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Sensation And Perception
Co-authored by experts in each of the five senses, Sensation and Perception is an introductory text that gives students the most up-to-date and accurate descriptions of seeing, hearing, touching, smelling and tasting. The text is student-friendly with useful anecdotes and full-colour illustrations throughout. A companion website provides activities and demonstrations as well as additional reading topics for added depth. The book supplements: Instructor's Resource CD-ROM.
407 pages, Hardcover
First published October 6, 2014
13 people are currently reading
173 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 27, 2021
This book should be entitled, "Sensation;" for it scarcely treats perception at an adequate depth. Moreover, the style is too informal; it tries too hard to be readable by undergraduates.
As such it has very little use outside of a second-year course in psychology or neuroscience.
As such it has very little use outside of a second-year course in psychology or neuroscience.
February 2, 2025
zwei kapitel ausgelassen aber SEHR TOLLES BUCH!!!! hat mir sehr viel gebracht in manchen Kapiteln und konnte dadurch ein besseres Verständnis aufbauen - die Versuche der Autoren immer wieder jokes reinzubringen wurde bei den trockenen und frustrierenden Themen auch sehr appreciatet 😭🫶🏼
April 9, 2025
Great for an introduction to how our body perceives and interprets the environment.
December 8, 2017
Read for class. It was okay.
November 6, 2013
Well written book on sensation. Just a couple bumpy spots in whole book where I had to do a Google search to get a better idea of what he was talking about. (ROC plots)
The web page is essential for understanding the material. Without the web page, I would have rated the text lower. There are no end-of-chapter questions or activities. It is all on-line. The activities were well worth it, but I found the quiz to be for memorization. I prefer having questions that may me think and apply the information than memorize everything.
I am reviewing the older version of the text, but I used the newest web page. The page is open access, but at a different URL than the book lists. Google it. The order of the material is different than in the edition that I read, but not a problem. Many of the activities didn’t work on the iPad, so you need to go to a desktop/laptop.
I just started reading Kalat’s Biological Psych. It has a more general and introductory description of neuron function, so you might consider reading that first.
The web page is essential for understanding the material. Without the web page, I would have rated the text lower. There are no end-of-chapter questions or activities. It is all on-line. The activities were well worth it, but I found the quiz to be for memorization. I prefer having questions that may me think and apply the information than memorize everything.
I am reviewing the older version of the text, but I used the newest web page. The page is open access, but at a different URL than the book lists. Google it. The order of the material is different than in the edition that I read, but not a problem. Many of the activities didn’t work on the iPad, so you need to go to a desktop/laptop.
I just started reading Kalat’s Biological Psych. It has a more general and introductory description of neuron function, so you might consider reading that first.
April 9, 2020
Contents
Wolfe JM et al. (2015) Sensation & Perception
01. Introduction
• Welcome to Our World
• • Sensation and Perception
• Thresholds and the Dawn of Psychophysics
• • Psychophysical Methods
• • Scaling Methods
• • Signal Detection Theory
• • Fourier Analysis
• Sensory Neuroscience and the Biology of Perception
• • Neuronal Connections
• • Neural Firing: The Action Potential
• • Neuroimaging
• Summary
02. The First Steps in Vision: From Light to Neural Signal
• A Little Light Physics
• Eyes That Capture Light
• • Focusing Light onto the Retina
• • The Retina
• • What the Doctor Saw
• • Retinal Geography and Function
• Retinal Information Processing
• • Light Transduction by Rod and Cone Photoreceptors
• • Lateral Inhibition through Horizontal and Amacrine Cells
• • Convergence and Divergence of Information via Bipolar Cells
• • Communicating to the Brain via Ganglion Cells
• Dark and Light Adaptation
• • Pupil Size
• • Photopigment Regeneration
• • The Duplex Retina
• • Neural Circuity
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: When Good Retina Goes Bad
• Summary
03. Spatial Vision: From Spots to Stripes
• Visual Acuity: Oh Say, Can You See?
• • A Visit to the Eye Doctor
• • Types of Visual Acuity
• • Acuity for Low-Contrast Stripes
• • Why Sine Wave Gratings?
