out all the background noise. If someone interrupted you to ask what song had just finished playing, you would probably be unable to answer that question.<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\n<h3>Watch It<\/h3>\n<p>See for yourself how inattentional blindness works by watching this selective attention test from Simons and Chabris (1999):<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-1\" title=\"selective attention test\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vJG698U2Mvo?feature=oembed&#38;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>You can <a href=\"https:\/\/oerfiles.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/Psychology\/Transcriptions\/SelectiveAttentionTest.txt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">view the transcript for &#8220;selective attention test&#8221; here (opens in new window)<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>One of the most interesting demonstrations of how important attention is in determining our perception of the environment occurred in a famous study conducted by Daniel Simons and Christopher Chabris (1999). In this study, participants watched a video of people dressed in black and white passing basketballs. Participants were asked to count the number of times the team dressed in white passed the ball. During the video, a person dressed in a black gorilla costume walks among the two teams. You would think that someone would notice the gorilla, right? Nearly half of the people who watched the video didn\u2019t notice the gorilla at all, despite the fact that he was clearly visible for nine seconds. Because participants were so focused on the number of times the team dressed in white was passing the ball, they completely tuned out other visual information. <strong>Inattentional blindness<\/strong> is the failure to notice something that is completely visible because the person was actively attending to something else and did not pay attention to other things (Mack &amp; Rock, 1998; Simons &amp; Chabris, 1999).<\/p>\n<p>In a similar experiment, researchers tested inattentional blindness by asking participants to observe images moving across a computer screen. They were instructed to focus on either white or black objects, disregarding the other color. When a red cross passed across the screen, about one third of subjects did not notice it (Figure 5.3) (Most, Simons, Scholl, &amp; Chabris, 2000).<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\n<h3>Link to Learning<\/h3>\n<p>Read more on <a href=\"https:\/\/nobaproject.com\/modules\/failures-of-awareness-the-case-of-inattentional-blindness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">inattentional blindness at\u00a0the\u00a0Noba Project website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<figure>\n<div style=\"width: 498px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/902\/2015\/02\/23224706\/CNX_Psych_05_01_Cross.jpg\" alt=\"A photograph shows a person staring at a screen that displays one red cross toward the left side and numerous black and white shapes all over.\" width=\"488\" height=\"292\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 4<\/strong>. Nearly one third of participants in a study did not notice that a red cross passed on the screen because their attention was focused on the black or white figures. (credit: Cory Zanker)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2>Motivations, Expectations, and Perception<\/h2>\n<p>Motivation can also affect perception. Have you ever been expecting a really important phone call and, while taking a shower, you think you hear the phone ringing, only to discover that it is not? If so, then you have experienced how motivation to detect a meaningful stimulus can shift our ability to discriminate between a true sensory stimulus and background noise. The ability to identify a stimulus when it is embedded in a distracting background is called <strong>signal detection theory<\/strong>. This might also explain why a mother is awakened by a quiet murmur from her baby but not by other sounds that occur while she is asleep. Signal detection theory has practical applications, such as increasing air traffic controller accuracy. Controllers need to be able to detect planes among many signals (blips) that appear on the radar screen and follow those planes as they move through the sky. In fact, the original work of the researcher who developed signal detection theory was focused on improving the sensitivity of air traffic controllers to plane blips (Swets, 1964).<\/p>\n<p>Our perceptions can also be affected by our beliefs, values, prejudices, expectations, and life experiences. As you will see later in this module, individuals who are deprived of the experience of binocular vision during critical periods of development have trouble perceiving depth (Fawcett, Wang, &amp; Birch, 2005). The shared experiences of people within a given cultural context can have pronounced effects on perception. For example, Marshall Segall, Donald Campbell, and Melville Herskovits (1963) published the results of a multinational study in which they demonstrated that individuals from Western cultures were more prone to experience certain types of visual illusions than individuals from non-Western cultures, and vice versa. One such illusion that Westerners were more likely to experience was the M\u00fcller-Lyer illusion (Figure 5): The lines appear to be different lengths, but they are actually the same length.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<div style=\"width: 741px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/courses-images-archive-read-only\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/902\/2015\/02\/23224707\/CNX_Psych_05_01_MullerLyer.jpg\" alt=\"Two vertical lines are shown on the left in (a). They each have V\u2013shaped brackets on their ends, but one line has the brackets angled toward its center, and the other has the brackets angled away from its center. The lines are the same length, but the second line appears longer due to the orientation of the brackets on its endpoints. To the right of these lines is a two-dimensional drawing of walls meeting at 90-degree angles. Within this drawing are 2 lines which are the same length, but appear different lengths. Because one line is bordering a window on a wall that has the appearance of being farther away from the perspective of the viewer, it appears shorter than the other line which marks the 90 degree angle where the facing wall appears closer to the viewer\u2019s perspective point.\" width=\"731\" height=\"366\" data-media-type=\"image\/jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Figure 5<\/strong>. In the M\u00fcller-Lyer illusion, lines appear to be different lengths although they are identical. (a) Arrows at the ends of lines may make the line on the right appear longer, although the lines are the same length. (b) When applied to a three-dimensional image, the line on the right again may appear longer although both black lines are the same length.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>These perceptual differences were consistent with differences in the types of environmental features experienced on a regular basis by people in a given cultural context. People in Western cultures, for example, have a perceptual context of buildings with straight lines, what Segall\u2019s study called a carpentered world (Segall et al., 1966). In contrast, people from certain non-Western cultures with an uncarpentered view, such as the Zulu of South Africa, whose villages are made up of round huts arranged in circles, are less susceptible to this illusion (Segall et al., 1999). It is not just vision that is affected by cultural factors. Indeed, research has demonstrated that the ability to identify an odor, and rate its pleasantness and its intensity, varies cross-culturally (Ayabe-Kanamura, Saito, Distel, Mart\u00ednez-G\u00f3mez, &amp; Hudson, 1998).<\/p>\n<p>Children described as thrill seekers are more likely to show taste preferences for intense sour flavors (Liem, Westerbeek, Wolterink, Kok, &amp; de Graaf, 2004), which suggests that basic aspects of personality might affect perception. Furthermore, individuals who hold positive attitudes toward reduced-fat foods are more likely to rate foods labeled as reduced fat as tasting better than people who have less positive attitudes about these products (Aaron, Mela, &amp; Evans, 1994).<\/p>\n<div class=\"textbox examples\">\n<h3>Watch It<\/h3>\n<p>Review the\u00a0differences between sensation and perception in this\u00a0CrashCourse Psychology video:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"oembed-2\" title=\"Sensation and Perception: Crash Course Psychology #5\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/unWnZvXJH2o?feature=oembed&#38;rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>You can<a href=\"https:\/\/oerfiles.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com\/Psychology\/Transcriptions\/SensationAndPerceptionCrashCoursePsychology5.txt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> view the transcript for &#8220;Sensation and Perception: Crash Course Psychology #5&#8221; here (opens in new window)<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox tryit\">\n<h3>Try It<\/h3>\n<p>\t<iframe id=\"assessment_practice_c28cc66d-a427-4341-8b6c-2b165c0f99a0\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/c28cc66d-a427-4341-8b6c-2b165c0f99a0?iframe_resize_id=assessment_practice_id_c28cc66d-a427-4341-8b6c-2b165c0f99a0\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none;width:100%;height:100%;min-height:300px;\"><br \/>\n\t<\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\t<iframe id=\"assessment_practice_9c040141-77d9-492a-adb2-a6582c599e6a\" class=\"resizable\" src=\"https:\/\/assess.lumenlearning.com\/practice\/9c040141-77d9-492a-adb2-a6582c599e6a?iframe_resize_id=assessment_practice_id_9c040141-77d9-492a-adb2-a6582c599e6a\" frameborder=\"0\" style=\"border:none;width:100%;height:100%;min-height:300px;\"><br \/>\n\t<\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"textbox learning-objectives\">\n<h3>Think It Over<\/h3>\n<p>Think about a time when you failed to notice something around you because your attention was focused elsewhere. If someone pointed it out, were you surprised that you hadn\u2019t noticed it right away?