Is Peripheral Vision in Color or Black and White?

In this video I discuss peripheral color vision, including the common misconception that peripheral vision is completely black and white. By looking at the distribution of rods and cones throughout the retina, we can see that color vision extends to the far periphery. Next are two demonstrations, one showing that color can be perceived for a large stimulus, and another … Read More

Sensation & Perception Practice Questions

The following video includes 10 practice multiple choice questions related to sensation and perception. I hope that these can help you to test and assess your own knowledge and provide practice retrieving the terms, ideas, and concepts that you’ve learned. You can also find a PDF with the practice questions and an answer key below the video. You can find … Read More

Sensation & Perception Knowledge Organizer

Here’s a knowledge organizer I’ve created of the most essential terms for sensation and perception in an introductory psychology course. These knowledge organizers are designed to help you identify the most important factual knowledge you need to have in order to engage in the more challenging activities of discussing, writing about, and applying the concepts. If you find these useful … Read More

Culture and Perception

In this video I consider the role of culture on perception. The fact that we must learn how to perceive the world creates the possibility that our culture can shape our perception. I provide one example of this, known as the carpentered-world hypothesis, which can used to explain susceptibility to the Müller-Lyer illusion. The carpentered-world hypothesis suggests that cultural experience … Read More

Depth Perception

In this video I describe the many cues that we use to perceive depth and experience a 3D world based on the 2D information from our retinas. These include monocular cues (linear perspective, relative size, texture gradient, interposition, and shading), motion-based cues (motion parallax and optic flow) and binocular cues (disparity and convergence). Don’t forget to subscribe to the channel … Read More

Perceptual Constancy

In this video I describe perceptual constancy, which refers to the idea that we perceive a relatively stable and unchanging world despite the fact that sensory information is changing dramatically. I explain how this applies visually to size, brightness, and shape. We often forget this learning process because it occurred during infancy, but it is demonstrated clearly in previously blind … Read More

Gestalt Laws of Perception

In this video I focus on perception and how we make sense of the information coming in from our senses. Gestalt laws refer to general principles for organizing and interpreting sensory information. I provide visual examples for several gestalt laws including closure, proximity, similarity, continuity, simplicity, and common fate and suggest some possible ways of applying these laws to other … Read More

Synesthesia: Mingling the Senses

In this video I explain synesthesia, in which stimulation of one sense can automatically stimulate another, such as seeing colors when hearing pitches or tasting sounds. I also demonstrate one way that researchers can test certain types of synesthesia and describe how synaptic pruning is one proposed explanation for the occurrence of synesthesia. Don’t forget to subscribe to the channel … Read More

Gustation: Taste Perception

In this video I explain the process of transduction for taste and how gustatory cells detect tastant molecules in food. I discuss structures of the tongue, including papillae, taste buds, and gustatory cells and consider evolutionary explanations for changes in the number of taste buds over time. I also mention the phenomenon of supertasters, who are more sensitive to taste … Read More

Olfaction: Sense of Smell

In this video I explain the process of transduction for scent; how odorant molecules in the air can trigger different olfactory receptor neurons which then send messages to the rhinencephalon or “nose brain”. I mention the links between scent, emotion, and memory and how pheromones allow for chemical communication between members of a species. Finally I mention the relationship between … Read More