• Retinal Ganglion Cells and Stripes
• The Lateral Geniculate Nucleus
• The Striate Cortex
• • The Topography of the Human Cortex
• • Some Perceptual Consequences of Cortical Magnification
• Receptive Fields in Striate Cortex
• • Orientation Selectivity
• • Other Receptive-Field Properties
• • Simple and Complex Cells
• • Further Complications
• Columns and Hypercolumns
• Selective Adaptation: The Psychologist's Electrode
• • The Site of Selective Adaptation Effects
• • Spatial Frequency–Tuned Pattern Analyzers in Human Vision
• The Development of Spatial Vision
• • Development of the Contrast Sensitivity Function
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: The Girl Who Almost Couldn't See Stripes
• Summary
04. Perceiving and Recognizing Objects
• What and Where Pathways
• The Problems of Perceiving and Recognizing Objects
• Middle Vision
• • Finding Edges
• • Texture Segmentation and Grouping
• • Perceptual Committees Revisited
• • Figure and Ground
• • Dealing with Occlusion
• • Parts and Wholes
• • Summarizing Middle Vision
• • From Metaphor to Formal Model
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: Material Perception: The Everyday Problem of Knowing What It Is Made Of
• Object Recognition
• • Templates versus Structural Descriptions
• • Problems with Structural-Description Theories
• • Multiple Recognition Committees?
• • Faces: An Illustrative Special Case
• • The Pathway Runs in Both Directions: Feedback and Reentrant Processing
• Summary
05. The Perception of Color
• Basic Principles of Color Perception
• • Three Steps to Color Perception
• Step 1: Color Detection
• Step 2: Color Discrimination
• • The Principle of Univariance
• • The Trichromatic Solution
• • Metamers
• • The History of Trichromatic Vision
• • A Brief Digression into Lights, Filters, and Finger Paints
• • From Retina to Brain: Repackaging the Information
• • Cone-Opponent Cells in the Retina and LGN
• • A Different Ganglion Cell Helps to Keep Track of Day and Night
• Step 3: Color Appearance
• • Three Numbers, Many Colors
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: Picking Colors
• • The Limits of the Rainbow
• • Opponent Colors
• • Color in the Visual Cortex
• Individual Differences in Color Perception
• • Philosophical Problem of "Inverted Qualia"
• • Language and Color
• • Genetic Differences in Color Vision
• From the Color of Lights to a World of Color
• • Adaptation and Afterimages
• • Color Constancy
• • The Problem with the Illuminant
• • Physical Constraints Make Constancy Possible
• What Is Color Vision Good For?
• Summary
06. Space Perception and Binocular Vision
• Monocular Cues to Three-Dimensional Space
• • Occlusion
• • Size and Position Cues
• • Aerial Perspective
• • Linear Perspective
• • Pictorial Depth Cues and Pictures
• • Motion Cues
• • Accommodation and Convergence
• Binocular Vision and Stereopsis
• • Stereoscopes and Stereograms
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: Recovering Stereo Vision
• • Random Dot Stereograms
• • Stereo Movies, TV, and Video Games
• • Using Binocular Stereopsis
• • Stereoscopic Correspondence
• • The Physiological Basis of Stereopsis and Depth Perception
• Combining Depth Cues
• • The Bayesian Approach Revisited
• • Illusions and the Construction of Space
• • Binocular Rivalry and Suppression
• Development of Binocular Vision and Stereopsis
• • Abnormal Visual Experience Can Disrupt Binocular Vision
• Summary
07. Attention and Scene Perception
• Selection in Space
• • The "Spotlight" of Attention
• Visual Search
• • Feature Searches Are Efficient
• • Many Searches Are Inefficient
• • In Real-World Searches, Basic Features Guide Visual Search
• • The Binding Problem in Visual Search
• Attending in Time: RSVP and the Attentional Blink
• The Physiological Basis of Attention
• • Attention Could Enhance Neural Activity
• • Attention Could Enhance the Processing of a Specific Type of Stimulus
• • Attention Could Coordinate the Activity of Different Brain Areas
• • Attention and Single Cells
• Disorders of Visual Attention
• • Neglect
• • Extinction
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: Selective Attention and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
• Perceiving and Understanding Scenes
• • Two Pathways to Scene Perception
• • The Nonselective Pathway Computes Ensemble Statistics
• • The Nonselective Pathway Computes Scene Gists and Layout—Very Quickly
• • Memory for Objects and Scenes Is Amazingly Good
• • But, Memory for Objects and Scenes Can Be Amazingly Bad: Change Blindness
• • What Do We Actually See?
