Sensation, Perception and Attention University of Phoenix Kessha Perry July 23, 2011 Sensation and Perception Perception is defined as a process by which organisms interpret and organize sensation to produce a meaningful experience of the world. Sensation usually refers to the immediate, relatively unprocessed result of stimulation of sensory receptors in the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, or skin. Perception, on the other hand, better describes one's ultimate experience of the world and typically involves further processing of sensory input.In practice, sensation and perception are virtually impossible to separate, because they are part of one continuous process (Comer 2008).
During the Learning Team A’s dialogue, we learned much of one another’s feelings toward sensation and perception. We all described what and how we feel it affects us in our daily life. Alberto: The sensory perception problem is that what we perceive is not always necessarily accurate. Sometimes my fiancee says asks me about something I said earlier, and I respond by saying I never said that. I asked that if she has a question about something I said, to ask right away.
We have since realized that I often say one thing and she hears something completely different. I believe that's because I mumble when I speak. Therefore, she is forced to mentally fill in the words she misunderstands, so she hears a statement completely different than what I said. This is a common problem with many people, as exemplified in the popular game where a group of people sit in a circle, one person whispers something to the person next to him, and each person keeps whispering the same thing to the next person until it reaches the original person.
By the time it reaches the original person, the message has completely changed. The perception problem is not only auditory. All the perceptions can be fooled. When I drive on the road on a hot day, I sometimes see what appears to be a wet section of the road ahead, but by the time I reach it, it looks dry. I've seen experiments where a person is blindfolded and asked to taste a piece of raw potato, and the person with the blindfold thinks it's a piece of apple. Several senses often work together to decipher something, but when one of those senses is removed, the perception changes.
Also, the problem with perception is that expectations sometimes interfere with what is really there. That is why my fiancee sometimes hears the wrong thing when I speak. If she can't understand me, she will automatically "hear" something else based on the expectations of what she expects me to say. Paul: I agree with you about expectations interfering with reality, I have a big problem with trying to finish other people's sentences; my wife rather enjoys calling me out when it happens and doesn't soon let me forget.I can see where this can roll over into the addiction aspect of psychology, a person can expect a certain result after a certain action time and time again, and become reliant upon that belief, but the reality in the end, might be completely different.
Definition of Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again, expecting a different result every time. Kessha : Sensory perception for me is that sometimes I can see something and it is not actually what I am seeing. I might read something and it has one meaning but I take it to mean something else. I have learned today that if something is puzzling to me I will ask questions.
I am not perfect and have learned how to go to someone else. For example: If you see some one doing something that looks suspicious to you but is actually a good thing it is good to ask what is going on instead of assuming. As you see we all have the same meaning and feelings toward sensory perception. We just all used them in different ways to sometimes come out with the same outcome.
Threshold for Auditory Stimuli According to Wikipedia, The absolute threshold of hearing (ATH) is the minimum sound level of a pure tone that an average ear with normal hearing can hear with no other sound present.The absolute threshold relates to the sound that can just be heard by the organism. The absolute threshold is not a discrete point, and is therefore classed as the point at which a response is elicited a specified percentage of the time. This is also known as the auditory threshold. Learning Team A dialogued on the audio stimuli and gave examples how this affects us in our daily life.
We had different perspectives on how we use this to better us in every aspect. AHMAD: I'm not sure the exact number of my threshold for auditory stimuli but I have a good hearing.If I'm with a group of people, I'm usually one of the ones who will "hear" something. That said, I can absolutely tune out. It could be loud area, and I could sleep, for example.
Or I could talk to someone, and concentrate, at a public and loud place. I usually can watch television and talk to someone on the phone at the same time, but I usually have to tune one out. ALBERTO: I've had listening tests before, but that was years ago and I have no idea what my absolute or difference thresholds may be for auditory stimuli. However, the background "noise" can make a big difference.I have a strong ability to tune out outside noises and focus on particular noises.
Sometimes I am not aware of my surroundings because I get so focused. I can even tune out internal noise. I know a lot of people who can't even stay focused through a movie because they are thinking of other things. I can tune out personal problems and thoughts for an extended period of time to focus on something specific.
Therefore, I can say my focus and attention to tune out noise is very strong. However, I suspect that my actual ability to hear things is less than average.I often have to ask people to repeat things because I don't fully hear what they said. KESSHA: My audio stimulus is that I am able to focus on what ever it is I want.
Being in recovery has helped be able to do this. I was always taught to be aware of my surroundings and I do. I can block out any one I want and anything I want. When it comes to the "cocktail party phenomenon" I am able to focus on one person when there are a lot of people around. Being in leadership in my college as, ASO President helped me with that.When we are at conferences, we have to focus on the immediate table you are sitting with while there is about thirty more having conversation with you.
So, all in all I have learned very well with the audio stimuli as well as; cocktail party. Dividing Attention In this area we all showed how dividing attention with our online class can be helpful to each one of us. We also discussed how it affects in our personal lives. We discussed how this could be helpful and harmful.
Alberto: Dividing my attention facilitates my learning by being able to focus on the important issue and ignoring things that are not so urgent.However, it upsets some people when I get so focused on one thing that I don't hear them ask me questions. This can be a problem when trying to learn in a team environment. Kessha: It can be hard but when it comes to a learning team we must all work together to keep each other focused on what needs are attention.
When, I am in a class room, I always sat in the front. This helped me not to miss anything. If I felt I did I had no problem raising my hand to ask could they repeat what was said. Believe me I was not the only one who missed the instructions.
When it comes to the team like what has been done we have been relating to each other what must be done. I even asked the teacher again so we could have the directions correctly. A team is just that working together. Paul: I think you are right, the point of us working together as a team is to help each other stay focused and complete our team goal. I have learned a lot in the past year, being part of a team and having to work together, I have actually noticed this spill over into my every day life.
I used to dread helping another tech finish up his day, but I have realized, this comes back around when I need help finishing my day.I think this form of learning can only benefit me as a student. Kessha: I use to feel the same way Paul. Helping others helps me. It makes me learn more about the project I am doing. Like at work.
One of my co-workers always does most of the driving and doesn't have much time to do is client notes. So, by me knowing them just as well as; he does I do all of his client notes for him. It works out great. I do mine then I do his so that what ever we need done for the month is done.
It feels good being on a team because you can learn so much from each other. Ground RulesKessha: Ground rules for the learning team are that we should always listen to what we are reading, our perception should always be on one accord that way we can come together on our answers. We should never assume that anything is going to be okay with our team members until we ask them how or what it is they may want. We should all pay attention to our learning team forum to know what is going on at all times.
We must never perceive that one is going to do something automatically. For example: I asked if Alberto could do our paper instead of assuming that he would do it.So, in all areas we must first consider the best situation for all of us not just ourselves. Alberto: Kessha, I agree with your ground rules. I wish to add that we should check our forum on a daily basis.
We should all first accept that it's possible to perceive something incorrectly. I may say something that's pretty straightforward that may be perceived by someone else as an innuendo or as something offensive in some way. If we all agree to act always act with respect and professionally, and then our first assumption should be that everyone is acting respectfully and professionally.This way we won't have the wrong perception. If someone does act with disrespect or unprofessionally, then we should address the issue in a respectful and professional manner.
Paul: I agree that to avoid any misperceptions that can happen, which is quite easy to do while communicating online, we should never assume. All discussions should result in an agreement by all team members with supported views if any disagreements arise. Also, frequency of check -ins should be daily with frequent comments added into each discussion. With clear, respectful communication, each team member should be on the same page.
