UNIT II

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52
 LESSON - 5

SENSATION

CONTENTS

5.0 Aims and Objectives

5.1 Introduction
5.2 Vision
5.2.1 The process
5.2.2 Color Vision
5.3 Hearing
5.3.1 Mechanism of Hearing
5.3.2 Deafness
5.4 Smell and Taste
5.4.1 Pheromones
5.4.2 The sense of taste
5.5 Somesthetic Senses
5.5.1 Skin senses.
5.5.2 Dynamic touch
5.5.3 The Vestibular System
5.6 Let us sum up
5.7 Lesson-End activities
5.8 Points for Discussion
5.9 Check your progress
5.10 References

5.0 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

This lesson deals with sense organs and their functioning. After going
through this lesson you will be able to:
i) understand the mechanism underlying sensory experiences
ii) know the process by which light waves end up as images, both black
and white ones and colored images

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 iii) understand how our ear functions and what is deafness
iv) appreciate other subtle senses that are called somesthetic senses.

5.1 INTRODUCTION
While ‘stimulus’ is a source of physical energy that produces a response
in sense organ ‘sensation’ refers to the process by which an organism responds
to the stimulus. Sensation is the typically the first stage in any biochemical
and neurologic events. It begins with the impinging of a stimulus upon the
receptor cells of a sensory organ.

Imagine a situation when you are out for dinner with your friends: The
dim lit and pleasantly decorated restaurant, the aroma of the food being
served on the next table, the soft music in the background and the taste of
the delicious dish that was served to you. If there were no senses like sight,
hearing, taste and smell, for instance, then the most important part of the
experience would be missing. An important dimension of every situation will
be lacking if there was no sensation.

The sensations mentioned above talk about merely the sensory experience
at the surface. Though we are thought that there are basically five senses
namely sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch, our human capacity can go to
experience wider set of stimuli like pressure, pain, temperature, etc. All the
senses play a critical role in determining our experience in this world.
Nevertheless, vision and hearing are considered as most conspicuous of the
senses that help us to interact with the environment successfully.

5.2 VISION
Light is the stimulus that produces the sensation of vision. The range of
wavelengths to which human beings are sensitive is referred to as visual
spectrum. In spite of the fact that this spectrum is relatively small the
differences among the wavelengths within that spectrum are just enough to
allow us to see a range of all colors.

Light waves coming from objects outside our body encounter our eyes.
First it travels through the cornea that is a transparent protective window
into the eyeball. Once it moves through the cornea the light traverses the
pupil that is a dark hole in the center of the eye’s iris. The pupil changes its
size according to the amount of incoming light changes. Dimmer the light the
more the pupil opens so as to allow more light to enter. See the picture below
showing the anatomy of eye to follow the sequence described below.

The light after passing through the pupil enters the lens that is located
directly behind the pupil. The lens helps bend the light rays so as to focus
them on to the retina. The lens focuses the light by changing its own thickness
and this process is called accommodation. Distance objects need a relatively
flatlens. So while focusing on distant objects the muscles controlling he lens

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 Picture courtesy: en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender 3D:Noob to Pro…

relax which allows the lens to become flatter.

Finally after traveling through the pupil and lens the image of the object
reaches the retina, which is the final destination. Retina is that part of the
eye that converts the electromagnetic energy of light into useful information
for the brain. This is nothing but a thin layer of nerve cells that is located at
the back of the eyeball. Two kinds of receptor cells are found in the retina
namely rods and cones. The rods and cones are not only different in structure
but they play different roles in vision.

The rods are long, cylindrical cells that work well in poor light. However,
they are not sensitive to color and small details, and are responsible for
night vision. The cones are, as the name suggests, cone-shaped sensitive
receptor cells that help us to make sharp focus. They are involved in color
vision and work well in bright light. The rods and cones are distributed unevenly
throughout the retina. However, the cones are concentrated to the greatest
degree at a point in the retina called Fovea. This is a very sensitive region in
the retina that helps in focusing of images.

5.2.1 THE PROCESS

A chain of events occur when the light energy strikes the rods and cones
that transforms the light energy into the neural energy that can be
communicated to the brain. Rods contain Rhodopsin that is a complex reddish
purple colored substance that changes when it is energized by light. Though
the substance found in cones is different the process is similar. When the
nerve cells in the eye are stimulated a neural response is triggered. This
neural impulse is then transmitted to other nerve cells known as bipolar
cells and ganglion cells. The bipolar cells are the nerve cells leading to the
brain that are triggered by the nerve cells in the eye. The ganglion cells are
the nerve cells that collect the information from the nerve cells in the eyes,
summarize the information and then carry it to the brain.

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 Bipolar cells received the information from nerve cells in the eyes
(rods and cones) and transmit it to the ganglion cells. The ganglion cells in
turn collect this visual information, summarize it and move it out of the back
of the eye ball though the optic nerve. The optic nerve is a bundle of ganglion
axons that are located in the back of the eyeball that carry information to the
brain. The opening of the optic nerve pushes through the retina. Hence there
are no rods or cones in that area which is hence called the blind spot. Since
we automatically compensate for the missing part of our field of vision the
absence of nerve cells in the blind spot does not actually interfere with vision.

The neural signals relating to the object that is seen moves through the
optic nerve. As the optic nerve leaves the eye ball it does not take a direct
route connecting the right eye ball to the right hemisphere while connecting
the left eye ball to the left hemisphere of the brain. The optic nerve from
each of the eye meets at a point between the two eyes and splits here. This
point of crossing over is called optic chiasm. The nerve impulses coming from
the right half of each retina are sent to the right side of the brain. Similarly,
the nerve impulses coming from the left half of each retina are sent to the
left side of the brain.

