Human sense organs: the main organs, what they are responsible for, how they are connected to the brain. Hygiene rules.
Thanks to the presence of sense organs, we can easily adapt to the world around us. What is given from birth and is present to us all our lives is of little value, and if suddenly, due to some accident, we lose one or more feelings, we lose a part of ourselves. Unfortunately, we are not always taught from childhood how important this is, but if you are reading this article, it means that you, like us, have decided to take care of the most important thing in the world - your body!
Let's think about how we feel for a second:
- Close your eyes and imagine how people who do not have such a natural gift live;
- Imagine not hearing the smell of food, the aroma of flowers and the delicious aromas of your beloved family members;
- Think about it, if you could no longer taste your favorite dish or drink;
- Imagine putting your hand in water and it starts to blister, but you don't understand why.
And this is just a small list of the limitations experienced by people whose senses work poorly or do not work at all.
How many basic sense organs does a person have and how many total sense organs?
Currently, scientists have approved six human senses, but there is constant debate that a person has many more senses and this is only a condensed concept.
The list of human senses includes:
- Ears (thanks to the ears we hear sounds and vibrations);
- Eyes (thanks to the eyes we see);
- Tongue (thanks to this organ we feel the taste and temperature of everything we absorb);
- Nose (the nose helps us hear smells and aromas);
- Skin (they provide tactile sensations, touch, a sense of pain and temperature of the surrounding world);
- Vestibular apparatus (thanks to this sense organ, we are aware of our place in space, maintain balance and feel weight and position).
What sense organs does a person lack?
Many people have a question: what sense organs do humans lack? For science fiction writers, this is simply fertile ground for creating superheroes or, on the contrary, villains. We have identified the most popular sense organs that humans do not have, but if they existed, a person’s life would be much more comfortable.
- The ability to detect ultrasound is a unique gift of bats;
- Clear vision in the dark - the capabilities of cats and more are amazing!
- Electroreceptors with which stingrays and sharks are gifted;
- The lateral line of fish is ideal sensitivity in space, which contributes to both survival and hunting;
- Thermal locators that snakes are gifted with.
This is just a small list of the capabilities of the surrounding world that nature has not endowed us with or that we have lost in the process of evolution.
Perception systems of the human body. Receptors. Sense organs.
To ensure the normal functioning of the body, the constancy of its internal environment, communication with the continuously changing external environment and adaptation to it are necessary. The body receives information about the state of the external and internal environments with the help of sensory systems that analyze (discriminate) information, ensure the formation of sensations and ideas, as well as specific forms of adaptive behavior.
Analyzer is a set of central and peripheral formations that perceive and analyze changes in the external and internal environments of the body. The concept of a sensory system, which appeared later, replaced the concept of an analyzer, including mechanisms for regulating its various parts with the help of direct and feedback connections. There are visual, auditory, olfactory, gustatory, tactile, temperature and pain analyzers.
Structural and functional organization of analyzers. According to I.P. Pavlov (1909), any analyzer has three sections: peripheral, conductive and central (cortical).
The peripheral section of the analyzer is represented by receptors; its purpose is the perception and primary analysis of changes in the external and internal environments of the body. In the receptors, the energy of the stimulus is transformed into a nerve impulse, as well as the signal is amplified due to the internal energy of metabolic processes. Receptors are characterized by specificity (modality), i.e. the ability to perceive a certain type of stimulus to which they have adapted in the process of evolution. Example: the receptors of the visual analyzer are adapted to perceive light, and the auditory receptors are adapted to perceive sound, etc.
Receptor —
this is an anatomical formation (a sensitive nerve ending or a specialized cell) that converts perceived irritation into nerve impulses.
The principle of operation of receptors. Stimuli for different receptors can include light, mechanical deformation, chemicals, temperature changes, and changes in electric and magnetic fields. In receptor cells, the corresponding signal changes the information of sensitive molecules - cellular receptors, which leads to a change in the activity of membrane ion receptors and a change in the membrane potential of the cell.
There are several classifications of receptors:
1. By position:
- exteroceptors - located on the surface or near the surface of the body, perceive external stimuli (signals from the environment);
- interoceptors - located in the internal organs, perceive internal stimuli (for example: information about the state of the internal environment of the body);
— proprioceptors (receptors of the musculoskeletal system) allow you to determine the tension and degree of stretching of muscles and tendons; are a type of interoreceptors;
2. According to the ability to perceive different stimuli:
- monomodal - reacting only to one type of stimulus (for example: photoreceptors - to light);
- polymodal - responsive to several types of stimuli (for example: many pain receptors, as well as some invertebrate receptors that respond simultaneously to mechanical and chemical stimuli).
3. For an adequate stimulus:
- chemoreceptors - perceive the effects of dissolved or volatile chemicals;
- osmoreceptors - perceive changes in the osmotic concentration of the liquid (usually the internal environment);
- mechanoreceptors - perceive mechanical stimuli (touch, pressure, stretching, vibrations of water or air...);
- fluororeceptors - perceive visible and ultraviolet light;
- thermoreceptors - perceive a decrease (cold) or increase (heat) in temperature;
- pain receptors - their stimulation leads to pain. There is no such physical stimulus as pain, so separating them into a separate group based on the nature of the stimulus is to some extent arbitrary. In fact, they are high-threshold sensors of various (chemical, thermal or mechanical) damaging factors. A unique feature of these receptors is that many of them are polymodal: the same nerve ending can be excited in response to several different damaging stimuli.
- electroreceptors - perceive changes in the electric field;
- magnetic receptors - perceive changes in the magnetic field.
Humans have the first six types of receptors. Taste and smell are based on chemoreception, touch, hearing and balance are based on mechanoreception, as well as sensations of body position in space, and vision is based on photoreception. Thermoreceptors are found in the skin and in some internal organs. Most interoreceptors trigger involuntary, in most cases unconscious, autonomic reflexes. Osmoreceptors are included in the regulation of kidney activity, chemoreceptors that perceive pH, concentrations of carbon dioxide and oxygen in the blood are included in the regulation of respiration
A sense organ is a specialized peripheral anatomical and physiological system that, thanks to its receptors, ensures the receipt and primary analysis of information from the surrounding world and from other organs of the body itself, that is, from the external environment and the internal environment of the body. Information about stimuli affecting the receptors of human sensory organs is transmitted to the central nervous system and special parts of the cerebral cortex. The cortex analyzes incoming information and identifies it, and sensations arise. Then a response signal is generated, which is transmitted along the nerves to the corresponding organs of the body.
A person receives information through the main senses: visual, auditory, olfactory, tactile (tactile), gustatory. According to generally accepted opinion, humans also have:
- thermoception - the feeling of heat (or lack thereof) on human skin;
- equibrioception - a sense of balance, position in space, which is determined by the fluid-containing cavities in our inner ear;
- nociception - the perception of pain by the skin, joints and organs of the body;
- proprioception - understanding where parts of the body are, even when a person does not feel or see them.
Distant sensory organs perceive stimuli at a distance (for example: organs of vision, hearing, smell); other organs (taste and touch) - only with direct contact. Some senses can complement others to a certain extent (for example: a developed sense of smell or touch can to some extent compensate for poorly developed vision).
Sense organs and brain, nervous system: how are they interconnected?
Each sense organ is directly connected by nerve endings to the brain and continuously sends signals. The brain, in turn, analyzes the signals and produces ready-made information. It is worth noting that the brain rarely receives a signal from just one sense organ, and most often in a complex manner. So, for example, a child enters the kitchen and sees food (vision), hears the mother’s voice “Sit down to eat”, feels the aroma of food, sits down at the table and comes into contact with cutlery (a signal that food is about to arrive), and by the time the mother When a child puts a plate on the table, he most likely knows what the dish will taste like.
Sensation as a mental process
Definition 1
Sensation is a mental process consisting of the reflection of individual properties of perceived objects of the material world, while perception is the process of a holistic reflection of objects that occur under direct influence of physical stimuli on the senses.
Information about the world around us comes to a person through sensations and is processed by perception for use. Sensation is the simplest first stage of cognition. Sensation cannot be broken down into simpler processes and is a kind of mental building block from which the entire human psyche is built.
