Sensation and Perception, Eleventh Edition
By E. Bruce Goldstein and Laura Cacciamani
Contents:
Chapter 1
Introduction to Perception 3
1.1 Why Read This Book? 5
1.2 Why Is This Book Titled Sensation and Perception? 5
1.3 The Perceptual Process 6
Distal and Proximal Stimuli (Steps 1 and 2) 7
Receptor Processes (Step 3) 7
Neural Processing (Step 4) 8
Behavioral Responses (Steps 5–7) 9
Knowledge 10
DEMONSTRATION | Perceiving a Picture 10
1.4 Studying the Perceptual Process 11
The Stimulus–Behavior Relationship (A) 11
The Stimulus–Physiology Relationship (B) 12
The Physiology–Behavior Relationship (C) 13
TEST YOuRSELF 1.1 13
1.5 Measuring Perception 13
Measuring Thresholds 14
METHOD | Determining the Threshold 14
Measuring Perception Above Threshold 15
METHOD | Magnitude Estimation 16
Something to Consider: Why Is the Difference
Between Physical and Perceptual Important? 18
TEST YOuRSELF 1.2 19
THINK ABOUT IT 19
KEY TERMS 19
Contents
Chapter 2
Basic Principles of Sensory Physiology 21
2.1 Electrical Signals in Neurons 21
Recording Electrical Signals in Neurons 22
METHOD | The Setup for Recording From a Single Neuron 22
Basic Properties of Action Potentials 23
Chemical Basis of Action Potentials 24
Transmitting Information Across a Gap 25
2.2 Sensory Coding: How Neurons Represent
Information 27
Specificity Coding 27
Sparse Coding 29
Population Coding 29
TEST YOuRSELF 2.1 30
2.3 Zooming Out: Representation in the Brain 30
Mapping Function to Structure 30
METHOD | Brain Imaging 31
Distributed Representation 33
Connections Between Brain Areas 33
METHOD | The Resting State Method of Measuring Functional
Connectivity 34
Something to Consider: The Mind–Body Problem 35
TEST YOuRSELF 2.2 36
THINK ABOUT IT 37
KEY TERMS 37
Chapter 3
The Eye and Retina 39
3.1 Light, the Eye, and the Visual Receptors 40
Light: The Stimulus for Vision 40
The Eye 40
DEMONSTRATION | Becoming Aware of the Blind Spot 43
DEMONSTRATION | Filling in the Blind Spot 43
3.2 Focusing Light Onto the Retina 43
Accommodation 43
DEMONSTRATION | Becoming Aware of What Is in Focus 44
Refractive Errors 44
3.3 Photoreceptor Processes 45
Transforming Light Energy Into Electrical Energy 45
Adapting to the Dark 46
METHOD | Measuring the Dark Adaptation Curve 46
Spectral Sensitivity 49
METHOD | Measuring a Spectral Sensitivity Curve 49
TEST YOURSELF 3.1 51
3.4 What Happens as Signals Travel Through
the Retina 51
Rod and Cone Convergence 51
DEMONSTRATION | Foveal Versus Peripheral Acuity 54
Ganglion Cell Receptive Fields 55
Something to Consider: Early Events Are Powerful 59
Developmental Dimension: Infant Visual Acuity 60
METHOD | Preferential Looking 60
TEST YOuRSELF 3.2 62
THINK ABOUT IT 63
KEY TERMS 64
Chapter 4
The Visual Cortex and Beyond 67
4.1 From Retina to Visual Cortex 67
Pathway to the Brain 68
Receptive Fields of Neurons in the Visual Cortex 69
METHOD | Presenting Stimuli to Determine Receptive
Fields 69
4.2 The Role of Feature Detectors in Perception 72
Selective Adaptation 72
METHOD | Psychophysical Measurement of the Effect of
Selective Adaptation to Orientation 72
Selective Rearing 74
4.3 Spatial Organization in the Visual Cortex 75
The Neural Map in the Striate Cortex (V1) 75
DEMONSTRATION | Cortical Magnification of Your Finger 76
The Cortex Is Organized in Columns 77
How V1 Neurons and Columns Underlie Perception
of a Scene 78
TEST YOuRSELF 4.1 79
4.4 Beyond the Visual Cortex 79
Streams for Information About What and Where 80
METHOD | Brain Ablation 80
Streams for Information About What and How 81
METHOD | Double Dissociations in Neuropsychology 81
4.5 Higher-Level Neurons 83
Responses of Neurons in Inferotemporal Cortex 83
Where Perception Meets Memory 85
Something to Consider: “Flexible” Receptive Fields 86
TEST YOuRSELF 4.2 87
THINK ABOUT IT 87
KEY TERMS 87
Chapter 5
Perceiving Objects and Scenes 89