5.2.2 COLOR VISION

The cones in the retina are sensitive to the yellow-green part of the
spectrum of light. If all the colors are tested in normal day light then yellowish
green appears to be the brightest.

Rods, however, are not sensitive to color. Yet they seem to be sensitive to
blue-green lights. At night or when there is a dim illumination the brightest
colored light would be one of wither blue or blue-green.

Two major theories attempt to explain how cones produce color sensations.
They are Trichromatic theory and Opponent Process theory. The trichromatic
theory of color vision states that there are three types of cones. Each type of
cones is sensitive to red, green or blue. All the other colors result from mere
combinations of the three. Black and white colors are basically produced by
rods and not cones.

The Opponent Process theory states that vision analyses colors into ‘either-
or’ messages. The visual system can produce messages for either red or
green, yellow or blue, black or white. When one of these pairs is coded the
other gets blocked. As a result of this a yellowish blue is not possible but a
bluish green is possible.

It is found that both the theories of color sensation are valid. The
Trichromatic theory applies to the retina where three different types of visual
pigments are found. Each of these pigments is most sensitive to red, blue or
green light. All the three types of cones fire nerve impulses at different rates
in order to produce various color sensations. The opponent-process theory

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explains everything that happens in the optic pathways once the information
leaves the eye. Some nerve cells in the brain have been found to be excited
by the red color and inhibited by the green color. Hence both these theories
are valid. While one explains what happens in the eye the other explains how
colors are analyzed after the message leaves the eye.

Color Blindness: People who cannot perceive colors are said to be color
blind. They either lack cones or have cones that do not function normally.
Though total color blindness is rare color weakness or partial color blindness
is not uncommon. Some see reds and greens as the same color – yellowish
blue! Genetic factors seem to be involved in color blindness.

5.3 HEARING
When a stone is thrown into a pond it causes ripples that spread in all
directions. In the same way sound also travels as a series of invisible waves
of compression and rarefactions in the air. Any vibrating object would produce
sound. Fluids and solids can also carry sound. But it does not travel in vacuum.
The pitch (lower or higher tone) of the sound is determined by the frequency
of the sound waves. The energy of the sound waves is shown by the amplitude,
or the physical ‘height’ of the sound waves. Amplitude corresponds to loudness
that is sensed by an organism.

5.3.1 MECHANISM OF HEARING

The external part of the ear is called the pinna. Hearing involves chains
of events that start with the pinna that acts as funnel to concentrate sounds.
Sound waves, as they move into the ear canal, collide with the tympanic
membrane (or the ear drum) and set it into motion. This, in turn, sets the
auditory ossicles in vibration. Auditory ossicles are three small bones namely
malleus, incus, and stapes that are in hammer, anvil and stirrup shape
respectively. These structures connect the ear drum with the cochlea which
is a snail-shaped organ making up the inner ear. The stapes is attached to
the oval window which is a membrane in the cochlea. Movement of the oval
window moves back and forth makes waves in a fluid that is present in the
cochlea.

Picture courtesy: http://www.music.sc.edu/fs/bain/vc/musc726a/

MUSC%20726%20Lecture/more%20ear-brain

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 In the cochlea are the tiny hair cells that detect waves in the fluid.
Hence, often cochlea is really the organ of hearing. The hair cells are part of
the organ of Corti. It is this organ of Corti that makes up the central part of
the cochlea. On top of each hair cell is the stereocilia or some bristles. When
waves ripple through the fluid that surrounds the organ of Corti these hair
cells brush against the tectorial membrane. Nerve impulses are triggered as
the stereocilia or bristles on top of the hair cells are bent which are later
sent to the brain.

Two theories explain how we detect sounds. The frequency theory holds
that nerve impulses of a corresponding frequency as that of the pitch are fed
into the auditory nerve as the pitch rises. For instance, a 900-hertz tone
produces 900 nerve impulses per second. This theory explains how all sounds
upto 4,000 hertz reach the brain. Place theory, on the other hand, explains
how higher tones or lower tones excite specific areas of the cochlea. Higher
tones have a string impact at the base of cochlea near the oval window.
Lower tones, in contrast, move the hair cells near the outer tip of the cochlea.
The area of the cochlea most strongly activated decides the pitch of the
sound.

5.3.2 DEAFNESS
The two main types of deafness are construction deafness and nerve
deafness. When the transfer of vibrations from the eardrum to the inner ear
is weak it results in conduction deafness. Generally, this deafness could be
caused because of disease or injury that results in damage or immobilization
of the eardrums or ossicles. This defect may be overcome by wearing a hearing
aid. Damage to the hair cells or auditory nerve may result in nerve deafness.
Since the auditory messages are blocked from reaching the brain hearing aid
does not come as a solution to this type of deafness. Artificial hearing systems
are making it possible for some people to overcome their nerve deafness.

In addition to these types of deafness very loud sounds can cause damage
to the hair cells resulting in stimulation deafness. Working in a noisy
environment, enjoying loud music, motor racing, and similar activities may
increase one’s vulnerability to stimulation deafness. Hair cells once dead
never gets replaced. Both loudness of the sound and the duration of exposure
decide the danger of hearing loss. Everyday exposure of 85 decibels or higher
or short periods of exposure to 120 decibels (like what we see in rock concerts)
may result in permanent deafness.

5.4 SMELL AND TASTE

A perfume blender, chef or a wine taster would be the best person to tell
the importance of the sense of smell and taste. These two are called as
chemical senses since they are receptors that respond to chemical molecules.
Human sensation cannot be complete without the sense of smell and taste.

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 The sense of smell: The smell receptors respond to airborne molecules
that enter the nose passing over nearly 5 million nerve fibers that are
embedded in the lining of the upper nasal passage. Air borne molecules passing
over these fibers trigger nerve signals that are eventually sent to the brain.
The surface of these fibers contains receptor proteins that are sensitive to
various airborne molecules.