• Summary
08. Visual Motion Perception
• Computation of Visual Motion
• • Apparent Motion
• • The Correspondence Problem
• • The Aperture Problem
• • Detection of Global Motion in Area MT
• • Motion Aftereffects Revisited
• • Second-Order Motion
• Using Motion Information
• • Going with the Flow: Using Motion Information to Navigate
• • Something in the Way You Move: Using Motion Information to Identify Objects
• • Avoiding Imminent Collision: The Tao of Tau
• Eye Movements
• • Physiology and Types of Eye Movements
• • Eye Movements and Reading
• • Saccadic Suppression and the Comparator
• • Updating the Neural Mechanisms for Eye Movement Compensation
• Development of Motion Perception
• • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: The Man Who Couldn't See Motion
• Summary
09. Hearing: Physiology and Psychoacoustics
• The Function of Hearing
• What Is Sound?
• • Basic Qualities of Sound Waves: Frequency and Amplitude
• • Sine Waves and Complex Sounds
• Basic Structure of the Mammalian Auditory System
• • Outer Ear
• • Middle Ear
• • Inner Ear
• • The Auditory Nerve
• • Auditory Brain Structures
• Basic Operating Characteristics of the Auditory System
• • Intensity and Loudness
• • Frequency and Pitch
• Hearing Loss
• • Treating Hearing Loss
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: Electronic Ears
• Summary
10. Hearing in the Environment
• Sound Localization
• • Interaural Time Difference
• • Interaural Level Difference
• • Cones of Confusion
• • Pinna and Head Cues
• • Auditory Distance Perception
• Complex Sounds
• • Harmonics
• • Timbre
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: Auditory "Color" Constancy
• • Attack and Decay
• Auditory Scene Analysis
• • Spatial, Spectral, and Temporal Segregation
• • Grouping by Timbre
• • Grouping by Onset
• • When Sounds Become Familiar
• Continuity and Restoration Effects
• • Restoration of Complex Sounds
• Auditory Attention
• Summary
11. Music and Speech Perception
• Music
• • Musical Notes
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: Music and Emotion
• • Making Music
• Speech
• • Speech Production
• • Speech Perception
• • Learning to Listen
• • Speech in the Brain
• Summary
12. The Vestibular System and Our Sense of Equilibrium
• Vestibular Contributions to Equilibrium
• • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: Evolution and Equilibrium
• Modalities and Qualities of Spatial Orientation
• • Sensing Angular Motion, Linear Motion, and Tilt
• • Basis Qualities of Spatial Orientation: Amplitude and Direction
• The Mammalian Vestibular System
• • Hair Cells: Mechanical Transducers
• • Semicircular Canals
• • Otolith Organs
• Spatial Orientation Perception
• • Rotation Perception
• • Translation Perception
• • Tilt Perception
• Sensory Integration
• • Visual-Vestibular Integration
• Active Sensing
• Reflexive Vestibular Responses
• • Vestibulo-Ocular Responses
• • Vestibulo-Autonomic Responses
• • Vestibulo-Spinal Responses
• Spatial Orientation Cortex
• • Vestibular Thalamocortical Pathways
• • Cortical Influences
• When the Vestibular System Goes Bad
• • Mal de Debarquement Syndrome
• • Ménière's Syndrome
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: Amusement Park Rides—Vestibular Physics Is Fun
• Summary
13. Touch
• Touch Physiology
• • Touch Receptors in the Skin
• • Kinesthetic Receptors
• • From Skin to Brain
• • Pain
• Tactile Sensitivity and Acuity
• • How Sensitive Are We to Mechanical Pressure?
• • How Finely Can We Resolve Spatial Details?
• • How Finely Can We Resolve Temporal Details?
