Critical and Creative Thinking

Critical and Creative Thinking Questions 1

1. Sensation and perception are closely linked. What is the central distinction between the two?

Sensations are things in our environment that are registered by the five senses; vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. There are limits to sensations because of how humans sense things. Perception is how people interpret the sensations. Perceptions would be how one interprets music or color. The way we perceive sensations is what makes us different from one another.

2. If we sensed and attended equally to each stimulus in the world, the amount of information would be overwhelming. What sensory and perceptual processes help us lessen the din?

Scent is not as acute as other creatures in the world. If people had the abilities to smell as well as a dog, it would probably cause what we would perceive as a distraction from what the current normal perception in life is. Another example would be sight. We do have peripheral abilities, but they are nowhere near what a horse or fish see. This may be a benefit or handicap.

4. What senses would likely be impaired if a person were somehow missing all of the apparatus of the ear (including the outer, middle, and inner ear)?

Sight and balance would be thrown off if the apparatus of the ear were missing. We use sound to help us decide what we need to look at. If we hear a sudden noise we immediately look for the source of the sound. We use echoes as well to see if we are close to an object, much in the way sonar technology is used.

Source: WILEY PLUS: Carpenter, S. and Huffman, K. (2010). Visualizing Psychology (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley