Sensation and Perception PDF
Preview Sensation and Perception
SENSATION & PERCEPTION Stanley Coren . Lawrence M. Ward rvoT do - SENSATION & PERCEPTION THIRD EDITION SENSATION & PERCEPTION THIRD EDITION Stanley Coren University of British Columbia Lawrence M. Ward University of British Columbia Based on previous editions that included contributions by Clare Porac University of Victoria Oil Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers San Diego New York Chicago Austin Washington, D.C. London Sydney Tokyo Toronto Cover photo: Eye, by Geoff Gove/Image Bank Copyright © 1989, 1984 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be mailed to: Permissions, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Publishers, Orlando, Florida 32887. ISBN: 0-15-579647-X Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 88-81033 Printed in the United States of America We wish to thank the following for permission to reprint photos: For Chapter 1 opener: New Jersey State Museum Collection, Trenton, Purchase FA 1968.73; Chapter 2: © George Hall/Woodfin Camp; Chapter 3: Courtesy of Deric Bownds, Stan Carlson, University of Wisconsin; Chapter 4: Christian Delbert Photography/Picture Cube; Chapter 5: © Larry Lorusso/ Picture Cube; Chapter 6: © Henry Groskinsky; Chapter 7: © Roberta J. Shefke; Chapter 8: © Margerin Studios/FPG; Chapter 9: Photograph by L. L. Brown courtesy of The Institute of Psycho-Structural Balancing, San Diego, CA; Chapter 10: The Soloman R. Guggenheim Museum; Chapter 11: © 1988 M. C. Escher c/o Cordon Art-Baam-Holland; Chapter 12: The San Diego Opera; Chapter 13: Ed Carlin/Picture Cube; Chapter 14: E. Nagle/FPG; Chapter 15: Aronson Photographers/Stock Boston; Chapter 16: Elizabeth Crews/Stock Boston; Chapter 17: © Norman Snyder; Chapter 18: United Nations Photo 36252. For Figure 10-1: © Margaret K. Porter; Figure 13-5: © Paulette M. Russo; Figure 15-5: © Paulette M. Russo. Preface Take away the sensations of softness, moisture, redness, tartness, and you take away the cherry. Since it is not a being distinct from these sensations; a cherry, I say, is nothing but a congeries of sensible impressions or ideas perceived by various senses; which ideas are united into one thing. George Berkeley, 1713 Virtually everything we know about the world has have rewritten six of the chapters “from the ground entered our minds through our senses. We all real¬ up” and reorganized or amalgamated materials ize that without even one of our senses our experi¬ from other chapters. Every chapter has been up¬ ences would be incredibly limited. Consider the dated to reflect the most recent literature. However, impossible problem of explaining the difference be¬ we have retained all those features that instructors tween the color blue and the color green to a person felt made the Second Edition such a useful book. who has been blind since birth. And how would For instance, concrete examples are used through¬ you explain to a person who has no taste buds how out the text in order to make the subject matter the taste of chocolate and vanilla differ from each “come alive” for students. Whenever possible, other? Such aspects of the world will never exist common or natural instances of perceptual phe¬ for these individuals. For the blind person, salt and nomena are described during the discussion of the pepper differ only in taste; for the person with no concepts underlying them. Each chapter is pre¬ ability to taste, salt and pepper differ only in color. ceded by an outline that serves as a preview to its For those of us who have the senses of sight, hear¬ contents; the outlines also provide a structure to ing, taste, touch, and smell, our daily experience is guide students as they review the chapters. a continuous flow of changing percepts, with each Although terms are defined when they are in¬ new sensation carrying information about the troduced, a glossary is provided at the end of each world. chapter as well. Any item printed in boldface in Sensation and Perception, Third Edition, pro¬ the text is also listed in the chapter glossary. Stu¬ vides an introduction to the study of our senses and dents will find that these glossaries serve as a suc¬ how we perceive through them. It has been revised cinct review and chapter summary, and can be used substantially since the Second Edition, and contains for self-testing and study purposes. over 45 percent new material. These changes re¬ One special feature of our book is the inclu¬ flect many of the recent findings that have sion of 106 Demonstration Boxes. Each box de¬ emerged, or coalesced into meaningful patterns, scribes a simple demonstration designed to allow since the completion of the previous edition. We the students to actually experience many of the per- v VI Preface ceptual phenomena described in the text. Most re¬ Each of the chapters has been written so that quire only the stimuli in the box itself, or it is relatively self-contained and independent of the commonplace items that can be found in most other chapters, although this is not always com¬ homes or dormitory rooms. The majority of these pletely possible. Therefore, when material from demonstrations require only a few moments of other places in the book is used in a discussion, the preparation, which we feel is time well spent in location of that information is always cited. This improving the understanding of the concepts under has been done to provide users with maximum flex¬ discussion and in maintaining student interest. ibility as far as the sequence of chapter presentation Some instructors have reported that having students is concerned, thus permitting the instructor to im¬ perform the demonstrations in class has been very press his or her orientation upon the material. A useful. In such cases, the demonstrations may also brief appendix on some basic aspects of neurophys¬ serve as the focal point for a lecture or for class¬ iology has also been provided for the first time in room discussion. this edition. The book is designed to survey the broad The chapter sequence in this Third Edition is range of topics generally included under the head¬ quite different from that used in the previous edi¬ ing of sensation and perception. The reader will tions. At the request of many individuals who have notice that no single theory of perception is cham¬ taught from the earlier versions, we have now or¬ pioned. In general, we have attempted to be as ganized the book by sensory systems, with the first eclectic as we could, describing the various view¬ half of the book covering the basic physiology and points in areas of controversy and attempting to sensory responses and the second half covering present a balanced overview so that instructors of those topics involving more complex and cognitive different opinions might be comfortable using the interactions. Chapters 1 and 2 provide an introduc¬ book. tion to the problems of sensation and perception The topics in this book were selected on the along with methodological and theoretical aspects basis of our experience in teaching our own of psychophysical measurement; Chapters 3,4, and courses; therefore, much of the material has already 5 cover the physiology and basic sensory qualities been class tested. We have included three chap¬ of vision; Chapters 6 and 7 do the same for audi¬ ters—“Attention,” “Speech and Music,” and tion; and Chapters 8 and 9 cover the chemical and “Individual Differences”—that are not often seen mechanical senses. These first nine chapters thus in sensation and perception textbooks. These areas cover the major topics usually grouped together un¬ have attracted a good deal of experimental work in der the heading of sensation. Chapters 10 through recent years, and they are sufficiently relevant to 15 cover the perception of space, form, speech and many issues in perception that we felt students music, and time and motion, the perceptual con¬ should study them. stancies, and the perceptual aspects of attention; In order to keep the book to a manageable and Chapters 16, 17, and 18 discuss how individual size, we have occasionally been selective in our variables such as age, experience, learning, gender, coverage. Our first priority was to cover the central culture, drugs, and personality may affect the per¬ concepts of each topic in enough detail to make the ceptual response. These last nine chapters thus material clear and coherent. To have included all cover the topics most frequently grouped together the topics ever classified as part of the field of sen¬ as perception. sation and perception, we would have had to pre¬ Those of you who have encountered earlier sent a “grocery list” of concepts and terms, each versions of this book should know that Clare Porac treated superficially. Such an alternative was unac¬ has retired from this project in order to pursue her ceptable to us. research and other writing projects. Clare’s contri-
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