• • Do People Differ in Tactile Sensitivity?
• Haptic Perception
• • Perception for Action
• • Action for Perception
• • Role of Fingerprints in Perception and Action
• • The What System of Touch: Perceiving Objects and Their Properties
• • The Where System of Touch: Locating Objects
• • Tactile Spatial Attention
• • Social Touch
• • Interactions between Touch and Other Modalities
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: Haptic Virtual Environments
• Summary
14. Olfaction
• Olfactory Physiology
• • Odors and Odorants
• • The Human Olfactory Apparatus
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: Anosmia
• Neurophysiology of Olfaction
• • The Genetic Basis of Olfactory Receptors
• • The Feel of Scent
• From Chemicals to Smells
• • Theories of Olfactory Perception
• • The Importance of Patterns
• • Is Odor Perception Synthetic or Analytical?
• • The Power of Sniffing
• • Odor Imagery
• Olfactory Psychophysics, Identification, and Adaptation
• • Detection, Discrimination, and Recognition
• • Psychophysical Methods for Detection and Discrimination
• • Identification
• • Individual Differences
• • Adaptation
• • Cognitive Habituation
• Olfactory Hedonics
• • Familiarity and Intensity
• • Nature or Nurture?
• • An Evolutionary Argument
• • Caveats
• Associative Learning and Emotion: Neuroanatomical and Evolutionary Considerations
• • The Vomeronasal Organ, Human Pheromones, and Chemosignals
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: Odor-Evoked Memory and the Truth behind Aromatherapy
• Summary
15. Taste
• Taste versus Flavor
• • Localizing Flavor Sensations
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: Volatile-Enhanced Taste: A New Way to Safely Alter Flavors
• Anatomy and Physiology of the Gustatory System
• • Papillae
• • Taste Buds and Taste Receptor Cells
• • Taste Processing in the Central Nervous System
• The Four Basic Tastes
• • Salty
• • Sour
• • Bitter
• • Sweet
• Genetic Variation in Bitter
• • Supertasters
• • Health Consequences of Taste Sensation
• Wisdom of the Body: How Do We Solve the "Omnivore's Dilemma"?
• • How Do We Regulate Nutrients? Early Belief in "Specific Hungers" Gave Way to Identification of Conditioned Preferences and Aversions
• • The Special Case of Umami
• • The Special Case of Fat
• • Is All Olfactory Affect Learned?
• The Nature of Taste Qualities
• • Taste Adaptation and Cross-Adaptation
• • Pleasure and Retronasal versus Orthonasal Olfaction
• • Chili Peppers
• Summary
Glossary
References
Photo Credits
Index
Wolfe JM et al. (2015) Sensation & Perception
01. Introduction
• Welcome to Our World
• • Sensation and Perception
• Thresholds and the Dawn of Psychophysics
• • Psychophysical Methods
• • Scaling Methods
• • Signal Detection Theory
• • Fourier Analysis
• Sensory Neuroscience and the Biology of Perception
• • Neuronal Connections
• • Neural Firing: The Action Potential
• • Neuroimaging
• Summary
02. The First Steps in Vision: From Light to Neural Signal
• A Little Light Physics
• Eyes That Capture Light
• • Focusing Light onto the Retina
• • The Retina
• • What the Doctor Saw
• • Retinal Geography and Function
• Retinal Information Processing
• • Light Transduction by Rod and Cone Photoreceptors
• • Lateral Inhibition through Horizontal and Amacrine Cells
• • Convergence and Divergence of Information via Bipolar Cells
• • Communicating to the Brain via Ganglion Cells
• Dark and Light Adaptation
• • Pupil Size
• • Photopigment Regeneration
• • The Duplex Retina
• • Neural Circuity
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: When Good Retina Goes Bad
• Summary
03. Spatial Vision: From Spots to Stripes
• Visual Acuity: Oh Say, Can You See?
• • A Visit to the Eye Doctor
• • Types of Visual Acuity
• • Acuity for Low-Contrast Stripes
• • Why Sine Wave Gratings?
