CHAPTER 5 – SENSORY, ATTENTIONAL AND PERCEPTUAL

PROCESSES

Knowing the World

The knowledge about various objects become possible with the help of our sense organs. These
organs collect information not only from the external world but also from our own body. The
information collected by our sense organs forms the basis of all our knowledge.

The objects and their qualities must be able to draw our attention to be registered by the sense
organs and is send to the brain. The brain constructs some meaning out of them. Thus, our
knowledge of the world around us depends on three basic processes: sensation, attention and
perception. They are inter-related and considered as different elements of cognition.

Nature and Varieties of Stimulus

The external environment that surrounds us contains a wide variety of stimuli which can be
sensed by our sense organs. All these stimuli provides us with various kinds of information.

Human beings are bestowed with seven sense organs also known as sensory receptors or
information gathering systems. Five of them i.e. eyes, ears, nose, tongue and skin collect
information from the external world.

Along with these five senses, we have two deep senses. They are called kinesthetic and
vestibular systems. They provide us with important information about our body position and
movement of body parts related to each other.

Different qualities of stimuli like red or green, loud or faint, melodious or distracting etc. are also
registered by our sense organs.

Sense Modalities

Our sense organs provides us with first-hand information about our external or internal world.
The initial experience of a stimulus or an object registered by a particular sense organ is called
sensation. It is a process through which we detect and encode a variety of physical stimuli.

Sensation also refers to immediate basic experiences of the stimulus attributes like hard, warm,
loud etc. which result from appropriate stimulation of a sensory organ. Each sense organ is
highly specialized for dealing with a particular kind of information. Therefore, each one of them
is known as a sense modality.
  Functional Limitations of Sense Organs

Our sense organs function with certain limitations. As human beings we function within a
limited range of stimulation. For being noticed by a sensory receptor, a stimulus has to be
of an optimal intensity or magnitude. The relationship between stimuli and the sensations
they evoke has been studied in a discipline called psychophysics.

In order to be noticed a stimulus has to carry a minimum value or weight. The minimum
value of a stimulus required to activate a given sensory system is called absolute
threshold or absolute limen (AL).

It may be noted at this point that the AL is not a fixed point. It varies considerably across
individuals and situations depending on the people’s organic conditions and their
motivational states. As it is not possible for us to notice all stimuli, it is also not possible
to differentiate between all stimuli.

In order to notice two stimuli as different from each other, there has to be some
minimum difference between the value of those stimuli. These smallest difference in the
value of two stimuli that is necessary to notice them as different is called difference
threshold or difference limen (DL).

DL is the minimum amount of change in a physical stimulus that is capable of producing

a sensation difference on 50% of the trials.

Sense organs and the neural pathways connecting them to various brain centers also a
play a vital role in this process. A sense organ receives the stimulus and encodes it as an
electrical impulse. For being noticed, this electrical impulse must reach the higher brain
centers. Any structural or functional defect or damage in the receptor organ, its neural
pathway or the concerned brain area may lead to a partial or complete loss of sensation.

Attentional Processes

The process through which certain stimuli are selected from a group of others is generally
referred to as attention. Attention also refers to several other properties like alertness,
concentration and search.

Alertness refers to an individual’s readiness to deal with stimuli that appear before him/her.
Concentration refers to focusing of awareness on certain specific objects while excluding others
for the moment. In search an observer looks for some specified subset of objects among a set of
objects.
All these activities require some kind of effort on the part of people. Attention in this sense refers
to “effort allocation”. Attention has a focus as well as a fringe.

When the field of awareness is centered on a particular object or event, it is called focus or focal
point of attention. When the objects or events are away from the center of awareness and one is
only vaguely aware of them, they are said to be at the fringe of attention.

Attention has been classified in a number of ways. A process-oriented way divides it into two
types, namely selective and sustained attention.

Selective Attention

Selective attention is concerned mainly with selection of a limited number of stimuli or

objects from a large number of stimuli.

 Factors Influencing Selective Attention:

The factors are generally classified as external and internal factors.