There are separate receptors for specific odors. Molecules having a

particular odor have similar shapes. About 300 to 400 types of smell receptors
are believed to exist in humans. These molecules trigger activity in different
combinations of odor receptors making it possible for humans to detect at
least 10,000 different odors. Olfactory receptors send distinct patterns of
messages to the brain. The brain makes use of these messages to recognize
particular scents.

The lock and key theory explains how we sense different odors. ‘Holes’ of
different shapes exists on the surface of the olfactory receptors. Just like
how different pieces of the jigsaw puzzle fit in the puzzle board the chemicals
produce odors when the part of molecule fits a hole of the same shape. To
some extent scents are also identified by the location of the receptors in the
nose that get activated by the particular smell. How strong is the odor that
we sense depends on how many receptor cells are activated. The message
about the number of activated receptors is sent to the brain that judges the
strength of the odor.

Anosmia means inability to sense smells. One person out of one hundred
are said to be suffering from anosmia (Gilbert & Wysocki, 1987). Infections,
allergies and blow to the head are among few of the risk factors for anosmia.
Even exposure to certain chemicals like ammonia, photo-developing chemicals
and hair-dressing portions can increase once vulnerability to anosmia.

Though adults have strong opinion about what are good smells and what
are bad smells new born infants fail to show any signs to reacting more
strongly to ‘good’ or ‘bad’ odor. It appears that likes and dislikes for various
smells are not inborn but learned. Someone who smells rose for the first
time in his mother’s funeral may dislike the smell of roses.

5.4.1 PHEROMONES
Pheromones are airborne chemicals that greatly affect mating, sexual
behavior, recognizing family members, and territorial markings among
animals. The sense organ for pheromones is Vomeronasal Organ (VNO). Earlier
it was believed that humans either did not have VNO or they only had a
vestigial VNO. However, recent studies that have attempted to locate the
VNO in humans suggest that the VNO looks like a small pit inside the nose
one on either side of the septum. These pits are lined with nerve cells and
respond to chemicals that are suspected to be pheromones.

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 Pheromones are not something that is seen, heard, smelt or felt. In
humans they, however, appear to produce a vague feelings like well-being,
attraction, uneasiness, or anxiety. The idea that human pheromones directly
release sexual behavior in humans is subject to criticism by few scientists.
They contend that pheromones may perhaps affect one’s general mood and
not anything beyond that.

Evidences for the existence of human pheromones are mixed. However,

the possibilities are intriguing. For instance, human pheromones seem to
explain why the menstrual cycle of women who live together tend to become
synchronized. Further studies are needed to resolve the conflicts in the
understanding on human pheromones.

5.4.2 THE SENSE OF TASTE

At least four basic taste sensations are identified. They are sweet, salt,
sour, and bitter. It is found that we are most sensitive to bitter, less sensitive
to sour, even less sensitive to salt and least sensitive to sweet. Now it is
believed by many experts that there is a fifth taste quality. The Japanese
word Umami describes the pleasant savory or “brothy” taste. The receptors of
Umami are sensitive to glutamate which is an ingredient of taste enhancers.

We include sensations of texture, temperature, smell, and even pain

along with taste and hence seem to sense so many varied flavours. If we
block our nose and try to taste different dishes they may all taste the same.
Subjective flavor is perhaps one half smells.

Taste buds are largely located on the top side of the tongue and even
around the edges, while some are also found elsewhere inside the mouth.
The food that we chew gets dissolved and enters the taste buds that triggers
of nerve impulses to the brain. Just like sense of smell taste like sweet and
bitter also appears to be based on a lock-and-key match between molecules
and receptors. In contrast, salt and sour tastes are triggered by direct flow of
charged atoms on to the tips of the taste receptors (Lindemann, 2001).

Differences in sense of taste seem to be partially genetic. It also seems

to be related to the number of taste buds one may have on his tongue. Age
also seems to have an effect of the sense of taste. The life span for taste cells
is only for several days. Aging affects cell replacement that results in
diminished taste. Nevertheless, most taste preferences are acquired.

5.5 SOMESTHETIC SENSES

Sensations produces by the skin, muscles, joints, viscera, and organs of
balance are referred to as somesthetic sense. In other words, the somesthetic
senses include skin senses, kinesthetic senses and vestibular senses. Skin
sense is otherwise referred to as sense of touch. Kinesthetic senses are
receptors in muscles and joints that help us detect body position and

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movement. Vestibular senses are the receptors in the inner ear that is
responsible for sensing balance, gravity and acceleration.

5.5.1 SKIN SENSES

Skin receptors produce at least five different sensations namely light,
touch, pressure, pain, cold, and warmth. Receptors with specific shapes
specialize in various sensations. All put together, the skin has about 200,000
nerve endings for temperature, 500,000 for touch and pressure, and 3 million
for pain.

The number of skin receptors varies from one area to the other on the
skin. The number of skin receptors in an area of the skin decides its
sensitivity. Density of receptors in areas like lips, tongue, face, hands, and
the genitals are generally higher. Similar to any skin sense pain receptors
also vary in their distribution. Pain points of about 232 pain points per
centimeter are found behind the knees, about 184 on the buttocks, 60 on the
pad of the thumb, and 44 on the tip of the nose on an average.

Pain fibers are also located in the internal organs. When these organs
are stimulated one would experience visceral pain. Surprisingly the visceral
pain is felt on the surface of the body, far away from its origin. It is also
known as referred pain. An example of this is in the case of heart attack one
may feel the pain in left shoulder, arm, or even little finger. A type of pain,
the somatic pain, is experienced in skin, muscles, joints and tendons. Large
nerve fibers carry this pain from specific body areas. The transfer is sharp,
bright, and fast. This signals that the body is, or is about to be, damages.
Hence it is considered to be body’s warning system. Another type of somatic
pain is carried by small nerve fibers. The transfer is slower, aching, widespread,
and unpleasant. If the pain stimulus repeats then the pain becomes worse.
This reminds the brain that the body is damaged. Hence it is considered as
body’s reminding system. The reminder system can actually cause agony
after the injury is healed or in terminal illnesses when the reminder is
useless.