• Retinal Ganglion Cells and Stripes
• The Lateral Geniculate Nucleus
• The Striate Cortex
• • The Topography of the Human Cortex
• • Some Perceptual Consequences of Cortical Magnification
• Receptive Fields in Striate Cortex
• • Orientation Selectivity
• • Other Receptive-Field Properties
• • Simple and Complex Cells
• • Further Complications
• Columns and Hypercolumns
• Selective Adaptation: The Psychologist's Electrode
• • The Site of Selective Adaptation Effects
• • Spatial Frequency–Tuned Pattern Analyzers in Human Vision
• The Development of Spatial Vision
• • Development of the Contrast Sensitivity Function
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: The Girl Who Almost Couldn't See Stripes
• Summary
04. Perceiving and Recognizing Objects
• What and Where Pathways
• The Problems of Perceiving and Recognizing Objects
• Middle Vision
• • Finding Edges
• • Texture Segmentation and Grouping
• • Perceptual Committees Revisited
• • Figure and Ground
• • Dealing with Occlusion
• • Parts and Wholes
• • Summarizing Middle Vision
• • From Metaphor to Formal Model
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: Material Perception: The Everyday Problem of Knowing What It Is Made Of
• Object Recognition
• • Templates versus Structural Descriptions
• • Problems with Structural-Description Theories
• • Multiple Recognition Committees?
• • Faces: An Illustrative Special Case
• • The Pathway Runs in Both Directions: Feedback and Reentrant Processing
• Summary
05. The Perception of Color
• Basic Principles of Color Perception
• • Three Steps to Color Perception
• Step 1: Color Detection
• Step 2: Color Discrimination
• • The Principle of Univariance
• • The Trichromatic Solution
• • Metamers
• • The History of Trichromatic Vision
• • A Brief Digression into Lights, Filters, and Finger Paints
• • From Retina to Brain: Repackaging the Information
• • Cone-Opponent Cells in the Retina and LGN
• • A Different Ganglion Cell Helps to Keep Track of Day and Night
• Step 3: Color Appearance
• • Three Numbers, Many Colors
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: Picking Colors
• • The Limits of the Rainbow
• • Opponent Colors
• • Color in the Visual Cortex
• Individual Differences in Color Perception
• • Philosophical Problem of "Inverted Qualia"
• • Language and Color
• • Genetic Differences in Color Vision
• From the Color of Lights to a World of Color
• • Adaptation and Afterimages
• • Color Constancy
• • The Problem with the Illuminant
• • Physical Constraints Make Constancy Possible
• What Is Color Vision Good For?
• Summary
06. Space Perception and Binocular Vision
• Monocular Cues to Three-Dimensional Space
• • Occlusion
• • Size and Position Cues
• • Aerial Perspective
• • Linear Perspective
• • Pictorial Depth Cues and Pictures
• • Motion Cues
• • Accommodation and Convergence
• Binocular Vision and Stereopsis
• • Stereoscopes and Stereograms
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: Recovering Stereo Vision
• • Random Dot Stereograms
• • Stereo Movies, TV, and Video Games
• • Using Binocular Stereopsis
• • Stereoscopic Correspondence
• • The Physiological Basis of Stereopsis and Depth Perception
• Combining Depth Cues
• • The Bayesian Approach Revisited
• • Illusions and the Construction of Space
• • Binocular Rivalry and Suppression
• Development of Binocular Vision and Stereopsis
• • Abnormal Visual Experience Can Disrupt Binocular Vision
• Summary
07. Attention and Scene Perception
• Selection in Space
• • The "Spotlight" of Attention
• Visual Search
• • Feature Searches Are Efficient
• • Many Searches Are Inefficient
• • In Real-World Searches, Basic Features Guide Visual Search
• • The Binding Problem in Visual Search
• Attending in Time: RSVP and the Attentional Blink
• The Physiological Basis of Attention
• • Attention Could Enhance Neural Activity
• • Attention Could Enhance the Processing of a Specific Type of Stimulus
• • Attention Could Coordinate the Activity of Different Brain Areas
• • Attention and Single Cells
• Disorders of Visual Attention
• • Neglect
• • Extinction
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: Selective Attention and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
• Perceiving and Understanding Scenes
• • Two Pathways to Scene Perception
• • The Nonselective Pathway Computes Ensemble Statistics
• • The Nonselective Pathway Computes Scene Gists and Layout—Very Quickly
• • Memory for Objects and Scenes Is Amazingly Good
• • But, Memory for Objects and Scenes Can Be Amazingly Bad: Change Blindness
• • What Do We Actually See?
