On this page you’ll find a number of resources for understanding the key concepts of sensation and perception. If I’ve missed a good resource, please share it in the comments section!

General Resources

Sensation & Perception Key Terms

Sensation & Perception Pinterest Page

OpenStax Sensation & Perception Chapter

Master Introductory Psychology Volume 1 (Amazon link)

General Video Resources

Specific Concepts

• Absolute Threshold
  • Wikipedia page
• Just-Noticeable Difference
  • Wikipedia page 
  • Storify page from Maria Vita
• Signal Detection Theory
  • Wikipedia page
  • Signal Detection Matrix
  • 
• Vision
  • Wikipedia page
  • Eye Diagram
  • 
  • Crash Course Anatomy & Physiology Video
• Color Vision
  • Trichromatic Theory of Color Vision – Wikipedia page
  • Storify page from Maria Vita
  • Wavelength sensitivity of long, medium, and short cones
  • 
  • Types of Colorblindness – Wikipedia page
  • National Eye Institute – Facts about Colorblindness 
  • Colorblindness Simulation
  • Storify page from Maria Vita
  • Opponent Process Theory of Color Vision – Wikipedia page
  • Color Afterimage
  • 

    Focus on white dot for >30 seconds, then look at a white background http://facweb.cs.depaul.edu/sgrais/images/ColorBlind/opp.jpg

  • Negative Color Afterimage video
  • Island of the Colorblind – Oliver Sacks (Amazon link)

• Hearing & Vestibular Sense
  • Wikipedia page
  • Great storify resource page from Maria Vita
  • Diagram
  • 
  • Crash Course Anatomy & Physiology video
  • Can You Hear This? – High Frequency Hearing Test
  • Audio Illusions – Diane Deutsch
  • The Virtual Barbershop (headphones required)
• Touch (Haptic perception)
  • Wikipedia page
  • Somatosensory system – Wikipedia page
  • Pain – Wikipedia page
• Smell (Olfaction)
  • Wikipedia page
  • Diagram
  • 
  • With No Sense of Smell the World Can Be a Grayer and Scarier Place (NPR)
  • Crash Course Anatomy & Physiology video (also covers taste)
• Taste (Gustation)
  • Wikipedia page
  • Taste Bud Diagram
  • 
  • Types of Papillae – Wikipedia page
  • The Science of Picky Eaters – NOVA
  • Expectation and Taste (Penn & Teller)
  • Wine-tasting: it’s junk science (The Guardian)
• Mingling Senses
  • The McGurk Effect
  • The Rubber Hand Illusion
  • Tasting “Phantom Aromas” (The Atlantic)
  • Synesthesia – Wikipedia page
• Perception
  • Depth perception
    • Monocular Cues – Wikipedia page
    • Binocular Cues – Wikipedia page
    • How Do 3D Movies Work?
  • Motion Aftereffect
• • Gestalt Laws – Wikipedia page
  • Segall et al. paper – The Influence of Culture on Perception
  • How Culture Shapes Our Senses (NYT)

Other Resources

Optical Illusions and Visual Phenomena Site by Michael Bach – excellent collection with explanations

Psych 102 – Stuart Anstis – Sensation & Perception  – podcast from UCSD – audio only

Stuart Anstis Lab @ UCSD – Illusion page

An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales – Oliver Sacks (Amazon link)

Hallucinations– Oliver Sacks (Amazon link) See my review of the book here

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