5.5.2 DYNAMIC TOUCH

This is a sensation that combines sensations from skin receptors with
kinesthetic information from muscles and tendons. Dynamic touch gives us
enough information regarding the objects around, especially their size and
shape. It is much about sensing the inertia of object as they move through
arcs. But for this sense it would be almost impossible for us to make use of
wide range of tools, utensils and objects which we now use as if they are just
extensions of our own body.

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5.5.3 THE VESTIBULAR SYSTEM

5.6 LET US SUM UP

(i) Sensation begins with the impinging of a stimulus upon the receptor
cells of a sensory organ.
(ii) Though there are five basic senses namely sight, sound, taste, smell,
and touch, our human capacity can experience wider set of stimuli
like pressure, pain, temperature.
(iii) Vision involves conversion of light waves coming from objects outside
our body encounter our eyes through cornea, pupil, lens, and reaching
into useful information for the brain.
(v) Hearing involves chains of events that start with sound waves entering
the pinna and moving into the ear canal, reaching the eardrum and
ultimately setting cochlea in motion.
(vii) Air borne molecules passing over nerve fibers that are embedded in
the lining of the upper nasal passage fibers trigger nerve signals that
are eventually sent to the brain.
(viii) Food that we eat gets dissolved and enters the taste buds are largely
located on the top side of the tongue and even around the edges
which triggers of nerve impulses to the brain.
(ix) Somesthetic senses include skin senses, kinesthetic senses and
vestibular senses.

5.7 LESSON-END ACTIVITIES

(i) What are the sensory inputs that have undergone adaptation as you
read this book?
(ii) Try to close your eyes and trace mentally all the steps involved in the
sensing the sounds around you.
(iii) Take salt, honey, bitter guard and tamarind. Place small pinch of
these on various locations and try to identify the parts on your tongue
that are most sensitive to the four basic tastes.
(iv) Lift one of your legs and try standing on the other for a minute. Can
you identify the sense that was used in the task you just performed?

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5.8 POINTS FOR DISCUSSION
(i) Critically analyse the role of genetics and environment on our senses.
(ii) Evaluate the role of pheromones in humans.
(iii) Are all senses equally important for survival? Discuss.

5.9 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

(i) Name the parts of human eye.
(ii) What causes color blindness?
(iii) What are the causative factors for Anosmia?
(iv) List the functions served by somesthetic senses.

5.10 REFERENCES
Coon, D. and Mitterer, J.O. (2007). Introduction to Psychology. First Indian
Reprint.Delhi.Akash Press.

Passer, M.W. and Smith, R.E. (2007). Psychology - The Science of Mind
and Behavior. Third Edition.New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill.

Soderquist,D. (2007). Sensory Processes. Sage.

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 LESSON - 6

PERCEPTION, ILLUSION AND EXTRA-SENSORY PERCEPTION

CONTENTS

6.0 Aims and Objectives

6.1 Introduction
6.2 Laws of Perceptual Organization
6.2.1 Figure and Ground
6.2.2 Perceptual Grouping
6.2.3 Closure
6.3 Perceptual Constancies
6.3.1 Size Constancy
6.3.2 Color Constancy
6.3.3 Shape Constancy
6.4 Distance Perception
6.4.1 Monocular Cues
6.4.2 Binocular Cues
6.5 Depth Perception
6.5.1 Visual Cliff Experiment
6.6 Illusion
6.7 Extra-Sensory Perception
6.8 Let us sum up
6.9 Lesson-End activities
6.10 Points for Discussion
6.11 Check your progress
6.12 References

6.0 AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

In the previous lesson we discussed about the various sensations that
help us understand this world. Sensation, however, does not complete the

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whole process by which we understand the world around us. In this lesson
we will see in detail the perceptual process that is the stage next to that of
sensation. At the end of the lesson you will be able to:
(i) understand how we draw meaning out of the numerous and chaotic
sensory impressions through perception
(ii) know about the various principles that guide our perception
(iii) understand how principles that guide our perception can deceive our
eyes resulting in illusions
(iv) appreciate the phenomena of extra-sensory perception and learn about
the findings of scientific research on ESP.

6.1 INTRODUCTION
Our brain organizes and gives meaning to sensory inputs by the process
called Perception. Perception includes process of selecting, ordering,
synthesizing and interpreting the sensory impressions that impinge on our
sensory organs. Studies on perception are focused to find out how we take
the stimuli and form conscious representations of the environment around
us.

Perception is an outgrowth of sensation. Sensation can be seen as the

first encounter with a raw sensory stimulus. On the other hand, perception
is a process by which the raw sensory impressions are interpreted, analyzed
and integrated with other sensory information.

The basic principle of perceptual processing is selective attention. It refers

to focusing on one or few stimuli of particular significance and ignoring the
other stimuli. Sudden changes in the stimulus, contrast and novelty, extreme
stimulus intensity like very high or very low intensity, repetition and difficult
stimuli are few of the factors that affect our attention.

6.2 LAWS OF PERCEPTUAL ORGANIZATION

Our basic perceptual process works according to a series of principles
referred to as gestalt laws of organization. The gestalt laws of organization
were put forth by a group of German psychologists in early 1900s (Wertheimer,
1923) that is found to be valid for visual and auditory stimuli. These principles
explain how bits and pieces of information are organized into meaningful
wholes.

The elementary sensations that are usually in the form of dots, lines,
edges, brightness, and varied hues are structured into the objects as seen by
us because of this phenomenon called perceptual organization.

