Sensation and Perception

With balanced coverage of all the senses, this volume offers a comprehensive examination of sensation and perception. By looking into how all the senses work together, Goldstein is able to show readers how seemingly simple experiences are actually extremely complex reactions. The author examines both the psychophysical and physiological underpinnings of perception, presenting both in a way students should find interesting and easy to follow. Also included are hands-on demonstrations, providing perceptual experiences that illustrate some of the principles discussed in the text.

Table of Contents:
1. THE PERCEPTUAL PROCESS. Studying the Perceptual Process. The Behavioural Approach. Linking Stimulation and Perception. The Physiological Approach. Linking Stimulation and Neural Firing. The Approach in this Book. Why Do We Study Perception? Something to Consider. The Complexity of Perception. 2. INTRODUCING THE VISUAL SYSTEM: FROM OBJECTS INTO ELECTRICITY. Duplicity Theory. Different Receptors for Different Perceptions. Neural Processing. Analysis and Transformation of Electrical Signals. Neural Processing in the Retina. Seeing Dim Lights, Details, and Brightness. Retinal Circuits. What They Can and Cannot Explain. Something to Consider. The Difference Between Physical and Perceptual. Across the Senses 2: Stimuli and their Receptors. 3. THE LATERAL GENICULATE NUCLEUS AND STRIATE CORTEX. The Lateral Geniculate Nucleus. Organization on the Way to the Cortex. The Striate Cortex. Response to Bars, