Is the human eye like a camera? What makes your ears 'pop' on a plane? Why did women in the Middle Ages put belladonna into their eyes? This fully updated 2nd edition of Sensation and Perception is an accessible introduction to the field of perception. It covers in detail the perceptual processes related to vision and hearing, taste and smell, touch and pain, as well as the vestibular and proprioceptive systems. From seeing in colour to pathologies of perception, and from recognising faces to research methods, this textbook is essential reading for any student of perception. New material includes: * 'Applications' features connect key content to real-life contexts * Thinking Critically feature pushes students beyond the basics * End-of-chapter essay questions * An entirely new chapter on Action & Perception John Harris is Emeritus Professor of Psychology at the University of Reading Jared Smith is Senior Research Fellow at the Population Health Research Institute of St George's, University of London

The bestselling author of "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat" describes how we experience the visual world. In "Musicophilia", Oliver Sacks explored music and the brain; now, in "The Mind's Eye", he writes about the myriad ways in which we experience the visual world: how we see in three dimensions; how we recognize individual faces or places; how we use language to communicate verbally; how we translate marks on paper into words and paragraphs, even how we represent the world internally when our eyes are closed. Alongside remarkable stories of people who have lost these abilities but adapted with courage, resilience and ingenuity, there is an added, personal element: one day in late 2005, Sacks became aware of a dazzling, flashing light in one part of his visual field; it was not the familiar migraine aura he had experienced since childhood, and just two days later a malignant tumor in one eye was diagnosed. In subsequent journal entries - some of which are included in "The Mind's Eye" - he chronicled the experience of living with cancer, recording both the effects of the tumor itself, and radiation therapy. In turning himself into a case history, Sacks has given us perhaps his most intimate, impressive and insightful (no pun intended) book yet.

A thoughtful exploration of time and how we make it do our bidding

"The book is well-organized and comprehensive in covering the essential material. The inclusion of human factors material is a strength that is not covered in other books. . . . The book is a balanced survey which will be of value to graduate students or anyone wanting to enter the field and needing a broad overview." --Steven Yantis, The Johns Hopkins University "My overall impression is that the authors have combined their expertise and experience in the classroom to provide a text that will clearly cover attention more completely and in a more coherent and less confusing manner than any other available text. . . . this is the best available text on the psychology of attention at the advanced undergraduate level." --Mark Faust, University of South Alabama "This text represents a strong review of the empirical and theoretical developments in attention work." --Tom Busey, Indiana University "A nice overview of the 'classic' work on attention, with up-to-date consideration of the literature, usefully bringing together some more applied literatures in which attention is a central construct...The scholarship seems comprehensive and up-to-date, and the authors do a nice job of presenting research in a fair and neutral manner." --Richard Carlson, Pennsylvania State University "The chapters present the material at a level appropriate for a first course on attention. The focus on providing a comprehensive treatment of the highlights of a variety of different topics related to attention is a strength." --Art Kramer, University of Illinois Attention is one of the fastest growing research areas in cognitive psychology. In light of the growing importance of this topic, there are surprisingly few texts that provide a coherent overview of the field of attention. Authors Addie Johnson and Robert W. Proctor have written Attention: Theory and Practice for students, researchers, and practitioners who wish to gain insight into this area in a comprehensible and consistent manner. Attention: Theory and Practice provides a balance between a readable overview of attention and an emphasis on how theories and paradigms for the study of attention have developed. The book highlights the important issues and major findings while giving sufficient details of experimental studies, models, and theories so that results and conclusions are easy to follow and evaluate. Rather than brushing over tricky technical details, the authors explain them clearly, giving readers the benefit of understanding the motivation for and techniques of the experiments in order to allow readers to think through results, models, and theories for themselves. Features and benefits of this text: Balanced. The book gives equal coverage to theory, experimental paradigms and results, neuropsychology, and applications. Adaptable. "Technical Boxes" isolate technical procedures and difficult models, which can be omitted without interrupting the flow of the chapters, allowing instructors to adjust the material to the level of their course. Pedagogical. The book includes brief chapter previews, chapter summaries, highlighted key words, an end-of-book glossary, and an abundance of figures and tables that enhance student understanding. Attention is an accessible text for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in psychology, as well as an important resource for researchers and practitioners interested in gaining an overview of the field of attention.

