Transcript Sensory Perception - Missoula County Public Schools

“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”
Henry David Thoreau
SENSORY PERCEPTION
“The Blind Men and the Elephant” by John
Godfrey Saxe (Indian Legend, metaphor, genius.)
Beau Lotto: Optical Illusions
PARAMETERS
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Define sensory perception:
 the
awareness of things through our 5 senses.
 The response of our senses to stimuli
 Sensation + Interpretation = Perception
CONNECT TO LANGUAGE: DEFINITION THEORY
See page 98 of your books: The tree in the forest
example…
Does “sound” only exist if we are there to hear it?
Or does sound exist outside of experience? (see
blog!) http://frizzelltok.blogspot.com
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Empiricism: a school of philosophy in which ALL
knowledge is based in sensory
perception/experience.
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New blog asks you to think of living for one year
without each sense; what would you miss
most?
CAN IT BE?
ODDITIES OF SENSE PERCEPTION
Daniel Tammet: Born on a Blue Day (Author)
Daniel Tammet has a rare form of autism which
pairs with synesthesia, meaning, he sees
numbers in color and texture, thereby allowing
him to remember and relate numbers in an
extraordinary fashion.
2/28 ANNOUNCEMENTS
EE: Topics due Friday. Questions? See Ms.
Cordell ASAP!
 If you missed Monday, you should have already
met with Ms. Cordell to get the information!
 LANGUAGE QUIZ—Make up is today @ 2:00.
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ESREF ARMAGAN
Esref was born blind. How then, can he paint with such stunning accuracy…without
help?
BEETHOVEN: DEAF COMPOSER
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Imagine creating this piece of music…if you
were deaf!
SOME QUESTIONS
What do you think of the statement, “Your
perception is your reality”? Can you think of
examples where this is true and not true?
Are there any areas of knowledge that do not rely
in some way on sensory perception?
In what ways is perception ambiguous?
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COMMON SENSE REALISM: perception is
straight-forward and an accurate reflection of
reality.
“Our conscious world is a grand illusion!” (this
statement based in the fact that our
interpretation of sensations is dependent on our
brains) see pg. 23 of packet.
“The tickle is not in the feather” says Galileo.
ILLUSIONS
Context, figure and ground, visual grouping…
Gestalt theory:
we tend to
perceive things in
meaningful
patterns or
groups rather
than separate
parts.
AND EXPECTATION…IN REAL LIFE!
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http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/02/11/171409656/why-even-radiologists-can-miss-a-gorilla-hiding-in-plain-sight
WHAT SOUNDS TELL US…
(FREEZE THIS SCREEN!)
Example 1:
Example 2:
Example 3:
Example 4:
Example 5:
Example 6:
SOME MORE QUESTIONS
What role does instinct play in what we perceive?
To what extent does culture affect the ways in
which we see the world?
How does your emotional state affect your
perception?
Where does “confirmation bias” become a
problem of knowledge in sensory perception?
3/4/13
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13 out of 23 people turned in their Extended
Essay paper to Ms. Cordell or myself. Tsk tsk.
EYE-WITNESS TESTIMONY
Law-school example
Scott Fraser: Why Eyewitnesses get it Wrong
Getting it Right: Eyewitness Testimony
(The innocence project)
PROBLEMS WITH SENSORY PERCEPTION
Misinterpretations/Misremember
 Emotional/memory connection distortion
 Failure to notice something.
 Some things lie beyond our sensory perception
abilities.

Paris
in the
the spring
TESTING FOR REALITY
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Confirmation by another sense
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Coherence (does it fit in with our overall
experience of the world?)
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Be careful not to be TOO skeptical!
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Sensory perception does have its weaknesses, but
in most cases it is considered reliable enough to
base knowledge claims on.
THEORIES OF REALITY
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Common sense realism: the way we see it is the way it
is.
Scientific realism: the world exists in an independent
reality; our brains make sense of chaos. (Atoms whizzing
around….we make them into a sofa with our minds).
Phenomenalism: matter is the permanent possibility of
sensation; the world does not exist beyond our
experience of it. Reality is not for us to determine
because we are too limited by our individual
experiences.

“To be is to be perceived”—George Berkeley
CONNECT
How do you see sensory confirmation or
distortion as playing a part in the topics you
presented for Language? How about the 2
minute presentations you did a few weeks ago?
 Ethics: do good people see the world differently
than bad people?
 How does connotation in language relate to
sensory perception?
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SENSORY IN THE MEDIA
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csrPT9ClVU
c
SELF-PERCEPTION
Rose Colored Glasses
 Your own ranking
 Can you apply these tests
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Confirmation by another sense
 Coherence (does it fit in with our overall experience of
the world?)

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What contributes to self-perception? Is it more
faulty that the “five senses” ways of perceiving? Is
self perception perhaps the grandest illusion of
them all?
IS THIS TRUE?
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The statements involving others are scored lower or
more harshly.
The statements involving something negative are more
conservative.
The statements involving traits our society values we
tend to rank highly.
The ones where we are asked about the perception
others have of us are higher.
Humility is valued in our culture, which can tend to reign
you in.
Depending on the wording, we change our perception. (I
am often misunderstood vs. I am a good communicator)
SENSORY ENHANCEMENT
List all of the things that have been invented to
enhance our sensory perception. List the
corresponding sense this invention enhances.
 Do these enhancements help us or handicap
us?
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CONCLUSIONS
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Perception is an important part of how we know what we
know.
Perception is fallible and sometimes subjective and
selective.
Errors in perception can have real-life consequences.
The structure of our sense organs affects how we perceive
the world.
Pain, taste, color, sound are subjective (relativism).
We can hypothesize that the world exists external of our
experiences, based on regularity of experience, evidence,
and coherence.
Human beings invent things to enhance our sense
perception.
Do you consider the following sense perceptions?
 Intuition
 Instinct
 Memory
 Compassion/Empathy
SENSORY PERCEPTION IN METAPHOR
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Allegory of the Cave--