Among the various principles of perceptual organization the following are

found to be very prominent:
1. Figure and Ground

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 2. Perceptual Grouping
3. Closure

6.2.1 FIGURE AND GROUND

Processing and interpretation of information takes place in various levels
as a result of perceptual organization. Figure-ground segregation is one aspect
of perceptual organization. Imagine a visual stimulus that is a blob of contours
at the retinal level. In this, the figure is an integrated group of contours
while the ground is the background against which it stands. Often not all of
its contours are actually detected at the retina when a figure is perceived.
Some of them are subjective contours. These contours are not physically
present at the retina, but are the product of intelligent perception.

Top-down processing is one where the perception is guided by knowledge,

experience, expectations and motivations. Bottom-up processing is one that
involves recognition and processing of information about individual components
of a stimulus. Hence, phenomenon of figure-ground segregation is not a purely
bottom-up process (i.e., it is not simply data-driven) but is bottom-up (data-
driven) as well as top-down (conceptually-driven).

The above figure can either be seen a vase or pair of faces. If you focus on
the white portion of the figure you would see a vase, while focusing on the
black portion of the figure would show a pair of faces. The gestalt psychologists
greatly emphasized on the fact that the same figure may be seen in either of
the two ways. This shows that we do not passively respond to visual stimuli
that fall on our retina but we try to organize and make sense of what we see.
Hence perception is often seen as a constructive process that is beyond the
stimuli presented to us and is an attempt to construct a meaningful situation.

6.2.2 PERCEPTUAL GROUPING

The gestalt laws of perceptual grouping hold that objects in a scene appear
to group according to certain laws or principles. Some of the laws of grouping
are listed below:
FIGURE-
FIGURE-GROUND PHENOMENA
Rubin (1915, 1958) face-
face-vase figure

Picture courtesy: concise.britannica.com/ebc/art-3100/Ambiguous...

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 1. Similarity: Objects with similar properties or that appear similar
are grouped together (e.g. shape, color)
2. Proximity: Objects that are close by are grouped together.
3. Good Continuation: Objects that define smooth lines or curves are
seen as one group than seeing them as incomplete and disjointed. It
is the tendency to perceive a pattern in the most basic, organized
and straightforward manner possible. In the figure below one would
view it as two wavy lines rather than two curves opposite to each
other.
4. Symmetry: Objects that form symmetrical patterns are grouped
together.

PERCEPTUAL GROUPING

Picture courtesy: http://www.techfak.uni-bielefeld.de/ags/ni/projects/percgroup

6.2.3 CLOSURE
The Principle of Closure states that we tend to fill in missing bits, and
perceive visuals as complete, or closed, entities. In other words it refers to
the tendency to group according to enclosed or complete figures instead of
open or incomplete ones.

CLOSURE

Picture courtesy: psychology.about.com/.../ss/gestaltlaws_6.htm

In the above figure we see the black lines as forming a triangle instead of

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three small ‘v’ shaped brackets. Similarly, the black dots though incomplete
are seen as dots than a broken figure. This explains the phenomenon of
closure.

Another often quoted gestalt principle is that the whole is greater than
its parts. Perception of stimuli is beyond the individual elements that we
sense. It represents an active, constructive process carried out by the brain
by which bits and pieces of sensations are assembled together to make
something greater and more meaningful than separate elements.

6.3 PERCEPTUAL CONSTANCIES

Objects are normally perceived to be constant in size, color and shape
despite the fact that their retinal image change according to the conditions.
The phenomenon by which the physical objects are perceived as same in
spite of changes in their physical appearance is called perceptual constancy.

When you stretch your right hand farther away from your body still you
perceive it to be of the same size as that of your left hand. We do not see it as
the right hand shrinking but realize that it is at a farther distance. This is
due to size constancy. There are few types of perceptual constancies namely
size constancy, color (or brightness) constancy and shape constancy.

6.3.1 SIZE CONSTANCY

Though retinal image of object becomes smaller as the object moves to
farther distance the viewer adjusts for this change as perceives the object to
be of same size. A teenager standing at a farther distance from you is not
seen as smaller in size than the teenager standing near you in front. Similarly,
when you move away from a building you do not perceive the building shrinking
but understand that it remains in the same size. This phenomenon is called
size constancy.

6.3.2 COLOR (OR BRIGHTNESS) CONSTANCY

Despite changes in illumination we see the object having same color.
This is due to color constancy. When we see the same mug in different
illumination we are still able to perceive all the sides of the mug as having
the same color.

6.3.3 SHAPE CONSTANCY

Though the retinal images of an object change when we view it from
different angles we see the object to have same shape. Look at the pictures
below for instance. These are different pictures of the door, each in one
position. When we see these pictures we do not perceive them as a change in
shape, but perceive it to be of the same rectangular shape. This is possible
due to shape constancy.

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 Picture courtesy: www.aber.ac.uk/.../Modules/MC10220/visper03.html

Perceptual constancy depends on our past experiences. This is obvious

when we examine the behavior of people brought up in different cultures. An
instance of this would be a study on Bambuti Pygmies. These pygmies live in
dense forest in Zaire. Their vision is consistently limited to short distances.
Due to this restriction they are deprived of the experiences that can help one
to develop size constancy. They are found to have difficulty in judging the
size of buffalo at a long distance that they mistook the buffalo to be some kind
of an insect! This was reported by Colin Turnbell, an anthropologist, based on
his first-hand experience with the pygmies.

Two theories attempt to explain the perceptual constancy phenomena.

Constructive theory holds that when we try to make inferences about the
location of objects we greatly use our previous experience and expectations
about the size of the object. Since we know the size of the particular object
based on our earlier experience we easily make up for the changes in the
size of the retinal image.