• Summary
08. Visual Motion Perception
• Computation of Visual Motion
• • Apparent Motion
• • The Correspondence Problem
• • The Aperture Problem
• • Detection of Global Motion in Area MT
• • Motion Aftereffects Revisited
• • Second-Order Motion
• Using Motion Information
• • Going with the Flow: Using Motion Information to Navigate
• • Something in the Way You Move: Using Motion Information to Identify Objects
• • Avoiding Imminent Collision: The Tao of Tau
• Eye Movements
• • Physiology and Types of Eye Movements
• • Eye Movements and Reading
• • Saccadic Suppression and the Comparator
• • Updating the Neural Mechanisms for Eye Movement Compensation
• Development of Motion Perception
• • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: The Man Who Couldn't See Motion
• Summary
09. Hearing: Physiology and Psychoacoustics
• The Function of Hearing
• What Is Sound?
• • Basic Qualities of Sound Waves: Frequency and Amplitude
• • Sine Waves and Complex Sounds
• Basic Structure of the Mammalian Auditory System
• • Outer Ear
• • Middle Ear
• • Inner Ear
• • The Auditory Nerve
• • Auditory Brain Structures
• Basic Operating Characteristics of the Auditory System
• • Intensity and Loudness
• • Frequency and Pitch
• Hearing Loss
• • Treating Hearing Loss
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: Electronic Ears
• Summary
10. Hearing in the Environment
• Sound Localization
• • Interaural Time Difference
• • Interaural Level Difference
• • Cones of Confusion
• • Pinna and Head Cues
• • Auditory Distance Perception
• Complex Sounds
• • Harmonics
• • Timbre
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: Auditory "Color" Constancy
• • Attack and Decay
• Auditory Scene Analysis
• • Spatial, Spectral, and Temporal Segregation
• • Grouping by Timbre
• • Grouping by Onset
• • When Sounds Become Familiar
• Continuity and Restoration Effects
• • Restoration of Complex Sounds
• Auditory Attention
• Summary
11. Music and Speech Perception
• Music
• • Musical Notes
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: Music and Emotion
• • Making Music
• Speech
• • Speech Production
• • Speech Perception
• • Learning to Listen
• • Speech in the Brain
• Summary
12. The Vestibular System and Our Sense of Equilibrium
• Vestibular Contributions to Equilibrium
• • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: Evolution and Equilibrium
• Modalities and Qualities of Spatial Orientation
• • Sensing Angular Motion, Linear Motion, and Tilt
• • Basis Qualities of Spatial Orientation: Amplitude and Direction
• The Mammalian Vestibular System
• • Hair Cells: Mechanical Transducers
• • Semicircular Canals
• • Otolith Organs
• Spatial Orientation Perception
• • Rotation Perception
• • Translation Perception
• • Tilt Perception
• Sensory Integration
• • Visual-Vestibular Integration
• Active Sensing
• Reflexive Vestibular Responses
• • Vestibulo-Ocular Responses
• • Vestibulo-Autonomic Responses
• • Vestibulo-Spinal Responses
• Spatial Orientation Cortex
• • Vestibular Thalamocortical Pathways
• • Cortical Influences
• When the Vestibular System Goes Bad
• • Mal de Debarquement Syndrome
• • Ménière's Syndrome
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: Amusement Park Rides—Vestibular Physics Is Fun
• Summary
13. Touch
• Touch Physiology
• • Touch Receptors in the Skin
• • Kinesthetic Receptors
• • From Skin to Brain
• • Pain
• Tactile Sensitivity and Acuity
• • How Sensitive Are We to Mechanical Pressure?
• • How Finely Can We Resolve Spatial Details?
• • How Finely Can We Resolve Temporal Details?
• • Do People Differ in Tactile Sensitivity?