DEMONSTRATION | Perceptual Puzzles in a Scene 89
5.1 Why Is It So Difficult to Design a Perceiving
Machine? 91
The Stimulus on the Receptors Is Ambiguous 91
Objects Can Be Hidden or Blurred 93
Objects Look Different From Different Viewpoints 94
5.2 Perceptual Organization 94
The Gestalt Approach to Perceptual Grouping 94
Gestalt Principles of Perceptual Organization 96
Perceptual Segregation 99
TEST YOuRSELF 5.1 102
5.3 Recognition by Components 102
5.4 Perceiving Scenes and Objects in Scenes 103
Perceiving the Gist of a Scene 103
METHOD | Using a Mask to Achieve Brief Stimulus
Presentations 104
Regularities in the Environment: Information for
Perceiving 105
DEMONSTRATION | Visualizing Scenes and Objects 106
The Role of Inference in Perception 107
TEST YOuRSELF 5.2 109
5.5 Connecting Neural Activity and Object/Scene
Perception 110
Brain Responses to Objects and Faces 110
Brain Responses to Scenes 113
The Relationship Between Perception and Brain
Activity 113
Neural Mind Reading 114
METHOD | Neural Mind Reading 114
Something to Consider: The Puzzle of Faces 116
Developmental Dimension: Infant Face
Perception 118
TEST YOuRSELF 5.3 120
THINK ABOUT IT 120
KEY TERMS 121
Chapter 6
Visual Attention 123
6.1 What Is Attention? 124
6.2 The Diversity of Attention Research 124
Attention to an Auditory Message: Cherry and Broadbent’s
Selective Listening Experiments 124
Attention to a Location in Space: Michael Posner’s Precueing
Experiment 125
METHOD | Precueing 125
Attention as a Mechanism for Binding Together an Object’s
Features: Anne Treisman’s Feature Integration Theory 126
DEMONSTRATION | Visual Search 126
6.3 What Happens When We Scan a Scene by Moving
Our Eyes? 127
Scanning a Scene with Eye Movements 127
How Does the Brain Deal with What Happens When the Eyes
Move? 128
6.4 Things That Influence Visual Scanning 130
Visual Salience 130
DEMONSTRATION | Attentional Capture 130
The Observer’s Interests and Goals 131
Scene Schemas 131
Task Demands 132
TEST YOuRSELF 6.1 133
6.5 The Benefits of Attention 133
Attention Speeds Responding 133
Attention Influences Appearance 134
6.6 The Physiology of Attention 135
Attention to Objects Increases Activity in Specific Areas
of the Brain 135
Attention to Locations Increases Activity in Specific Areas
of the Brain 135
Attention Shifts Receptive Fields 136
6.7 What Happens When We Don’t Attend? 136
DEMONSTRATION | Change Detection 137
6.8 Distraction by Smartphones 138
Smartphone Distractions While Driving 138
Distractions Beyond Driving 139
6.9 Disorders of Attention: Spatial Neglect and
Extinction 141
Something to Consider: Focusing Attention by
Meditating 142
Developmental Dimension: Infant Attention and
Learning Object Names 143
METHOD | Head-Mounted Eye Tracking 144
TEST YOuRSELF 6.2 145
THINK ABOUT IT 145
KEY TERMS 146
Chapter 7
Taking Action 149
7.1 The Ecological Approach to Perception 150
The Moving Observer Creates Information in the
Environment 150
Reacting to Information Created by Movement 151
The Senses Work Together 152
DEMONSTRATION | Keeping Your Balance 152
Affordances: What Objects Are Used for 152
7.2 Staying on Course: Walking and Driving 154
Walking 154
Driving a Car 155
7.3 Finding Your Way Through the Environment 155
The Importance of Landmarks 156
Cognitive Maps: The Brain’s “GPS” 157
Individual Differences in Wayfinding 158
TEST YOuRSELF 7.1 159
7.4 Interacting with Objects: Reaching, Grasping,
and Lifting 160
Reaching and Grasping 160
Lifting the Bottle 162
Adjusting the Grip 163
7.5 Observing Other People’s Actions 164
Mirroring Others’ Actions in the Brain 164
Predicting People’s Intentions 165
7.6 Action-Based Accounts of Perception 167
Something to Consider: Prediction is Everywhere 168
Developmental Dimension: Infant Affordances 169
TEST YOuRSELF 7.2 171
THINK ABOUT IT 171
KEY TERMS 172