An alternative view proposed by James Gibson, referred to as ecological

theory, suggests that relationship between objects in a scene gives us clue
about the objects’ size. In addition to this information on the nature of the
surfaces in the environment also helps us to judge the distance of the stimuli.
Farther objects seem to have a different surface texture than those that are
closer. Such differences provide us clue that help us to make judgments
about depth.

Neither of the above theories independently explains all instances of

perceptual constancies completely. Both construction and ecological processes
work in combination.

6.4 DISTANCE PERCEPTION

Depth or location can be perceived even by a single sense organ. It is not
always necessary to use both the eyes for perceiving depth. Certain cues,
called the monocular cues, help us to perceive depth and distance even with
just one eye.

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6.4.1 MONOCULAR CUES
Several strong monocular cues allow relative distance and depth to be
judged. They are listed below:
1. Relative size
2. Interposition
3. Linear perspective
4. Aerial perspective
5. Height on plane
6. Texture gradient
7. Monocular movement parallax

Relative Size. Smaller objects are seen as farther from us. Hence the
sizes of the objects tell us about the distance at which they are located.
Objects furthest away are higher in our visual field. The closer an object is to
the level of the horizon, the farther away an object appears.

Picture courtesy: www.psych-ology.co.uk/Perception.html

Interposition. Interposition cues occur when there is overlapping of

objects. The overlapped object is considered further away. Closer objects block
out parts of objects that are farther. Hence complete objects are nearer to us
than the objects that appear to be blocked.

Picture courtesy: www.psych-ology.co.uk/Perception.html

In the figure the lines that make up the gift boxed in the distance are
hidden by the lines of the objects nearer to you.

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 Linear Perspective. Parallel objects converge when stretched into
distance. This is a monocular cue in which distant objects appear to be closer
together than nearer objects. When objects of known distance subtend a
smaller and smaller angle, it is interpreted as being further away. Parallel
lines converge with increasing distance such as roads, railway lines, electric
wires, etc.

Picture courtesy: www.psych-ology.co.uk/Perception.html

In the above figure the lines that subtend a larger angle are judged to be
closer than those that subtend a smaller angle.

Aerial Perspective. Objects that are far away appear fuzzier than closer
objects since distance increases smog, dust, and haze thereby reducing the
clarity of object. It is caused by the scattering of light in the atmosphere by
small particles or vapor. Blue light, which has a shorter wavelength than
other colors, is scattered more than the other colors. This scattering causes
distant objects to appear slightly hazy and bluish in color. This also explains
why mountains appear much closer on clear, dry days.

Picture courtesy: http://www.usask.ca/education/coursework/skaalid/theory/

cgdt/space.htm

Height on plane. Objects that are higher on plane of view are seen as
farther.

Picture courtesy: cwx.prenhall.com/.../medialib/summary/4.html

In the above picture the tree on top half of the picture is seen as farther
away than the tree that appears on the bottom half of the picture.

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 Texture gradient. The closer something is to us, the more detail and
texture can we se. As the distance increases the amount of texture lessens
until it looks uniform. Elements closer are seen as father apart or less dense
than objects farther away.

Motion parallax/ Relative Motion. The changes in position of the image

of an object on the retina as our head moves provide a monocular cue for
distance. Closer objects move greater distance rapidly than farther objects.
When our heads move from side to side, objects at different distances move
at a different relative velocity. Closer objects move “against” the direction of
head movement and farther objects move “with” the direction of head
movement.

In addition to these one more of the cues comes from bending if the lens
to focus on the nearby objects. This is referred to as accommodation. The
sensations from the muscles attached to each eye lens flow to the brain. The
changes in these sensations help us to judge distances. Since this information
is available even if we use only one eye it is a monocular cue.

6.4.2 BINOCULAR CUES

When we see a distant object the lines of vision from our eyes are parallel.
However, eyes must converge to view closer objects, something that is at 50
feet or lesser in distance. This creates more muscle tension. The amount of
strain or tension in the eye muscles while focusing on an object gives us a
clue, referred to as convergence, to the depth at which the object is present.
The muscles provide information to the brain regarding eye position in order
to judge the distance. This may be seen in Picture a below.

Both our eyes are about 2.5 inches apart from each other. Due to the
lateral displacement of our eyes, slightly dissimilar retinal images result
from the perception of the same object from each eye. This results in retinal
disparity. It is also referred to as binocular disparity. Stereoscopic vision
occurs when both the retinal images are fused into one overall image that
helps in perception of depth. Stereopsis is shown in Picture b below.

Picture a : Picture courtesy: cwx.prenhall.com/.../medialib/summary/4.html

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 Stereopsis

Picture b Picture courtesy: www.vision3d.com/stereo.html

6.5 DEPTH PERCEPTION

Depth perception refers to the ability to see three-dimensional space and
to judge distances accurately. Driving a car, riding a bike, shooting baskets,
threading a needle or even walking around in the room would be almost
impossible without this ability to perceive depth.

Depth perception is an important advantage for humans and other

binocular animals. Both monocular and binocular cues are used to perceive
depth. Not only does it give us an accurate sense of where objects are in
relation to one another but also where we stand in relation to those same
objects.

Picture courtesy: www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/.../lec6%202001.htm

6.5.1 VISUAL CLIFF EXPERIMENT

Some psychologists hold that depth perception is inborn while others
argue that it is learned. It is likely that depth perception is partially innate
and partially learned. The famous “Visual Cliff” experiments of the 1960’s by
Eleanor Gibson and Richard Walk is a classic experiment done to study
development of depth perception which supports the hypothesis that depth
perception could be partially innate and partially learned.

Visual cliff is a glass-topped table as shown in the picture above. A

checkered surface lies directly beneath the glass surface on one side. On

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the other side the checkered surface lies about 4 feet below the glass surface
of the table. Because of the above arrangement the glass looks like tabletop
on one side of the table while it looks like a cliff, or drop-off, on the other
side. The glass provided on the deeper side of the table prevents the babies
from falling down.