 External factors are related to the features of stimuli. The size, intensity and motion of
stimuli appears to be important determinants of attention. Large, bright and moving
stimuli easily catch our attention. Stimuli which are novel and moderately complex also
get into our focus.

 Internal factors lie within the individual. These may be divided into two main categories:
motivational factors and cognitive factors. Motivational factors relate to our biological or
social needs. Cognitive factors include factors like interest, attitude and preparatory set
(generates a mental state to act in a certain way and readiness to respond to one kind of
stimuli).

 Theories of Selective Attention

 Filter theory
Filter theory was developed by Broadbent (1956). According to this theory, many
stimuli simultaneously enter our receptors creating a kind of ‘bottleneck’
situation. Moving through the short term memory system, they enter the selective
filter, which allows only one stimulus to pass through for higher levels of
processing while others are screened out. Thus we become aware of only that
stimulus which gets access through the selective filter.

 Filter-Attenuation theory
It was developed by Triesman (1962) by modifying Broadbent’s theory. This
theory proposes that the stimuli not getting access to the selective filter at a given
 moment of time are not completely blocked. The filter only attenuates (weakens)
their strength. Thus some stimuli manage to escape through the selective filter to
reach higher levels of processing. It is indicated that personally relevant stimuli
can be noticed even at a very low level of sound.

 Multimode theory
It was developed by Johnston and Heinz (1978). This theory believes that
attention is a flexible system that allows selection of a stimulus over others at
three stages. At stage one, the sensory representations of stimuli are constructed,
at stage two, the semantic representation are constructed and at stage three, the
sensory and semantic representations enter the consciousness. It is also suggested
that more processing requires more mental effort. When the messages are selected
on the basis of stage one processing (early attention), less mental effort is required
than when the selection is based on stage three processing (late attention).

Sustained Attention

Sustained attention is concerned with concentration. It refers to our ability to maintain attention
on an object or event for longer durations. It is also known as vigilance.

 Factors Influencing Sustained Attention

 Sensory Modality: Performance is found to be superior when the stimuli are

auditory than when they are visual.
 Clarity of stimuli: Intense and long lasting stimuli facilitate sustained attention
and result in better performance.
 Temporal Uncertainty: When stimuli appear at regular intervals of time they are
attended better than when they appear at irregular intervals.
 Spatial Uncertainty: Stimuli that appear at a fixed place are readily attended
whereas those that appear at random locations are difficult to attend.

Divided Attention

On certain occasions attention can be allocated to more than one thing at the same time. This
becomes possible only with highly practiced activities as they become almost automatic and
requires less attention to perform.

Automatic processing has 3 main characteristics:

 Occurs without intention

 Takes place unconsciously
 Involves very little or no thought processes
Span of Attention

Our attention has a limited capacity to receive stimuli. The number of objects one can attend to at
a brief exposure is called span of attention or perceptual span. It refers to the amount of
information an observer can grasp from a complex array of stimuli at a single momentary
exposure. It is determined by an instrument call tachistoscope.

Miller reported that span of attention varies within the limit of 7 plus or minus 2. This is known
as the magic number. It means that at a time, people can attend to a set of five to seven numbers
which can be extended to nine or more under exceptional conditions.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

This is a very common behavioral disorder found among children of the primary school age. It is
characterized by impulsivity, excessive motor activity, and an inability to attend. This disorder is
more prevalent among boys than girls. If not managed properly it may persist to adolescence or
adulthood.

Difficulty in sustaining attention is the central feature of this disorder. Dietary factor such a food-
coloring has some relationship with the disorder. Socio-psychological factors like home
environment, family pathology etc. have been found to account for ADHD more reliably than
other factors.

A drug called Ritalin decreases children’s over-activity and distractibility as well as increases
attention and ability to concentrate. Successful modification of ADHD is claimed with cognitive
behavioral training program in which rewards for desired behavior are combined with training in
the use of verbal self-instructions.

Perceptual Processes

The process by which we recognize, interpret or give meaning to the information provided by the
sense organs is called perception. Perception is not merely an interpretation of objects or events
of the external or internal as they exist, instead it is also a construction of those objects and
events from one’s own point of view.

Processing Approaches in Perception

 Bottom-Up processing: The idea that recognition process begins from the parts, which
serve as the basis for the recognition of the whole. It emphasizes on the features of
stimuli in perception and considers perception as a process of mental construction.

 Top-Down Processing: The notion that recognition process begins from the whole, which
leads to identification of its various components. It lays emphasizes on the perceiver and
considers perception as a process of recognition or identification of stimuli.
Both processes interact with each other to provide a better understanding of the world.

The Perceiver

Human beings are creative beings who try to understand the external world in their own ways. In
this process, their motivations and expectations, cultural knowledge, past experiences and
memories as well as values, beliefs and attitudes play an important role in giving meaning to the
external world.

 Motivation:
The needs and desires of a perceiver strongly influence his/ her perception. People want
to fulfill their needs and desires through various means. One way to do this is to perceive
objects in a picture as something that will satisfy their need.

 Expectations or Perceptual Sets

The expectations about what we might perceive in a given situation also influence our
perception. This phenomenon of perceptual familiarization or perceptual generalization
reflects a strong tendency to see what we expect to see even when the results do not
accurately reflect external reality.

 Cognitive Styles
Cognitive style refers to the consistent way of dealing with our environment. It
significantly affects the way we perceive the environment. There are several cognitive
styles and most extensively used are field dependent and field independent cognitive
style. Field dependent people perceive the world in its totality whereas field independent
people perceive the external world by breaking it into smaller units.

 Cultural background and experiences

Different experiences and learning opportunities available to people in different cultural
settings also influence their perception.

The perceiver plays a key role in the process of perception. People process and interpret
stimuli in their own ways depending on their personal, social and cultural conditions. Due
to these factors, our perceptions are not only finely tuned, but also modified.

Principles of Perceptual Organization

Our visual field is a collection of different elements, such as points, lines and colors. However,
we perceive these elements as organized wholes or complete objects. The process of organizing
visual field into meaningful wholes is known as form perception.

According to Gestalt psychologists, we perceive different stimuli not as discrete elements, but as
an organized whole that carries a definite form. They believe that the form of an object lies in its
whole, which is different from the sum of their parts.

The Gestalt psychologists also indicates that our cerebral processes are always oriented towards
the perception of a good figure or pragnanz, that is why we perceive everything in an organized
form.

The most primitive organization takes place in the form of figure-ground segregation. When we
look at a surface, certain aspects of the surface clearly stand out as separate entities, whereas
others do not.

We distinguish figure from the ground on the basis of the following characteristics:

 Figure has a definite form while the background is relatively formless

 Figure is more organized when compared to its background
 Figure has a clear outline while background is contour less
 Figure stands out from the background while background stays behind the figure.
 Figure appears more clear, limited and relatively nearer while background appears
relatively unclear, unlimited and away from us.

This indicates that the human beings perceive the world in organized wholes rather than in
discrete parts.

 Principle of Proximity
Objects that are close together in space or time are perceived as belonging together or as
a group.

 Principle of Similarity
Objects that are similar to one another and have similar characteristics are perceived as a
group.

 Principle of Continuity
We tend to perceive objects as belonging together if they appear to form a continuous
pattern.

 Principle of Smallness
Smaller areas tend to be seen as figures against a larger background.
  Principle of Symmetry
Symmetrical areas tend to be seen as figures against asymmetrical background.

 Principle of Surroundedness
Areas surrounded by others tend to be perceived as figures.

 Principle of Closure
We tend to fill the gaps in stimulation and perceive the objects as whole rather than their
separate parts.

Perception of Space, Depth and Distance

The visual field or space in which things exist, move or can be placed is called space. The space
in which we live is organized in three dimensions. Along with spatial attributes of various
objects like size, shape, direction etc. we also perceive the distance between the objects found in
the space.

The images of objects projected into our retina are flat and two dimensional, but we perceive
three dimensions in the space because of our ability to transfer two dimensional retinal vision
into three dimensional perception.