Chapter 8
Perceiving Motion 175
8.1 Functions of Motion Perception 176
Detecting Things 176
Perceiving Objects 176
Perceiving Events 176
Social Perception 177
Taking Action 178
8.2 Studying Motion Perception 179
When Do We Perceive Motion? 179
Comparing Real and Apparent Motion 180
Two Real-Life Situations We Want to Explain 180
8.3 The Ecological Approach to Motion
Perception 181
8.4 The Corollary Discharge and Motion
Perception 181
TEST YOuRSELF 8.1 182
8.5 The Reichardt Detector 182
8.6 Single-Neuron Responses to Motion 183
Experiments Using Moving Dot Displays 184
Lesioning the MT Cortex 185
Deactivating the MT Cortex 185
METHOD | Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) 185
Stimulating the MT Cortex 185
METHOD | Microstimulation 185
8.7 Beyond Single-Neuron Responses to Motion 186
The Aperture Problem 187
DEMONSTRATION | Movement of a Bar Across an Aperture 187
Solutions to the Aperture Problem 187
8.8 Motion and the Human Body 188
Apparent Motion of the Body 188
Biological Motion Studied by Point-Light Walkers 188
8.9 Motion Responses to Still Pictures 190
Something to Consider: Motion, Motion, and More
Motion 192
Developmental Dimension: Infants Perceive Biological
Motion 192
TEST YOuRSELF 8.2 194
THINK ABOUT IT 194
KEY TERMS 194
Chapter 9
Perceiving Color 197
9.1 Functions of Color Perception 198
9.2 Color and Light 199
Reflectance and Transmission 200
Color Mixing 201
9.3 Perceptual Dimensions of Color 203
TEST YOuRSELF 9.1 204
9.4 The Trichromacy of Color Vision 204
A Little History 204
Color-Matching Evidence for Trichromacy 205
METHOD | Color Matching 205
Measuring the Characteristics of the Cone Receptors 205
The Cones and Trichromatic Color Matching 206
Color Vision with Only One Pigment: Monochromacy 207
Color Vision with Two Pigments: Dichromacy 208
TEST YOuRSELF 9.2 210
9.5 The Opponency of Color Vision 210
Behavioral Evidence for Opponent-Process Theory 210
METHOD | Hue Cancellation 211
Physiological Evidence for Opponent-Process Theory 211
Questioning the Idea of Unique Hues 213
9.6 Color Areas in the Cortex 213
TEST YOuRSELF 9.3 214
9.7 Color in the World: Beyond Wavelength 215
Color Constancy 215
DEMONSTRATION | Adapting to Red 216
Lightness Constancy 220
DEMONSTRATION | The Penumbra and Lightness
Perception 222
DEMONSTRATION | Perceiving Lightness at a Corner 222
Something to Consider: We Perceive Color from
Colorless Wavelengths 223
Developmental Dimension: Infant Color Vision 225
TEST YOuRSELF 9.4 226
Think About It 226
KEY TERMS 227
Chapter 1 0
Perceiving Depth and Size 229
10.1 Perceiving Depth 229
10.2 Oculomotor Cues 231
DEMONSTRATION | Feelings in Your Eyes 231
10.3 Monocular Cues 231
Pictorial Cues 231
Motion-Produced Cues 234
DEMONSTRATION | Deletion and Accretion 234
10.4 Binocular Depth Information 236
DEMONSTRATION | Two Eyes: Two Viewpoints 236
Seeing Depth with Two Eyes 236
Binocular Disparity 238
Disparity (Geometrical) Creates Stereopsis (Perceptual) 240
The Correspondence Problem 242
10.5 The Physiology of Binocular Depth
Perception 243
10.6 Depth Information Across Species 244
TEST YOuRSELF 10.1 246
10.7 Perceiving Size 247
The Holway and Boring Experiment 247
Size Constancy 250
DEMONSTRATION | Perceiving Size at a Distance 250
DEMONSTRATION | Size–Distance Scaling and Emmert’s Law 250
10.8 Illusions of Depth and Size 252
The Müller-Lyer Illusion 252
DEMONSTRATION | The Müller-Lyer Illusion with Books 253
The Ponzo Illusion 254
The Ames Room 254
Something to Consider: The Changing Moon 255
Developmental Dimension: Infant Depth
Perception 257
Binocular Disparity 257
Pictorial Cues 257
METHOD | Preferential Reaching 258
TEST YOuRSELF 10.2 259
Think About It 259
Key Terms 259
Chapter 1 1
Hearing 263
11.1 Physical Aspects of Sound 264
Sound as Pressure Changes 264
Pure Tones 265
METHOD | Using Decibels to Shrink Large Ranges