The experiment involved babies as old as 6- to 14-months-old who were

placed in the middle of the visual cliff. This provided them a choice of either
coming to the shallow side or the deep side of the table. Most of the babies
preferred to move to the shallow sides. Surprisingly, some babies refused to
move to the deeper side even when their mothers tried calling them towards
it.

The fact that babies as old as just six months old would not venture over
a drop covered by glass (Gibson & Walk, 1960) implying that they are able to
perceive depth at that age. This serves as evidence to the fact that depth
perception in humans is either innate ability or learnt very early in life.

More recent studies have shown more interesting findings. Babies over
nine months old when placed on the glass-covered drop have an increased
heart rate, which could be perhaps showing that they are frightened. Babies
less than six months of age actually showed a decrease in heart rate. Some
other experiments have shown that the sight of their smiling mother on the
other side of the drop will encourage the toddlers move across it, overriding
their fear (Talaris, 2002).

6.6 ILLUSION
Our perception gets largely altered with our experience. Perceptual
learning refers to changes in perception that can be attributed to prior
experience. These are caused due to changes in the brain that alter the way
we process sensory information.

Illusions are false perceptions in which length, position, motion, curvature,

or direction is consistently misjudged. Illusions are distorted perceptions of
the stimuli that exist in reality unlike in hallucination the perception takes
place in the absence of the actual sensory stimulus.

Perceptual learning results in a number of illusions. Size and shape

constancy, habitual eye movement, continuity, and perceptual habits combine
in various ways to produce a number of illusions. Some of the common illusions
are Muller- Lyer Illusion, Poggendorff illusion, The Hermann grid, Ponzo
illusion, and Moon Illusion to name a few.

In Muller-Lyer Illusion, as may be seen below, though the length of the

two lines are the same we find the line enclosed by the feather-head is
longer than the one enclosed by arrow-head (see picture a given below). This
may be explained based on the real life experience with the edges and corners

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of rooms and buildings. The line with the featherhead is viewed as if it were
the corner of the room viewed from inside (Gregory, 2000). In contrast, the
line with the arrowhead is viewed as if it were the corner of a room seen
from outside (see picture b given below). In short, our perception of two-
dimensional designs is largely misguided by the cues that suggest a 3-D
space.

(Picture a) Picture courtesy: http://pubpages.unh.edu/~jel/intro/Mind_tools.html

(Picture b) Picture courtesy: www.psypress.com/groome/figures.asp

If two objects make images of the same size then the more distant object
must be definitely larger. This also explains Muller-Lyer Illusion. If the feather-
headed line looks farther than the arrow-headed line then it has to be longer
than the latter.

The above explanation, of course, presumes that the viewer has years of
experience with straight lines and sharp edges. Groups of people in South
Africa, the Zulus, live in a ‘round’ culture and they rarely encounter straight
lines in their everyday life. They live in huts that are shaped like rounded
mounds, their toys are round in shape and are curved, and there are no
straight roads or rectangular buildings in their environment. Research on
the Zulus report interesting findings. The Zulus hardly experience the Muller-
Lyer illusion that confirms that past experiences and perceptual habits
determine how we view the world.

We tend to perceive movement or motion when the objects rapidly change

their positions. This is called as stroboscopic movement. This is typically
seen in the strobe lights flashed on dance floors. Each time the strobe flashes
it shows the dancers in a particular static position. But when the light flashes
rapidly then normal motion is seen.

Another well-known visual illusion is the Poggendorff Illusion (shown

below).

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 Picture courtesy: www.michaelbach.de/ot/ang_poggendorff/index.html

In the figure above it appears that the angular line that is on the left side
of the parallel lines is at a higher plane as compared to the angular line that
is on the right side of the parallel lines. However, one would find on extending
the angular lines towards each other they are placed in exactly the same
plane.

6.7 EXTRA SENSORY PERCEPTION

Though almost half of the general public believes in existence of extra-
sensory perception (ESP) very few psychologists share this belief. It is seen
that movies and television programs picture a lot of ESP and other paranormal
phenomena as accepted facts. But how far are these facts are based on
evidence is questionable.

ESP refers to the purported ability to perceive events in ways that cannot
be explained by mere sensory capabilities. The study of ESP phenomena is
the subject matter of the field of psychology called Parapsychology.
Clairvoyance, telepathy, precognition and psychokinesis are few of the basic
forms of ESP.

The purported ability that allows a person to perceive events or gain

information in ways that appear to be unaffected by distance or normal/
usual physical barriers is referred to as clairvoyance. Telepathy is one where
one is able to have an extrasensory perception of another person’s thoughts.
To put it in simple terms, telepathy refers to the ability to read someone
else’s mind. The purported ability to perceive or to predict a future event is
called precognition. This may take prophetic dreams that foretell future. Under
psychokinesis one is able top exert influence over inanimate object by will
power. Though this does not come under the realm of ESP it is often studied
by parapsychologists.

If one has an apparent clairvoyant or telepathic experience he would be

convinced that ESP exists. But to determine how much of the experience is
beyond mere coincidence is always difficult.

Late.J.B.Rhine had done tremendous work in the area of psi events.

Much of his experiments made use of the Zener cards that consists of a deck
of 25 cards with each bearing one of five symbols. In a typical clairvoyant test
the subjects were asked to guess the symbol of the cards as they were turned
up from a shuffled deck of cards. A pure guess in this test generally produced

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an average score of 5 hits out of 25 cards.

None of the early experiments by Rhine using the Zener cards were valid
for many reasons. The cards were poorly made that the symbols almost showed
faintly on the back of the cards. Further there is also enough evidence that
early experimenters had tendency to sometimes unconsciously give clues
about the cards using their eyes.

