PSYC 302 Chapter 5: PSYC302- Chapter 5
Document Summary
Chapter 5: seeing, thinking and doing in infancy. Sensation: the processing of basic information from the external world by the sensory receptors in the sense organs (eyes, ears, skin etc. ) and the brain: pattern of light hitting the retina. Perception: process of organizing and interpreting sensory information about the objects, events and spatial layout of the world around us: the experience of seeing. Empiricist: infants perceive very poorly; experience vital for sense development. Nativist: perceptual development progresses through maturation, not experience: once physical features are developed will perceive world as adults do. Humans rely more heavily on vision than most species do. Vision: ~40%-50% of mature cerebral cortex is involved in visual processing. Newborns begin visually exploring world minutes after leaving womb: don"t see as clearly but improves rapidly within first months. Seems ridiculously easy but it"s ridiculously hard (cid:498)instinct blindness(cid:499: least developed sense at birth, segmenting objects, perceiving depth, not running into things, recognize people.