The process of viewing the world in three dimensions is called distance or depth perception.

Depth perception is important in our daily life. In perceiving depth we depend on two main
sources of information called cues. One is called binocular cues because it requires both eyes.
The other is called monocular cues as we perceive depth with just one eye.

These cues are used to change a two dimensional image into a three dimensional perception.

Monocular Cues (Psychological cues)

They are effective when the objects are viewed with only one eye. These cues are often used by
artists to induce depth in two dimensional paintings. They are also known as pictorial cues.

 Relative Size:
The size of retinal image allows us to judge distance based on our past and present
experience with similar objects. We tend to perceive an object farther away when it
appears small and closer when it appears bigger.

 Interposition or Overlapping:
 These cues occur when some portion of the object is covered by another object. The
overlapped object is considered farther away, whereas the object that covers it appears
nearer.

 Linear Perspective:
Distant objects appear to be closer together than the nearer objects. The more the lines
converge, the farther away they appear.

 Aerial Perspective:
The air contains microscopic particles of dust and moisture that make distant objects look
hazy or blurry. This effect is called aerial perspective.

 Light and Shade:

In the light some parts of the object get highlighted whereas some parts become darker. It
provides us information about an object’s distance.

 Relative Height:
Larger objects are perceived as being closer to the viewer and smaller objects as being
farther away.

 Texture Gradient
Visual field having more density of the elements is seen farther away.

 Motion Parallax:
It is a kinetic monocular cue, so not considered as pictorial cue. It occurs when objects at
different distances move at a different relative speed. The distant objects appear to move
slowly than the objects that are close. The rate of an object’s movement provide a cue to
its distance.

Binocular Cues (Physiological Cues)

Some cues to depth perception in three dimensional space are provided by both the eyes.

 Retinal or Binocular disparity

Due to the distance between the two eyes, image formed on the retina of each eye of the
same object is slightly different, the difference is called retinal disparity. Large retinal
disparity means close object and small retinal disparity means distant object as disparity
is less for distant objects and more for near objects.

 Convergence
 When we see a nearby object our eyes converge inward in order to bring the image on the
fovea of each eye. The degree of convergence decreases as the object moved further
away from the observer.

 Accommodation
The process by which we focus the image on the retina with the help of ciliary muscle. If
the object gets away, the muscle is relaxed, as the object moves nearer, the muscle
contracts and the thickness of lens increases.

Perceptual Constancies

Perception of the objects as relatively stable in spite of changes in the stimulation of sensory
receptors is called perceptual constancy. Some of the constancies are:

 Size Constancy
The size of an image on our retina changes with the change in the distance of the object
from the eye. The tendency for the perceived size of objects to relatively remain
unchanged with changes in their distance from the observer and the size of the retinal
image is called size constancy.

 Shape Constancy
The shapes of familiar objects remain unchanged despite changes in the pattern of retinal
image resulting from differences in their orientation. It is also called form constancy.

 Brightness Constancy
The tendency to maintain apparent brightness constant under different amount of
illumination is called brightness constancy.

Illusions

The misperceptions resulting from misinterpretation of information received by our sensory

organs are generally known as illusions. These are experienced by all of us. They result from an
external stimulus situation and generate the same kind of experience in each individual. It is also
called primitive organizations. Illusions are more common in visual modalities.

Some illusions are universal and found in all individuals while other illusions seem to vary from
individual to individual which is also called personal illusions.

Some important illusions are:

 Geometric Illusions
 Muller-Lyer Illusion: We perceive the second line to be shorter than the first line

Vertical- Horizontal Illusion: We perceive vertical line to be longer than horizontal.

But in both cases the lines are of the same length.

 Apparent Movement Illusions

This illusion is experienced when some motionless pictures are projected one after
another at an appropriate rate, this is referred to as phi-phenomenon.

Experience of illusions indicates that people do not always perceive the world as it is. They
engage in its construction, sometimes based on the features of the stimuli or based on their
experiences in a given environment.

Socio-Cultural Influences on Perception

According to different studies, the habits of perception are learnt differently in different cultural
settings.