Figure 1. The emergence of sensations. Author24 - online exchange of student work
Sensation gives a person the opportunity to learn about smell, movement, color, position in space, etc. Without sensations there will be no knowledge. Sensations are characterized by such qualitative characteristics as intensity, duration, and emotional tone. They are reflexive in nature, i.e. for its occurrence, some kind of irritant affecting the sense organs is necessary.
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A signal entering the brain when exposed to a stimulus receptor enters the corresponding center of the cerebral cortex and a sensation arises, the mechanism of which consists of three stages - physical, physiological, mental.
Depending on the function and location of the receptors, sensations are:
exteroceptive - they occur when external stimuli act on receptors;
- interoreceptive, talking about what is happening inside the body;
- proprioceptive - they arise in muscles and tendons.
Of all types of sensations, visual ones are the most important, because a person receives 90% of information from the external environment with their help.
Auditory sensations provide information about the height, strength, timbre of a sound, and their intensity depends on the amplitude of the vibration of the source and the pitch of the sound.
Chemical sensitivity includes the senses of taste and smell because they are stimulated by chemicals.
Sensations associated with the skin are called cutaneous.
Pain sensitivity is associated with a person's emotions and temperament, for example, fear of the dentist's office. However, it was found that not every stimulus causes sensation; for example, a light speck of dust on the back of the hand is not felt at all. Obviously, in order for a sensation to arise, the stimulus must be much more intense.
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Sensations have their own thresholds - an absolute lower threshold (minimum amount of irritation), an upper absolute threshold (maximum amount of irritation), a relative threshold or discrimination threshold - this is the minimum difference between stimuli noticed by a person, for example, slightly sweet tea.
How do the senses help a person navigate the world?
Have you seen a newborn kitten, how it pokes in different directions, not yet understanding how to navigate in space. Likewise, a person without sense organs would move in space without understanding where he is and how to get to the right place, what needs to be done to avoid getting into trouble.
For example, a sense of balance helps a person understand where the earth is and where the sky is, even in a room without a single window. Also, thanks to this feeling, a person clearly navigates in space, moving in the desired direction without injury.
The hearing organs help to hear not only conversations with family, but also the sound of moving vehicles, running animals, etc. Having analyzed this sound, a person can correctly orient himself even if he does not yet see this object.
Vision in modern life is one of the key senses, because our society is created in such a way that we receive 99% of information visually. According to statistics, people with visual impairments are the most severely limited in the modern world.
Thanks to the sense of touch and charm, a person not only experiences the most vivid and pleasant emotions, but can also protect himself from the dangers of our world. For example, repulsive odors signal to us that food is no longer suitable for consumption until it reaches the tongue. The smell of smoke and burning often saves people from fires and allows them to quickly extinguish or leave the room at the stage of fire.
The difference between perception and sensation
Introduction
From birth, we experience the world at all levels: perceiving it through the senses, inhaling, examining, touching, tasting, realizing, comprehending... Psychologists recognize that these natural processes are very multifaceted and even subdivide them into the concepts of “sensation” and “perception”.
It turns out that science does not consider these terms identical. How does sensation differ from perception? Sensation is one of the simplest physical processes, implying the reflection of some individual properties of surrounding objects during their direct influence on the senses.
Perception is a complex process consisting of the reflection of objects, events or various situations in their integrity.
The relevance of the study lies in the fact that sensations develop under the influence of living conditions and the requirements of practical work activity. Mental processes are based on perception.
Perception (perception) is the reflection in the human mind of objects, phenomena, and integral situations of the objective world with their direct impact on the senses. In contrast to sensations, in the processes of perception (of a situation, a person), a holistic image of an object is formed, which is called a perceptual image. The image of perception is not reduced to a simple sum of sensations, although it includes them in its composition.
The purpose of this work is to identify differences between perception and sensations as cognitive processes.
To achieve the goal, it is necessary to solve the following tasks:
- consider the concepts of perception and sensations,
- determine their differences.
- identify features of forms and types of perception.
The practical significance of this work lies in the systematization of knowledge related to the study of perception and sensations, the identification of their features, and the ability to identify these features.
Research methods: theoretical analysis of literary sources on the research topic.
The difference between perception and sensation
PERCEPTION is a holistic reflection of objects, phenomena, situations and events in their sensually accessible temporal and spatial connections and relationships; the process of forming - through active actions - a subjective image of a holistic object that directly affects the analyzers. Determined by the objectivity of the world of phenomena. Occurs when physical stimuli directly affect the receptor surfaces (-> receptor) of the sense organs. Together with the processes of sensation, it provides direct sensory orientation in the external world. Being a necessary stage of cognition, it is always to some extent connected with thinking, memory, and attention. It is guided by motivation and has a certain affective-emotional coloring (-> emotion).
It is characteristic of a person that the images of his perception integrate the use of speech. Due to verbal designation, the possibility of abstracting and generalizing the properties of objects arises.
In social psychology, the content of the concept of perception is not revealed by all authors in the same way. Sometimes this term only means a partner’s reflection of the external appearance and visible picture of another person’s behavior. Sometimes perception and understanding of each other are considered as two inextricably linked processes. In other cases, perception is understood as the totality of the partner’s external appearance and his behavior in both the visible and internal psychological parts: the act of perception includes the interpretation of what is perceived at the level of thinking. Perception is the knowledge of the quality of the whole, and not of its individual properties; not a passive copying of an instantaneous impact, but a living, creative process of cognition. Depending on the biological significance of the perceived object, the leading quality may be either one or another quality, which determines which analyzer the information will be recognized as a priority.
Unlike sensations, which reflect only individual properties of objects, in the image of perception the entire object is represented as a unit of interaction - in the totality of its invariant properties. Moreover, perception is not reduced to the sum of individual sensations, but represents a qualitatively new stage of sensory cognition with its inherent characteristics. Unlike sensations, which are not perceived as properties of objects, specific phenomena or processes occurring outside and independently of us, perception always appears as subjectively correlated with a reality that exists outside of us, framed in the form of objects. Moreover, this happens even in the case when we are dealing with illusions or when the perceived property is relatively elementary and perception causes a simple sensation (in this case, this sensation necessarily relates to some phenomenon or object, and is associated with it). Sensations are located in ourselves, while the perceived properties of objects, their images are localized in space. This process, characteristic of its perception as opposed to sensations, is called objectification. The difference between perception in its developed forms and sensations is that the result of the occurrence of sensation is a certain feeling (for example, sensations of brightness, volume, saltiness, pitch, balance, etc.), while as a result of perception an image is formed, including a complex of various interrelated sensations attributed by human consciousness to an object, phenomenon, or process. In order for a certain object to be perceived, it is necessary to perform some kind of counter-activity in relation to it, aimed at its research, construction, and clarification of the image. As a rule, this is not required for the sensation to appear.
Sensation is the primary, basic link in the chain of knowledge, the original, primary source of absolutely all our knowledge about the world around us and our own body. The five main types of sensations given to us by nature - taste, smell, touch, hearing and vision - allow us to quickly obtain information about the manifestations of the external environment. Without this, no active, conscious life would be possible, and the subject would most likely fall into a sleepy state. The sensation occurs when the nervous system reacts to a particular stimulus, that is, this is a reflex phenomenon. It is worth noting that sensation is not a passive process: it is associated with motor reactions. In other words, in response to some stimulus from the outside world, for example, our blood vessels constrict, our muscles tense, our eyes move - in this way we actively react to what is happening around us. This is a kind of sensory experience through which we gain knowledge about the world around us.
Perception is a complex process, more complex than sensation. It usually includes several sensations at once, giving at a particular moment the most comprehensive idea of the object being studied. If, for example, we hold a flower in our hand and admire it, inhaling its aroma, then such a holistic impression of the plant will be called perception. And the sensations in this case will be the impression of the appearance of the flower, its smell, the tactile feeling of the fingers holding the stem.
The ability to sense is given to us, like all living beings with a developed nervous system, from birth. But only humans and higher animals have the ability to perceive the environment in the form of images, and it can improve over time, in the process of life experience. Sensations are only in ourselves, this is only our experience. Perception is closely related to the process of objectification, when certain internal sensations are projected externally.
The result of a sensation is a feeling, for example, a feeling of balance, brightness, loudness, sweetness. Perception forms a certain image, consisting of a complex of different sensations, closely intertwined with each other. Moreover, in order for this image to develop in the most complete manner, interaction with it, its study, and research are required. Perception is associated with comprehension, deliberation, awareness, synthesis and analysis of the characteristics of the material object in front of us. As a result, we combine individual perceived details into a single whole, which ultimately serves as the source of our personal life experience. Participating in perception, our consciousness, based on memory and thinking, attributes a whole complex of sensations to a certain image.
Thus, the difference between sensation and perception is as follows:
1) Sensation is an integral part of perception, while perception is always a complex of sensations. Perception is a more complex process than sensation.
2) The ability to sense is given from birth to all living beings with a developed nervous system. The ability to perceive is inherent only in humans and higher animals, and it is transformed in the process of life experience.
3) Sensation provokes the emergence of a feeling, perception forms an image. Sensation is an exclusively internal process; perception is closely related to the process of objectification, when we project personal experiences onto an object.
4) Sensation is the process of reflecting a separate property of an object. Perception is based on a complex of sensations and is formed as a result of thinking, awareness, synthesis and analysis.
Hygiene rules for the main sense organs
In order for our senses to serve us faithfully for many years, we must respond to them with care and regular care. Below we provide basic hygiene rules for the organs responsible for the senses.
- Organ of touch: all of our skin needs daily cleaning (shower or bath), moisturizing and nourishing as necessary. Particular attention should be paid to the palms and feet, since it is on their integument that the maximum number of receptors that transmit the most important information to the brain is located;
- Olfactory organ: as necessary, it is necessary to rinse and clean the nasal cavities from pollution and substances secreted by the body. In case of illness, treat according to the doctor’s recommendations;
- Organs of taste: the oral cavity needs daily brushing of the teeth, brushing with dental floss if necessary, as well as rinsing the mouth in the morning and evening, as well as after each meal;
- Hearing organs: if there are no problems in the ears, then cleaning the outer ear should be done after washing with cotton swabs or special swabs. In other cases, as necessary, it is necessary to clean out the wax, but only at the entrance to the ear, deeper, like ear plugs, it should be cleaned exclusively by an ENT doctor;
- Eyes: together with the skin, the eyes must be washed morning and evening; if you wear contact lenses, clean them according to the instructions. If tearing, burning or other unpleasant sensations occur in the eyes, it is recommended to immediately consult a doctor.
The difference between perception and sensations, types of perception
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………….3
Chapter 1. Theoretical part………………………………………………………5
- The concept of perception and sensation…………………………………..5
- Types of perception……………………………………………………10
- Peculiarities of perception……………………………………………………..15
Conclusions on Chapter 1………………………………………………………..19
Chapter 2. Experimental part……………………………………20
2.1. Experimental methods of musical perception of schoolchildren in music lessons……………………………………………20
2.2. Carrying out the experiment…………………………………………..21
2.3. Analysis of the results of the experiment………………….23
Conclusions on the second chapter……………………………………………………………26
Conclusion…………………………………………………………….27
References……………………………………………………….30
Introduction
Perception, like sensation, is a cognitive process. Perception is understood as the mental reflection of objects and phenomena in their integrity, in the totality of their properties. Perception is possible thanks to sensations, but it represents a qualitatively new stage of cognition, which cannot be reduced to the sum of individual sensations.
In the images of perception, many properties of objects are recorded: their location in space, distance, direction of movement, duration of influence of the external stimulus on the subject of perception.
Perception is characterized by modality and intensity, due to which the differentiation of external stimuli becomes qualitative. It has properties that significantly distinguish it from sensations: objectivity, integrity, constancy, structure and even generality.
When perception is included in the process of solving problems and becomes a component of thinking or consciousness as a whole, then it experiences regulating and organizing influence on their part.
As a result of these influences, perception develops such properties as selectivity, meaningfulness, purposefulness, categoricality, reflexivity, etc.
