Our Senses Detect Physical Stimuli, and Our Brains Process Perception

There are a number of stimulus that are required to be able to pick up on physical stimuli. The smallest amount of stimulation that is required to allow us to discover sensory input is called absolute threshold. Second, the smallest contrast that you notice between sensory output is known as difference threshold. Difference threshold increases as the stimulus gets stronger. In this section of the chapter, it is acknowledged that objects within the physical world do not have color and objects reflect light waves created by specific lengths. What happens is our visual systems describe those waves as different colors. Light waves adjust into information that allows our brains to process. Cells in our eyes respond to certain wavelengths and adjust the physical signal into information that allows the brain to interpret. While you are driving, and you come across a green light. Your brain will respond, and tell you to “Go”. Our brains are interesting when it comes to being able to process perception.

The perception process includes five specific stages. Sight, touch, smell, sound and taste. This process also includes proprioception, this creates the ability to pick up on changes from the way bodies are positioned along with our body movements. The perception process is a sequence of events that starts with the environment, transitioning to the perception of the stimulus followed with an action towards the response of the stimulus. The process is ongoing, but we never focus on the amount of time it takes us to think about the process when it is happening.

There are many steps during the process of perception that play a significant role. With that being said, the environmental stimulus, attended stimulus, image of retina, transduction, neural processing, perception, recognition and action allow processing perception to occur. The stages along with sequences play a significant role when it comes to perception processing. These stages allow us to select, organize and interpret information in different ways.

Insights

I picked the topic of how our senses detect physical stimuli and how our brains process perception because there is many pieces of useful information that can be taken and learned from. I think this topic is interesting because it enables us to fully understand how our senses detect physical stimuli and how our brains process perception. This topic was meaningful to me because it explains the certain amount of stimulus that requires us to be able to detect physical stimuli. Along with the stages and understandings of how our brains processes information. These are all key factors that are important to us as humans.