As busy as teachers and scholars are, rarely do they find the time to sample widely from the table of scientific inquiry. This book offers the opportunity to do just that. The fourth volume in the "Studies in Perception and Action" series, it contains a collection of posters presented at the Ninth International Conference on Perception and Action, sponsored by the International Society for Ecological Psychology.
Like its predecessor, this volume is a collection of short reports, mostly empirical in nature. The reports are considerably larger than the abstracts presented in the proceedings of many conferences, and provide the authors with opportunities to present arguments, methods, results, and conclusions in condensed forms.

This volume, a posterbook based on the seventh biennial Conference of the International Society for Ecological Psychology, is a collection of compact empirical and/or theoretical articles on the study of perception and action.

Our experience of the world is influenced by numerous spatial biases, most of which influence us without our being aware of them. These biases are related to illusions and asymmetries in our perception of space, relationships between space and other qualities, dynamics of moving objects, dynamics of scene configuration, and dynamics related to perception and action. Consideration of these biases provides insight into how we perceive, remember, and navigate space, as well as how we interact with objects and people in space. This volume introduces and reviews numerous spatial biases, and provides descriptions and examples of each bias. The contributors discuss historical and current theories for many biases, and for some biases, provide new explanatory theories. Providing a 'one-stop shop' for information on such a key aspect of our experience in the world, this volume will interest anyone curious about our understanding of space.

In this two volume festschrift, contributors explore the theoretical developments (Volume I) and applications (Volume II) in traditional cognitive psychology domains, and model other areas of human performance that benefit from rigorous mathematical approaches. It brings together former classmates, students and colleagues of Dr. James T. Townsend, a pioneering researcher in the field since the early 1960s, to provide a current overview of mathematical modeling in psychology. Townsend's research critically emphasized a need for rigor in the practice of cognitive modeling, and for providing mathematical definition and structure to ill-defined psychological topics. The research captured demonstrates how the interplay of theory and application, bridged by rigorous mathematics, can move cognitive modeling forward.

Smell and taste are our most misunderstood senses. Given a choice between losing our sense of smell and taste, or our senses of sight and hearing, most people nominate the former, rather than the latter. Yet our sense of smell and taste has the power to stir up memories, alter our mood and even influence our behaviour. In The Neuropsychology of Smell and Taste, Neil Martin provides a comprehensive, critical analysis of the role of the brain in gustation and olfaction. In his accessible and characteristic style he shows why our sense of smell and taste do not simply perform basic and intermittent functions, but lie at the very centre of our perception of the world around us. Through an exploration of the physiology, anatomy and neuropsychology of the senses; the neurophysiological causes of smell and taste disorders, and their function in physical and mental illness, Neil Martin provides an accessible and up-to-date overview of the processes of gustation and olfaction. The Neuropsychology of Smell and Taste provides a state-of-the-art overview of current research in olfactory and gustatory perception. With sections describing the effect of odour and taste on our behaviour, and evaluating the contribution current neuroimaging technology has made to our understanding of the senses, the book will be of interest to researchers and students of neuropsychology and neuroscience, and anybody with an interest in olfaction and gustation.

How does the brain piece together the information required to achieve object recognition, figure-ground segmentation, object completion in cases of partial occlusion and related perceptual phenomena? This book focuses on principles of Gestalt psychology and the key issues which surround them, providing an up-to-date survey of the most interesting and highly debated topics in visual neuroscience, perception and object recognition. The volume is divided into three main parts: Gestalt and perceptual organisation, attention aftereffects and illusions, and color vision and art perception. Themes covered in the book include: - a historical review of Gestalt theory and its relevance in modern-day neuroscience - the relationship between perceptive and receptive fields - a critical analysis of spatiotemporal unity of perception - the role of Gestalt principles in perceptual organization - self-organizing properties of the visual field - the role of attention and perceptual grouping in forming non-retinotopic representations - figural distortions following adaptation to spatial patterns - illusory changes of brightness in spatial patterns - the function of motion illusions as a tool to study Gestalt principles in vision - conflicting theories of color vision and the neural basis of it - the role of color in figure-ground segmentation - chromatic assimilation in visual art and perception - the phenomena of colored shadows. Including contributions from experts in the field, this book will provide an essential overview of current research and theory on visual perception and Gestalt. It will be key reading for researchers and academics in the field of visual perception and neuroscience.

This volume is the 11th in the Studies in Perception and Action series and contains research presented at the 16th International Conference on Perception and Action (ICPA) meeting in the summer of 2011.

