When preparing to teach a new unit, I find it's helpful to have important information in one easy-to-access location. So here you'll find the standards for teaching the sensation and perception unit of a psychology course, the key terms and definitions that should be covered throughout the unit, as well as some teaching resources and suggested activities for students to complete.
Standards
Sensation
CONTENT STANDARD 1: The functions of sensory systems
1.1 Explain the process of sensory transduction
1.2 Explain the basic concepts of psychophysics such as threshold and adaptation
CONTENT STANDARD 2: The capabilities and limitations of sensory processes
2.1 Identify different stimuli for which humans have sensory receptors and explain what this means for their sensory abilities
2.2 Describe the visual sensory system
2.3 Describe the auditory sensory system
2.4 Describe chemical and tactile sensory systems
Perception
CONTENT STANDARD 1: The process of perception
1.1 Describe principles of perception
1.2 Explain the concepts of bottom-up and top-down processing
CONTENT STANDARD 2: The interaction between the person and the environment in determining perception
2.1 Explain Gestalt principles of perception
2.2 Describe binocular and monocular depth cues
2.3 Describe perceptual constancies
2.4 Describe the nature of attention
2.5 Explain how diverse experiences and expectations influence perception
Note: The 2022 standards revision split these two topics apart, with sensation in the biological pillar and perception in the cognition pillar. You can teach them together or separately. I prefer to teach them together to help students make connections between the two topics and the two pillars.
Key Terms
Sensation
sensation | the activation of receptors located in the sense organs, allowing various forms of stimuli to become neural signals |
transduction | transformation of the energy of a stimulus into a change in the electric potential across the membrane of a receptor cell |
absolute threshold | the lowest level of stimulation that a person can consciously detect 50 percent of the time the stimulation is present |
subliminal messages | messages that are presented below the threshold for conscious awareness |
just noticeable difference | the smallest difference between two stimuli that is detectable 50% of the time |
sensory adaptation | a reduction in sensitivity to a stimulus after constant exposure to it |
pupil | small opening in the eye through which light passes |
cornea | transparent covering over the eye |
iris | colored portion of the eye |
lens | curved, transparent structure that serves to provide additional focus |
retina | light-sensitive lining of the eye |
cones | specialized light-detecting cells (photoreceptors) that work best in bright light conditions |
rods | specialized light-detecting cells (photoreceptors) that work well in low light conditions |
optic nerve | carries visual information from the retina to the brain |
blind spot | place in the visual field that corresponds to the lack of photoreceptors on the retina |
trichromatic theory | proposes three types of cones: red, blue, and green |
opponent-process theory | proposes that visual neurons (or groups of neurons) are stimulated by light of one color and inhibited by light of another color |
afterimage | images that occur when a visual sensation persists for a brief time even after the original stimulus is removed |
pinna | visible part of the ear that protrudes from the head |
auditory canal | passageway that leads from the outside of the head to the tympanic membrane, or eardrum |
cochlea | fluid-filled, snail shaped, structure that contains the sensory receptor cells (hair cells) of the auditory system |
ossicles | three tiny bones (malleus/hammer, incus/anvil, and stapes/stirrup) that are moved by vibration of the eardrum |
tympanic membrane | eardrum; vibrates when sound waves enter the auditory canal |
place theory | states that different pitches are experienced by the stimulation of hair cells in different locations on the organ of Corti |
frequency theory | states that pitch is related to the speed of vibration in the basilar membrane |
volley principle | states that groups of auditory neurons take turns firing in a process called volleying |
olfaction | the sensation of smell; a chemical sense |
gustation | the sensation of taste; a chemical sense |
skin senses | the sensations of touch, pressure, temperature, and pain |
kinesthetic sense | sense of the location of body parts, in relation to the ground and each other |
vestibular sense | the sensations of movement, balance, and body position |
synesthesia | a neurological condition in which stimulation of one sensory pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory pathway |
Perception
perception | the method by which the sensations experienced at any given moment are interpreted and organized in some meaningful fashion |
Gestalt | early perspective in psychology focusing on perception and sensation, particularly the perception of patterns and whole figures |
proximity | the tendency to perceive objects that are close to one another as part of the same grouping |
similarity | the tendency to perceive objects that look similar as being part of the same group |
closure | the tendency to complete figures that are incomplete |
continuity | the tendency to perceive things simply with a continuous pattern, rather than with a complex, broken-up pattern |
depth Perception | the ability to perceive the world in three dimensions |
monocular cues | cues for perceiving depth based on one eye only |
linear perspective | the tendency for parallel lines to appear to converge on each other |
relative size | perception that occurs when objects that a person expects to be of a certain size appear to be small and are, therefore, assumed to be much farther away |
overlap | the assumption that an object that appears to be blocking part of another object is in front of the second object and closer to the viewer |
aerial perspective | the haziness that surrounds objects that are farther away from the viewer, causing the distance to be perceived as greater |
texture gradient | the tendency for textured surfaces to appear to become smaller and finer as distance from the viewer increases |
motion parallax | the perception of motion of objects in which close objects appear to move more quickly than objects that are farther away |
binocular cues | cues for perceiving depth based on both eyes |
convergence | the rotation of the two eyes in their sockets to focus on a single object |
binocular disparity | the difference in images between the two eyes, which is greater for objects that are close and smaller for distant objects |
perceptual constancies | the perception of an object or quality as constant even though our sensation of the object changes |
size constancy | the tendency to interpret an object as always being the same size, regardless of its distance |
shape constancy | the tendency to interpret the shape of an object as being constant, even when its shape changes on the retina |
brightness constancy | the tendency to perceive the apparent brightness of an object as the same, even when the light conditions change |
inattentional blindness | the failure to notice something that is completely visible due to actively attending to something else |
signal detection theory | the ability to identify a stimulus when it is embedded in a distracting background |
Stroop effect | the delay in reaction time between congruent and incongruent stimuli, named after J. Ridley Stroop |
speed of processing theory | the interference occurs because words are read faster than colors are named |
selective attention theory | the interference occurs because naming colors requires more attention than reading words |
visual illusions | perceptions that do not correspond to reality – distortions of visual stimuli |
Muller-Lyer illusion | illusion of line length that is distorted by inward turning or outward turning corners on the ends of the lines, causing lines of equal length to appear to be different |
stroboscopic motion | a visual illusion in which the perception of motion is generated by a series of stationary images that are presented in rapid succession |
phi phenomenon | the perception of movement as a result of sequential presentation of visual stimuli |
perceptual set | the tendency to perceive things a certain way because prior experiences or expectations influence those perceptions (also called perceptual expectancy) |
pareidolia | tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern |
bottom-up processing | the analysis of smaller features, building up to a complete perception |
top-down processing | the use of pre-existing knowledge to organize individual features into a unified whole |
Teaching Resources
This unit contains a lot of terminology, but I promise it can actually be REALLY fun. I find the best way to teach this unit is with as many visuals and hands-on activities as possible! Here's some options:
Check out sensation resources and perception resources to make teaching this unit fun and engaging for you AND your students. Resources include teacher presentation slides to streamline the content, guided notes to keep students engaged in the content delivery, a TED Talk viewing guide to explore the the future of sensations, as well as a bunch more activities, viewing guides, and review activities.
What activities are your favorites for teaching about sensation and perception? Share in the comments!
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