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<section data-depth=\"1\">\n<section>\n<div class=\"textbox key-takeaways\">\n<h3>Glossary<\/h3>\n<div data-type=\"definition\"><strong>bottom-up processing:\u00a0<\/strong>system in which perceptions are built from sensory input<\/div>\n<div data-type=\"definition\"><strong>inattentional blindness:\u00a0<\/strong>failure to notice something that is completely visible because of a lack of attention<\/div>\n<div data-type=\"definition\"><strong>perception:\u00a0<\/strong>way that sensory information is interpreted and consciously experienced<\/div>\n<div data-type=\"definition\"><strong>sensory adaptation<\/strong>: the reduction in sensitivity after prolonged exposure to a stimulus<\/div>\n<div data-type=\"definition\"><strong>top-down processing:\u00a0<\/strong>interpretation of sensations is influenced by available knowledge, experiences, and thoughts<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n\n\t\t\t <section class=\"citations-section\" role=\"contentinfo\">\n\t\t\t <h3>Candela Citations<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t <div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <div id=\"citation-list-2124\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <div class=\"licensing\"><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Original<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Modification, adaptation, and original content. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: Lumen Learning. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">CC licensed content, Shared previously<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Sensation and Perception. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: OpenStax College. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/psychology-2e\/pages\/5-1-sensation-versus-perception\">https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/psychology-2e\/pages\/5-1-sensation-versus-perception<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/\">CC BY: Attribution<\/a><\/em>. <strong>License Terms<\/strong>: Download for free at https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/psychology-2e\/pages\/1-introduction<\/li><li>Section on bottom-up versus top-down processing. <strong>Authored by<\/strong>: Dr. Scott Roberts, Dr. Ryan Curtis, Samantha Levy, and Dr. Dylan Selterman. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: OpenPsyc. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/openpsyc.blogspot.com\/2014\/06\/bottom-up-vs-top-down-processing.html\">http:\/\/openpsyc.blogspot.com\/2014\/06\/bottom-up-vs-top-down-processing.html<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"license\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc-sa\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike<\/a><\/em><\/li><\/ul><div class=\"license-attribution-dropdown-subheading\">All rights reserved content<\/div><ul class=\"citation-list\"><li>Sensation &amp; Perception - Crash Course Psychology #5. <strong>Provided by<\/strong>: CrashCourse. <strong>Located at<\/strong>: <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=unWnZvXJH2o\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=unWnZvXJH2o<\/a>. <strong>License<\/strong>: <em>Other<\/em>. <strong>License Terms<\/strong>: Standard YouTube License<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t <\/div>\n\t\t\t <\/section>","protected":false},"author":29,"menu_order":4,"template":"","meta":{"_candela_citation":"[{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Sensation and Perception\",\"author\":\"OpenStax College\",\"organization\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/psychology-2e\/pages\/5-1-sensation-versus-perception\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"Download for free at https:\/\/openstax.org\/books\/psychology-2e\/pages\/1-introduction\"},{\"type\":\"original\",\"description\":\"Modification, adaptation, and original content\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"Lumen Learning\",\"url\":\"\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by\",\"license_terms\":\"\"},{\"type\":\"copyrighted_video\",\"description\":\"Sensation & Perception - Crash Course Psychology #5\",\"author\":\"\",\"organization\":\"CrashCourse\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=unWnZvXJH2o\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"other\",\"license_terms\":\"Standard YouTube License\"},{\"type\":\"cc\",\"description\":\"Section on bottom-up versus top-down processing\",\"author\":\"Dr. Scott Roberts, Dr. Ryan Curtis, Samantha Levy, and Dr. Dylan Selterman\",\"organization\":\"OpenPsyc\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/openpsyc.blogspot.com\/2014\/06\/bottom-up-vs-top-down-processing.html\",\"project\":\"\",\"license\":\"cc-by-nc-sa\",\"license_terms\":\"\"}]","CANDELA_OUTCOMES_GUID":"84e89cc0-ae55-42bd-a52e-f6893516d569, 05fcd7d6-f2c6-4afc-b9f7-465dac7a6e7c","pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-2124","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":514,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/2124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"version-history":[{"count":26,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/2124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8201,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/2124\/revisions\/8201"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/514"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/2124\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=2124"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=2124"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/courses.lumenlearning.com\/waymaker-psychology\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=2124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}