Nevertheless, modern psychologists who are well aware of the need for
double-blind experiments, security and accuracy in record keeping meticulous
control. Hundreds of experiments have been reported in parapsychology
journals that support psi abilities in the past one decade. Still psychologists
are skeptical about psi abilities because fraud continues to plague this field.
Especially in places where the purported psychic abilities are involved in
making money more caution needs to be exerted in trusting the findings as
valid.

Another major factor that stands as a drawback to research in

parapsychology is inconsistency. Every study with positive findings has another
study to prove it wrong. ESP researches hold that this effect shows that
parapsychology skills are very delicate. On the other hand the critics argue
that one scoring temporarily above change can only receive credit for run of
luck. It is not fair to assume that the ESP is temporarily gone when the run
is over. They emphasize on the point that all the runs must be counted and
considered.

Many of the most spectacular studies in parapsychology cannot be

replicated. The same researcher using the same experimental subjects cannot
get the similar results every time. To add to this improved research methods
usually result in fewer positive results. This stands as a major drawback.

Another problem that plagues psi experiments in that of reinterpretation.

For instance, ex-astronaut Edgar Mitchell worked on telepathetic experiments
from space. In some trials, Mitchell claims, the ‘receivers’ scored above chance
while the others scored ‘below chance’. Though we might assume that below-
chance trials were failures to find telepathy Mitchell interpreted them as
‘successes’. He claimed that the ‘failures’ represented intentional ‘psi missing’.
Skeptics argue that if both high scores and low scores indicated success
then what indicates failure!

Nevertheless, the outcome of many ESP studies is beyond debate. In a

recent study that involved mass media, people attempted to identify ESP
targets from a distance. This enabled large scale testing of the ESP
phenomena. The results of about 1.5 million ESP trials can be summarized in
one single line: There was no significant ESP effect (Milton & Wiseman,
1999).

Results of various researches done on ESP phenomena for nearly 13

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decades indicate that nothing conclusive can be said about the occurrence of
psi events. Serious problems relating to evidence, procedure and scientific
rigor are found in psi experiments. Survey of leading parapsychologists and
skeptics by Blackmore (1989) reveal that belief in psi has decreased in contrast
to the unconditional acceptance of psi by the media. Some researchers will,
however, continue to attempt to prove the psi. Some would continue to remain
skeptic considering the results of the huge body of research evidence available
in the past 13 decades as good enough to abandon the concept of ESP (Mark,
2000). One has to, at the least, exert caution in accepting the evidence
reported by researchers who are uncritical ‘believers’.

6.8 LET US SUM UP

(i) Perception includes process of selecting, ordering, synthesizing and
interpreting the sensory impressions that impinge on our sensory
organs.
(ii) Gestalt laws of organization how bits and pieces of information are
organized into meaningful wholes. Figure and Ground, Perceptual
Grouping, Closure are some of them.
(iii) Perceptual constancy connotes the phenomenon by which the physical
objects are perceived as same despite changes in their physical
appearance. Size Constancy, Color (or brightness) Constancy, Shape
Constancy are few of them.
(iv) Both monocular and binocular cues are used to perceive distance
and depth. Relative size, Interposition, Linear perspective, Aerial
perspective, Height on plane, Texture gradient, Monocular movement
parallax are few of the monocular cues. Binocular Cues include
convergence and retinal disparity.
(v) Visual Cliff experiments of the 1960’s by Eleanor Gibson and Richard
Walk is a classic experiment done to study development of depth
perception which supports the hypothesis that depth perception could
be partially innate and partially learned.
(vi) Perceptual learning refers to changes in perception that can be
attributed to prior experience due to changes in the brain that alter
the way we process sensory information. This results in distorted
perceptions of the stimuli referred to as illusions.
(vii) ESP refers to the purported ability to perceive events in ways that
cannot be explained by mere sensory capabilities.
(viii) Clairvoyance, telepathy, precognition and psychokinesis are few
of the basic forms of ESP.
(ix) Researches done on ESP phenomena over 13 decades indicate that
nothing conclusive can be said about the occurrence of psi events.
Serious problems relating to evidence, procedure and scientific rigor
are found in psi experiments.

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6.9 LESSON-END ACTIVITIES
(i) Look around the room and identify each principle of perceptual
organization evident there.
(ii) Take a photograph of natural scenery and identify the monocular
cues that is used to perceive.
(iii) Looking at the moon on a dark night check if you experience moon
light illusion.
(iv) Make an attempt to stimulate discussions about ESP among your
friends highlighting the research evidences for and against it.

6.10 POINTS FOR DISCUSSION

(i) Justify how gestalt laws of perception help us understand this world.
(ii) Establish how learning plays an important role in perception.
(iii) Substantiate the principles behind the illusions commonly
experienced.
(iii) Critically analyze the research evidences available on psi phenomena.

6.11 CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

(i) List the various principles of perceptual organization.
(ii) Explain various types of perceptual constancies with examples.
(iii) Describe ‘Visual Cliff’ experiment.
(iv) What are binocular cues?

6.12 REFERENCES
Coon, D. and Mitterer, J.O. (2007). Introduction to Psychology. First Indian
Reprint.Delhi.Akash Press.

Passer, M.W. and Smith, R.E. (2007). Psychology The Science of Mind and
Behavior. Third Edition.New Delhi: Tata McGraw Hill.

Goldstein, E. B. (Ed.) (2001). Blackwell handbook of perception. Malden,

MA: Blackwell.

Gaetano Kanizsa (1979) Organization in Vision: Essays on Gestalt

Perception. Praeger Publishers .

MSN Encarta. (2007). Perception © 1993-2007 Microsoft Corporation. http:/

/encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761571997/Perception_(psychology).html

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