• Haptic Perception
• • Perception for Action
• • Action for Perception
• • Role of Fingerprints in Perception and Action
• • The What System of Touch: Perceiving Objects and Their Properties
• • The Where System of Touch: Locating Objects
• • Tactile Spatial Attention
• • Social Touch
• • Interactions between Touch and Other Modalities
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: Haptic Virtual Environments
• Summary
14. Olfaction
• Olfactory Physiology
• • Odors and Odorants
• • The Human Olfactory Apparatus
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: Anosmia
• Neurophysiology of Olfaction
• • The Genetic Basis of Olfactory Receptors
• • The Feel of Scent
• From Chemicals to Smells
• • Theories of Olfactory Perception
• • The Importance of Patterns
• • Is Odor Perception Synthetic or Analytical?
• • The Power of Sniffing
• • Odor Imagery
• Olfactory Psychophysics, Identification, and Adaptation
• • Detection, Discrimination, and Recognition
• • Psychophysical Methods for Detection and Discrimination
• • Identification
• • Individual Differences
• • Adaptation
• • Cognitive Habituation
• Olfactory Hedonics
• • Familiarity and Intensity
• • Nature or Nurture?
• • An Evolutionary Argument
• • Caveats
• Associative Learning and Emotion: Neuroanatomical and Evolutionary Considerations
• • The Vomeronasal Organ, Human Pheromones, and Chemosignals
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: Odor-Evoked Memory and the Truth behind Aromatherapy
• Summary
15. Taste
• Taste versus Flavor
• • Localizing Flavor Sensations
• • • Sensation & Perception in Everyday Life: Volatile-Enhanced Taste: A New Way to Safely Alter Flavors
• Anatomy and Physiology of the Gustatory System
• • Papillae
• • Taste Buds and Taste Receptor Cells
• • Taste Processing in the Central Nervous System
• The Four Basic Tastes
• • Salty
• • Sour
• • Bitter
• • Sweet
• Genetic Variation in Bitter
• • Supertasters
• • Health Consequences of Taste Sensation
• Wisdom of the Body: How Do We Solve the "Omnivore's Dilemma"?
• • How Do We Regulate Nutrients? Early Belief in "Specific Hungers" Gave Way to Identification of Conditioned Preferences and Aversions
• • The Special Case of Umami
• • The Special Case of Fat
• • Is All Olfactory Affect Learned?
• The Nature of Taste Qualities
• • Taste Adaptation and Cross-Adaptation
• • Pleasure and Retronasal versus Orthonasal Olfaction
• • Chili Peppers
• Summary
Glossary
References
Photo Credits
Index
May 6, 2025
A thorough and technically rich overview of the science behind how we experience the world. Wolfe is clearly an expert in the field, and his depth of knowledge shines through—sometimes to the point of being a bit long-winded. That said, the textbook is full of clear examples and helpful visuals that bring complex concepts to life. As an undergraduate student, I occasionally found some of the images difficult to interpret without additional guidance, but overall, this is a solid resource for anyone serious about studying perception and neuroscience.
December 7, 2017
The authors of this book have wonderful way of getting straight to the point, which is depressingly rare in neuroscience textbooks (I'm looking at you, Gazzaniga). It may be a bit too superficial at times, but at least it's written in a way that facilitates quick learning. I almost caught myself enjoying it despite not being particularly interested in the subject matter.
(Read chapter 3, 4 and 7.)
(Read chapter 3, 4 and 7.)
January 4, 2021
Actually....one of the better textbooks out there.
I read chapters 1-3, 9, 10, 12-15 for my psychology class on sensation.
I really appreciated how the authors took the time to add humour into the readings to make it less dry and more enjoyable! If I had more time on my hands, I would love to just read through the book because it's just THAT enjoyable. Plus, educational!
I read chapters 1-3, 9, 10, 12-15 for my psychology class on sensation.
I really appreciated how the authors took the time to add humour into the readings to make it less dry and more enjoyable! If I had more time on my hands, I would love to just read through the book because it's just THAT enjoyable. Plus, educational!
April 22, 2024
Voor studie gelezen, duidelijk uitgelegd allemaal en vet interessant :)
Read
February 17, 2014Prof. Niemeier's class
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