ICPA provides a forum for presenting new data, theory, and methodological developments relevant to the ecological approach to perception and action. The forty-nine papers presented in this volume are divided into five Parts and represent the latest developments in ecological psychology research from four continents. In many instances, the contributions to Studies volumes reflect the first appearance of new ideas in a scientific venue. As a result, this book contains the most recent and cutting-edge research in perception and action.

This volume will appeal to individuals who follow the research literature in ecological psychology, as well as those interested in perception, perceptual development, human movement dynamics, social processes, and human factors.

Visual processing acts as a prism, splitting visual information from the retinal image into separately processed features such as color, shape, and orientation. Binding refers to the set of cognitive and neural mechanisms that re-integrate these features to create a holistic representation of the objects in the visual field. The binding problem in vision refers to how this integration is achieved. The binding problem, however, isn t a singular problem, but a constellation of interrelated problems. The articles in this special issue of Visual Cognition cover three major types of binding, each of which may require a unique solution: The binding of features within objects, the relational binding among objects, and the binding between temporally related events. Within these broad topics, articles consider the role of attention in feature binding, the representation of static and moving multi-feature objects, the binding of objects to scenes, binding processes involved in learning and long-term memory, the development of binding abilities, and binding of information between visual and non-visual memory systems. Rather than disseminate conclusive solutions to these various instantiations of the binding problem, this collection of work describes the current state-of-the science, highlights the interconnections between the binding problems and the approaches taken to solve them, and outlines the critical issues that have yet to be resolved. In this single volume readers will confront work with children, young adults, and patients, and work that uses traditional behavioural measures, eye movement recording, functional imaging, and transcranial magnetic stimulation.

How do we perceive the space around us, locate objects within it, and make our way through it? What do the senses contribute?

This book focuses on touch in order to examine which aspects of vision and touch overlap in spatial processing. It argues that spatial processing depends crucially on integrating diverse sensory inputs as reference cues for the location, distance or direction response that spatial tasks demand. Space and Sense shows how perception by touch, as by vision, can be helped by external reference cues, and that 'visual' illusions that are also found in touch depend on common factors and do not occur by chance.

Susanna Millar presents new evidence on the role of spatial cues in touch and movement both with and without vision, and discusses the interaction of both touch and movement with vision in spatial tasks. It shows how perception by touch, as by vision, can be helped by external reference cues, and that 'visual' illusion that are also found in touch depend on common factors and do not occur by chance. The book challenges traditional views of explicit external reference cues, showing that they can improve spatial recall with inputs from touch and movement, contrary to the held belief.

Space and Sense provides empirical evidence for an important distinction between spatial vision and vision that excludes spatial cues in relation to touch. This important new volume extends previous descriptions of bimodal effects in vision and space.

Since 1991, the edited book series Studies in Perception and Action has appeared in conjunction with the biennial International Conference of Perception and Action (ICPA), a conference that provides an opportunity for individuals who share interests in ecological psychology to come together to present current research, exchange ideas, and engage in conversation on theoretical and methodological concerns. The Studies in Perception and Action series is a way to preserve the dialogues between conference attendees and researchers displaying their latest work. This volume, the eighth in the series, presents the conversations held at the 13th ICPA meeting in the summer of 2005.
 
"Studies in Perception and Action VIII "includes broad coverage of the most current advances in research on perceiving and acting, including contributions from researchers in Australia, China, Japan, Europe, and North America. It addresses cutting-edge research in dynamics and human movement, recent progress in ecological approaches to perceiving and acting, and substantially extends our knowledge of just how rich a source of information the world is across a wide range of modalities.
 
This volume will appeal to individuals who follow the research literature in ecological psychology, as well as those interested in perception, perceptual development, human movement dynamics, and social processes.

When most people think of space, they think of physical space. However, visual space concerns space as consciously experienced, and it is studied through subjective measures, such as asking people to use numbers to estimate perceived distances, areas, angles, or volumes. This book explores the mismatch between perception and physical reality, and describes the many factors that influence the perception of space including the meaning assigned to geometric concepts like distance, the judgment methods used to report the experience, the presence or absence of cues to depth, and the orientation of a stimulus with respect to point of view. The main theme of the text is that no single geometry describes visual space, but that the geometry of visual space depends upon the stimulus conditions and mental shifts in the subjective meaning of size and distance.
In addition, "The Geometries of Visual Space: "
*contains philosophical, mathematical, and psychophysical background material;
*looks at synthetic approaches to space perception including work on hyperbolic, spherical, and Euclidean geometries;
*presents a meta-analysis of studies that ask observers to directly estimate size, distance, area, angle, and volume;
*looks at the size constancy literature in which observers are asked to adjust a comparison stimulus to match a variety of standards at different distances away;
*discusses research that takes a multi-dimensional approach toward studying visual space; and
*discusses how spatial experience is influenced by memory.
While this book is primarily intended for scholars in perception, mathematical psychology, and psychophysics, it will also be accessible to awider audience since it is written at a readable level. It will make a good graduate-level textbook on space perception.

The philosophy of perception is a microcosm of the metaphysics of mind. Its central problems -- What is perception? What is the nature of perceptual consciousness? How can one fit an account of perceptual experience into a broader account of the nature of the mind and the world? -- are at the heart of metaphysics. Rather than try to cover all of the many strands in the philosophy of perception, this book focuses on a particular orthodoxy about the nature of visual perception.

The central problem for visual science has been to explain how the brain bridges the gap between what is given to the visual system and what is actually experienced by the perceiver. The orthodox view of perception is that it is a process whereby the brain, or a dedicated subsystem of the brain, builds up representations of relevant figures of the environment on the basis of information encoded by the sensory receptors. Most adherents of the orthodox view also believe that for every conscious perceptual state of the subject, there is a particular set of neurons whose activities are sufficient for the occurrence of that state. Some of the essays in this book defend the orthodoxy; most criticize it; and some propose alternatives to it. Many of the essays are classics. The contributors include, among others, G.E.M. Anscombe, Dana Ballard, Daniel Dennett, Fred Dretske, Jerry Fodor, H.P. Grice, David Marr, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Zenon Pylyshyn, Paul Snowdon, and P.F. Strawson.

Musical Perceptions is a much needed text that introduces students of both music and psychology to the study of music perception and cognition. Because the book aims to foster a closer interaction between research in the science and the art of music, both psychologists and musicians contribute chapters on a wide range of topics, including the philosophy of music; research in musical performance; perception of melody, tonality, and rhythm; pedagogical issues; language and music; and neural networks. With their unique ability to introduce musical and psychological concepts to first-time students in the area, Rita Aiello and John Sloboda have edited a volume that will be popular with undergraduate and graduate students taking courses in the perception, psychology, and aesthetics of music. They have prefaced each chapter with an introduction to the chapter's research. This book will also be useful to cognitive and physiological psychologists and music theorists interested in music perception.

This authoritative reference provides a comprehensive examination of the nature and functions of attention and its relationship to broader cognitive processes. The editor and contributors are leading experts who review the breadth of current knowledge, including behavioral, neuroimaging, cellular, and genetic studies, as well as developmental and clinical research. Chapters are brief yet substantive, offering clear presentations of cutting-edge concepts, methods, and findings. The book addresses the role of attention deficits in psychological disorders and normal aging and considers the implications for intervention and prevention. It includes 85 illustrations. New to This Edition *Significant updates and many new chapters reflecting major advances in the field. *Important breakthroughs in neuroimaging and cognitive modeling. *Chapters on the development of emotion regulation and temperament. *Expanded section on disorders, including up-to-date coverage of ADHD as well as chapters on psychopathy and autism. *Chapters on cognitive training and rehabilitation.

With a new reading of Thomas Reid on primary and secondary qualities, Christopher A. Shrock illuminates the Common Sense theory of perception. Shrock follow's Reid's lead in defending common sense philosophy against the problem of secondary qualities, which claims that our perceptions are only experiences in our brains, and don't let us know about the world around us. At the same time, Schrock maintains a healthy optimism about science and reason.

This book tells the amazing story of perception -- how experiences are created by your senses and how you use these experiences to interact with the environment. You might be surprised to know that although perception is easy -- we see, hear, feel touch, and experience taste and smell without much effort -- the mechanisms that create perceptions are both extremely complex and hidden from our view. SENSATION AND PERCEPTION unravels these complexities by taking you on a journey that describes perceptual research in a clear easy-to-understand way, and by linking the results of this research to your everyday experience. The text is supported by beautiful color illustrations, a media program that makes perception come alive (in the MindTap digital learning solution), and learning aids to help you understand and remember what you have read.