of Pressures 266
Complex Tones and Frequency Spectra 267
11.2 Perceptual Aspects of Sound 268
Thresholds and Loudness 268
Pitch 270
Timbre 271
TEST YOuRSELF 11.1 271
11.3 From Pressure Changes to Electrical Signals 272
The Outer Ear 272
The Middle Ear 272
The Inner Ear 273
11.4 How Frequency Is Represented in the Auditory
Nerve 276
Békésy Discovers How the Basilar Membrane Vibrates 276
The Cochlea Functions as a Filter 277
METHOD | Neural Frequency Tuning Curves 278
The Outer Hair Cells Function as Cochlear Amplifiers 278
TEST YOuRSELF 11.2 279
11.5 The Physiology of Pitch Perception: The Cochlea 280
Place and Pitch 280
Temporal Information and Pitch 281
Problems Remaining to Be Solved 281
11.6 The Physiology of Pitch Perception:
The Brain 282
The Pathway to the Brain 282
Pitch and the Brain 282
11.7 Hearing Loss 284
Presbycusis 284
Noise-Induced Hearing Loss 284
Hidden Hearing Loss 285
Something to Consider: Explaining Sound to
an 11-Year Old 286
Developmental Dimension: Infant Hearing 286
Thresholds and the Audibility Curve 286
Recognizing Their Mother’s Voice 287
TEST YOuRSELF 11.3 288
THINK ABOUT IT 288
KEY TERMS 288
Chapter 1 2
Hearing in the Environment 291
12.1 Sound Source Localization 292
Binaural Cues for Sound Localization 293
Spectral Cues for Localization 294
12.2 The Physiology of Auditory Localization 296
The Jeffress Neural Coincidence Model 296
Broad ITD Tuning Curves in Mammals 297
Cortical Mechanisms of Localization 298
12.3 Hearing Inside Rooms 299
Perceiving Two Sounds That Reach the Ears at Different
Times 300
Architectural Acoustics 301
TEST YOuRSELF 12.1 302
12.4 Auditory Scene Analysis 302
Simultaneous Grouping 303
Sequential Grouping 303
Something to Consider: Interactions Between Hearing
and Vision 306
The Ventriloquism Effect 306
The Two-Flash Illusion 306
Understanding Speech 306
Interactions in the Brain 307
Echolocation in Blind People 307
Listening to or Reading a Story 308
TEST YOuRSELF 12.2 309
Think About It 309
Key Terms 309
Chapter 1 3
Perceiving Music 311
13.1 What Is Music? 311
13.2 Does Music Have an Adaptive Function? 312
13.3 Outcomes of Music 313
Musical Training Improves Performance in Other Areas 313
Music Elicits Positive Feelings 313
Music Evokes Memories 313
13.4 Musical Timing 314
The Beat 315
Meter 315
Rhythm 316
Syncopation 316
The Power of the Mind 317
13.5 Hearing Melodies 319
Organized Notes 319
Intervals 319
Trajectories 320
Tonality 320
TEST YOURSELF 13.1 321
13.6 Creating Emotions 321
Structural Features Linking Music and Emotion 322
Expectancy and Emotion in Music 323
METHOD | Studying Syntax in Language Using the
Event-Related Potential 323
Physiological Mechanisms of Musical Emotions 325
Something to Consider: Comparing Music and
Language Mechanisms in the Brain 327
Evidence for Shared Mechanisms 327
Evidence for Separate Mechanisms 327
Developmental Dimension: How Infants Respond to
the Beat 329
Newborns’ Response to the Beat 329
Older Infants’ Movement to the Beat 329
Infants’ Response to Bouncing to the Beat 329
METHOD | Head-Turning Preference Procedure 330
13.7 Coda: Music Is “Special” 330
TEST YOuRSELF 13.2 331
THINK ABOUT IT 331
KEY TERMS 331
Chapter 1 4
Perceiving Speech 335
14.1 The Speech Stimulus 336
The Acoustic Signal 336
Basic Units of Speech 337
14.2 Variability of the Acoustic Signal 338
Variability From Context 338
Variability in Pronunciation 339
14.3 Some History: The Motor Theory of Speech
Perception 340
The Proposed Connection Between Production and
Perception 340
The Proposal That “Speech Is Special” 340
TEST YOuRSELF 14.1 342
14.4 Information for Speech Perception 342
Motor Processes 342
The Face and Lip Movements 343
Knowledge of Language 344
The Meaning of Words in Sentences 345
DEMONSTRATION | Perceiving Degraded Sentences 345
DEMONSTRATION | Organizing Strings of Sounds 346