To study the multi-level properties of perception, this topic proposes research methods: observation, time perception and the nature of the influence of cognitive control on visual perception.
Psychologists identify four properties of image perception. Subjectivity, integrity, constancy and categoricality (meaningfulness and meaning) are the main properties of the image that develop in the process and result of perception.
Objectivity is a person’s ability to perceive the world not in the form of a set of sensations unrelated to each other, but in the form of objects separated from each other that have properties that cause these sensations.
The integrity of perception is expressed in the fact that the image of perceived objects is not given in a completely finished form with all the necessary elements, but is, as it were, mentally completed to some holistic form based on a small set of elements.
This also happens if some details of an object are not directly perceived by a person at a given moment in time. Constancy is defined as the ability to perceive objects as relatively constant in shape, color and size, and a number of other parameters, regardless of the changing physical conditions of perception.
The categorical nature of human perception is manifested in the fact that it is of a generalized nature, and we designate each perceived object with a word-concept and assign it to a specific class. In accordance with this class, we look for and see in the perceived object signs that are characteristic of all objects of this class and are expressed in the volume and content of this concept.
The object of study is perception and sensation.
The subject of the study is the difference between perception and sensation, types of perception.
The purpose of the study is to consider, on the basis of theory and practice, the difference between perception and sensation, the types of perception.
Based on the goal, the following tasks were set:
– consider the concept of perception and sensation.
– consider the types of sensations;
– analyze the differences between perception and sensation;
– consider the experimental part;
– consider experimental methods of musical perception of schoolchildren in music lessons;
- to conduct an experiment;
– analyze the analysis of the results of the experiment.
Chapter 1. Theoretical part
- Concept of perception and sensation
It is traditional to use the terms “sensation” and “perception” to refer to different phenomena. The term “sensation” refers to the initial processes of detecting and encoding the energy of the physical world. It follows that sensations are associated with the initial stage of contact of the organism with its environment.
Potential energy signals that the environment can send are light, pressure, heat, chemicals, etc., and our senses - windows to the world around us - receive this energy and transform it into a bioelectrical neural signal that is sent to the brain.
The implementation of this first stage of cognition of the world involves special neural units, or receptor cells (they will be described later in this chapter), reacting to one or another type of energy.
For example, the cells of the retina of the eye react to light energy, and the equally selective taste receptors of the tongue react to molecules of chemical compounds. The study of sensation includes the study of all these biological events, but is not limited to them.
A psychologist who studies visual sensations will not limit himself to considering the physical structure of the eye and its response to light energy, but will also try to understand how exactly sensory experience is related to both external stimulation and the functioning of the eye.
Under the sensations
as such are understood to be immediate, fundamental and direct contacts (experiences) of a certain kind, in other words, they refer to conscious knowledge about the quality or characteristic features of objects around us, such as “heavy”, “warm”, “loud” and “red”, and this knowledge is usually the result of exposure to a simple, isolated stimulus.
As for perception, it is the result of psychological processes that involve concepts such as meaning, relationships, context, subjective assessment, the individual's previous experiences and memory.
In accordance with these differences between sensation and perception, our eyes may first fix a series of rapidly changing color images on a television screen (this is the work of sensation), but what we see on the screen or perceive through it is an image of visual events, in which people and objects interact meaningfully in space. Likewise, a typical external sound stimulus will cause our eardrums to vibrate in a certain way, creating an instantly recognizable feature, particularly loudness, but we hear or perceive a conversation or a melody. Consequently, perception involves systematizing, interpreting and making sense of information coming from sensory systems. In other words, perception is the result of ordering sensations and their transformation into knowledge about objects and events of the physical world.1
Having identified these differences, it should be noted that they are of historical rather than practical or functional significance. In many significant contacts with the outside world, it is difficult, if not impossible, to draw the line between sensation and perception.
When listening to music, do we really realize what the characteristics of individual notes are, in particular what their absolute height and volume are? When we pick up a familiar object, be it a book or a pencil, can we feel the pressure it exerts on our fingers or palms, regardless of how the object feels? In both cases the answer is no.
In general, sensation and perception are interrelated and inseparable processes. As a rule, only under controlled laboratory conditions can one initiate isolated sensations that have neither semantic nor contextual load and are not related to the subject’s previous experience.
Consequently, although these terms will become part of our vocabulary, in this book we will generally avoid a clear distinction between sensation and perception and will take an integrated approach.
In other words, we agree with those who believe that the result of environmental influences is usually information useful to the body, some of which is relatively simple information of a general nature (for example, the brightness of an object), and some of which is more complex (for example, information related to item identification).
Any person faced with such a complex and multifaceted phenomenon as sensation and perception, of course, has the right to ask why it is necessary to study it. In addition to purely scientific ones, there are many other motivations.
First, as will soon become clear from the information presented below, the ideas, controversial issues and main aspects of this problem are important not only for the history of psychology as a science in general, but are also central to experimental psychology in particular.
The role of feelings in solving fundamental philosophical problems concerning how exactly we understand the world around us is extremely great. Experimental psychology itself began with philosophical problems that focused on sensation and perception.
Secondly, another reason, closely related to the first and encouraging the study of sensation and perception, is their importance for obtaining systematic knowledge about ourselves and the world around us. This is true, because all our knowledge of the reality outside us is primarily the result of sensations and perception.
Our senses are our only mechanism for detecting energetic and chemical signals sent to us by the environment, and it is on their basis that we perceive and evaluate reality. In other words, our knowledge of the world and our internal sense of physical reality stems from the sensory information we receive.
To see if this statement is true, think about how you receive information about what is happening around you. You are constantly aware of sensory events—sights, sounds, touches, and probably smells. The perception of the internal, and especially external, environment is something that we experience almost constantly.
Now think about what your daily life would be like if you suddenly lost one or more of your senses. Given the level of modern technology, you would most likely adapt and learn to live without what you lost.
However, it is also clear that your awareness of your environment would be correspondingly reduced and, depending on the circumstances, your well-being and perhaps your life itself would be at risk.
There are also many practical reasons for studying sensation and perception. This branch of psychology deals with important, if not crucial, aspects of our everyday interaction with the external environment.
Just imagine how often you have to deal with a huge number of different devices designed to deliver information through human sensory systems: traffic lights, cars, watches, telephones, stereo systems, video displays (for example, computers and televisions).
Consider also some important practical consequences of our contacts with the physical world through sensory stimuli.
For example, what sounds and colors are most likely to be perceived as danger signals? Is it true that red is the best color for this purpose? Is the sound of a siren an effective sound signal? Should we generally avoid natural substances that have an unpleasant, especially bitter, taste? What acoustic characteristics of a stimulus coming from outside allow us to accurately localize its source? What happens to the sensitivity of our vision when we move from a lit room to a dark one? Is depth perception innate? What is the sensitivity threshold for each given sensory modality that optimally performs its assigned functions? How does intense stimulation—such as loud noise or blinding light—affect perceptual ability?
In terms of practical practicality, the study of sensation and perception equips scientists with the ability to identify and treat people with disorders of the sensory-perceptual system. For example, psychologists who study hearing believe that its characteristic decrease is associated with prolonged exposure to loud noise.
Typically, researchers attribute declines in sensation and perception to specific external events, such as lack of experience, injury, illness, or age-related changes. Aging has profound effects on the efficiency of sensory systems.
Consider the following example related to hearing: since the upper auditory threshold (meaning the absolute height of a particular sound, i.e.
how high or low it appears) decreases with age, using a high-pitched sound as an alarm signal would be reckless, since older people may well not hear it.2
1.2. Types of perception
The interaction of analyzers prepares the ground for the transition in sensory cognition to a higher level compared to sensations - the level of perception or, in other words, for the transition from the sensory to the perceptual level of cognition.
This level, however, cannot be considered as some kind of summation of sensations. Here there is not only a quantitative increase in sensory information, but also its qualitative transformation.
As a result, we receive not some set of several sensations, but a complex of information that gives a general idea of the perceived object, which, in addition to the individual properties reflected in the sensations, also has a relationship between these properties and certain generalizing characteristics. All this gives a person information about the biological and social significance of this object for him.
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