Chapter 4 Sensation and Perception

This chapter focused on perception and how our brains process information can have a major impact. For example humans process ambiguous figures differently, that may explain why people see different figures in clouds or paintings. The types of processing are called parallel, bottom-up, and top-down. It is important to understand how our mind perceives things and to be aware of our surroundings. Being aware would help people recognize coincidences are not as rare as one would expect. Awareness about extrasensory perception research might change some of the public's opinion. This chapter also focused on certain parts of the body, like the eyes and ear. It discussed the five senses. The ear and ability to hear most interested me. I have an autistic brother who cannot communicate so he is starting to learn sign language; I am also currently taking a sign language class. It is interesting how sound makes a large impact in our lives and how much we rely on it. Our eyes play a big role in how we perceive shapes, light, and color. Our perception can also trick us, for example the illusion that the moon looks larger when it is by the horizon than in the sky.