Learning About Words in a Language 346
TEST YOuRSELF 14.2 347
14.5 Speech Perception in Difficult Circumstances 347
14.6 Speech Perception and the Brain 349
Something to Consider: Cochlear Implants 351
Developmental Dimension: Infant-Directed Speech 353
TEST YOuRSELF 14.3 354
THINK ABOUT IT 355
KEY TERMS 355
Chapter 1 5
The Cutaneous Senses 357
Perception by the Skin and Hands
15.1 Overview of the Cutaneous System 358
The Skin 358
Mechanoreceptors 358
Pathways From Skin to Cortex and Within the Cortex 359
Somatosensory Areas in the Cortex 361
15.2 Perceiving Details 362
METHOD | Measuring Tactile Acuity 363
Receptor Mechanisms for Tactile Acuity 363
DEMONSTRAT ION | Comparing Two-Point Thresholds 364
Cortical Mechanisms for Tactile Acuity 364
15.3 Perceiving Vibration and Texture 365
Vibration of the Skin 365
Surface Texture 366
DEMONSTRAT ION | Perceiving Texture with a Pen 367
TEST YOuRSELF 15.1 368
15.4 Perceiving Objects 368
DEMONSTRAT ION | Identifying Objects 368
Identifying Objects by Haptic Exploration 368
The Cortical Physiology of Tactile Object Perception 369
15.5 Social Touch 371
Sensing Social Touch 371
The Social Touch Hypothesis 371
Social Touch and the Brain 372
Top-Down Influences on Social Touch 372
Pain Perception
15.6 The Gate Control Model of Pain 373
15.7 Top-Down Processes 374
Expectation 375
Attention 375
Emotions 376
TEST YOuRSELF 15.2 376
15.8 The Brain and Pain 376
Brain Areas 376
Chemicals and the Brain 377
15.9 Social Aspects of Pain 378
Pain Reduction by Social Touch 379
The Effect of Observing Someone Else’s Pain 379
The “Pain” of Social Rejection 380
Something to Consider: Plasticity and the Brain 382
Developmental Dimension: Social Touch in Infants 383
TEST YOuRSELF 15.3 385
THINK ABOUT IT 385
KEY TERMS 386
Chapter 1 6
The Chemical Senses 389
16.1 Some Properties of the Chemical Senses 390
16.2 Taste Quality 390
Basic Taste Qualities 391
Connections Between Taste Quality and a Substance’s
Effect 391
16.3 The Neural Code for Taste Quality 391
Structure of the Taste System 391
Population Coding 393
Specificity Coding 394
16.4 Individual Differences in Taste 396
TEST YOuRSELF 16.1 397
16.5 The Importance of Olfaction 397
16.6 Olfactory Abilities 398
Detecting Odors 398
Identifying Odors 398
DEMONSTRATION | Naming and Odor Identification 398
Individual Differences in Olfaction 398
Loss of Smell in COVID-19 and Alzheimer’s Disease 399
16.7 Analyzing Odorants: The Mucosa and
Olfactory Bulb 400
The Puzzle of Olfactory Quality 400
The Olfactory Mucosa 401
How Olfactory Receptor Neurons Respond to Odorants 401
METHOD | Calcium Imaging 402
The Search for Order in the Olfactory Bulb 403
TEST YOuRSELF 16.2 404
16.8 Representing Odors in the Cortex 405
How Odorants Are Represented in the Piriform Cortex 405
How Odor Objects Are Represented in the Piriform
Cortex 406
How Odors Trigger Memories 407
16.9 The Perception of Flavor 408
DEMONSTRATION | Tasting With and Without the Nose 408
Taste and Olfaction Meet in the Mouth and Nose 408
Taste and Olfaction Meet in the Nervous System 408
Flavor Is Influenced by Cognitive Factors 410
Flavor Is Influenced by Food Intake: Sensory-Specific
Satiety 410
Something to Consider: The Community of the
Senses 411
Correspondences 412
Influences 412
Developmental Dimension: Infant Chemical
Sensitivity 413
TEST YOuRSELF 16.3 415
THINK ABOUT IT 415
KEY TERMS 415
Appendix
A The Difference Threshold 417
B Magnitude Estimation
and the Power Function 418
C The Signal Detection
Approach 420
A Signal Detection Experiment 420
The Basic Experiment 421
Payoffs 421
What Does the ROC Curve Tell Us? 422
Signal Detection Theory 423
Signal and Noise 423
Probability Distributions 423
The Criterion 423
The Effect of Sensitivity on the ROC Curve 424
Glossary 426
References 445
Name Index 472
Subject Index 483