In psychology, sensation and perception are stages of processing of the senses in human

and animal systems, such as vision, auditory, vestibular, and pain senses. Included in this
topic is the study of illusions such as motion aftereffect, color constancy, auditory illusions,
and depth perception.
Sensation is the function of the low-level biochemical and neurological events that begin with
the impinging of a stimulus upon the receptor cells of a sensory organ. It is the detection of
the elementary properties of a stimulus.[1]
Perception is the mental process or state that is reflected in statements like "I see a uniformly
blue wall", representing awareness or understanding of the real-world cause of the sensory
input. The goal of sensation is detection, the goal of perception is to create useful
information of the surroundings.[2]
In other words, sensations are the first stages in the functioning of senses to represent
stimuli from the environment, and perception is a higher brain function about interpreting
events and objects in the world.[3] Stimuli from the environment are transformed into neural
signals, which are then interpreted by the brain, through a process called transduction.
Transduction is the physical process of converting stimuli into biological signals that may
further influence the internal state of the organism, including the possible production of
conscious awareness or perception.
Gestalt theorists believe that with the two together a person experiences a personal reality
that is other than the sum of the parts.

Anatomy and Structure of Human Sense Organs

Aristotle (384 BC - 322 BC) is credited with the traditional classification of the five
sense organs: sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing. As far back as the 1760's,
the famous philosopher Immanuel Kant proposed that our knowledge of the
outside world depends on our modes of perception. In order to define what is
"extrasensory" we need to define what is "sensory". Each of the 5 senses consists
of organs with specialized cellular structures that have receptors for specific
stimuli. These cells have links to the nervous system and thus to the brain.
Sensing is done at primitive levels in the cells and integrated into sensations in
the nervous system. Sight is probably the most developed sense in humans,
followed closely by hearing..

Sense Organs

There are five senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch. There are organs
connected with these sense that take in information that is sent to the brain so
that the body can act on it.
Sight
The eye is the organ of the sense of sight. Eyes detect light, and convert it to
electro-chemical impulses in neurons.
Parts of the eye:
Cornea
The transparent window at the front of the eye which is covered in a thin layer of
tears.
Aqueous humor
On the other side of the cornea is more moisture. This clear, watery fluid is the
aqueous humor. It circulates throughout the front part of the eye and keeps a
constant pressure within the eye.
Pupil and iris:
The pupil is the circular opening in the colored part of the eye which is the iris.
The iris dilates or opens and contracts to let in more or less light.
Lens:
Resembles the lens of a camera and focuses the light, changing shape as it takes
in light reflected from objects near and far.
Vitreous:
A clear jelly that the focused light passes through to the retina.
Retina:
The inner lining at the back of the eye. It contains blood vessels which bring
nutrients to the nerve cells. The macula is at the very center of the retina and
contains the fovea. The photoreceptors of the retina are the rods and cones. The
cones perceive color and finer elements. The retinal pigment epithelium, choroid
and sclera are three more layers. The photoreceptors send light and images to a
large nerve called the optic nerve. This carries the information to the occipital
lobe of the brain where they are interpreted.

Eyelids and eyelashes:

These protect the eye and along with tears keep the eye clear and moist.
Hearing
The ear is the organ concerned with hearing. The ear has three parts: the outer
ear, the middle ear and the inner ear.
Outer ear:
Pinna:
The outermost part of the ear made of cartilage that is connected to the outer
tube called the auditory canal. This leads to the eardrum.
Middle Ear
Eardrum, stirrup, anvil and hammer:
This membrane vibrates and along with the three tiny bones in the middle ear, the
hammer, anvil and stirrup, and sends the stiumuli to the cochlea.
Inner Ear:
Cochlea:
Is spiral shaped and it transforms sound into nerve impulses that travel to the
brain.
Semicircular canals:
These fluid filled tubes attach to the cochlea and nerves in the inner ear. They
send information on balance and head position to the brain.
Eustachian tube:
Drains fluid from the middle ear into the throat behind the nose.
Taste:
Tongue:

Is a muscular organ in the mouth. The tongue is covered with moist, pink tissue
called mucosa and tiny bumps called papillae. Thousands of taste buds cover the
surfaces of the papillae. Taste buds are collections of nerve-like cells that
connect to nerves going into the brain. There are four types of taste buds: sour,
sweet, bitter and salty.
The tongue is vital in tasting and chewing food and in speech.
Smell:
Nose:
The nose, along with the mouth, lets air in and out of the body. It also helops us
distinguish different smells in that air.
The nasal root is the top of the nose, forming an indentation at the suture where
the nasal bones meet the frontal bone. The anterior nasal spine is the thin
projection of bone at the midline on the lower nasal margin, holding the
cartilaginous center of the nose.[1] Adult humans have nasal hairs in the anterior
nasal passage
Touch
Skin:The skin is the largest organ of the body, with a total area of about 20 square
feet. The skin protects us from microbes and the elements, helps regulate body
temperature, and permits the sensations of touch, heat, and cold. The epidermis,
the outermost layer of skin, provides a waterproof barrier and creates our skin
tone.
Layers:

The dermis, beneath the epidermis, contains tough connective tissue, hair
follicles, and sweat glands.
The deeper subcutaneous tissue (hypodermis) is made of fat and connective
tissue.
The skin's color is created by special cells called melanocytes, which produce the
pigment melanin. Melanocytes are located in the epidermis.
Types of Perception in Psychology

he way human beings derive meaning through the senses, including ears, eyes and touch is what makes
man to stand out from the rest of the animate beings. Owing to the complexity of deduction depending on
what the senses perceive, different kinds of interpretations emerge. It is these that form the different types
of perception in psychology that include amodal, color, depth, form, speech, harmonic pitch and rhythmic
perceptions.

Amodal Perception
Amodal perception is one of the most recognizable types of perception in psychology. It is the observation
and interpretation of things in terms of depth and motion. For instance, even if one sees only three points
in a triangular object, he or she knows that the object is three-dimensional and that there are hidden
points on the other side.

Color Perception
Color perception, on the other hand, describes the way the visual senses, denoting the eyes, observe
hues and contextualize them in the environment. For example, by interpreting blue as the color of
depression, the eyes will tend to always attribute all things of this tinge to be melancholic.

Speech Perception
The other types of perception in psychology include those that interpret verbal output. Speech perception,
for one, helps in not only understanding one another, but deducing meaning from mere sounds. It also
indicates the mechanical arrangement of the vocals when another person speaks which means that the
listener interprets the speech through the phonetics such as syllables to create meaning.

Harmonic Perception
Harmonic perception, on the other hand, owes to the understanding that the ear usually perceives interrelated notes, as one, to create meaning in sounds. For instance, riffs in a guitar mixed with those of other
instruments lead to interpretation of the music as a single output that is simple to listen to rather than one
that actually consists of different notes.

Rhythmic Perception
Rhythmic perception also follows the same theories in its interpretative methodology, whereby the ear
gets into a groove by practically responding to it. For instance, one can easily listen to a beat while
humming along to it or tapping along as it continues courtesy of its rhythmic harmony.

Depth Perception
Depth perception also acts as one of the types of perception psychology. It relates to the way the human
eye identifies and contextualizes things in space. For instance, though the naked eye cannot see the end
of a tunnel, it interprets its possible depth through past experiences such as scientific measurements to
know how deep the tunnel can be.

Form Perception
Finally, form perception indicates the contextualization of particular objects in a given environment,
whereby the eyes sees them as primarily 2-D and at times as 3-D depending on the way of their
placement. It is also the understanding of what characterizes the inner and outer core of an object. After
seeing an orange, one immediately knows that it is round and has a rough texture on the skin that
protects the soft interior.
Therefore, there are different types of perception psychology, each of which with its own interpretative
characteristics. The senses can create meaning out of everything by noting characteristics such as depth
and form. Understanding music and human speech also uses the senses as a basis of deducting
meaning from the respective vocal and musical gestures.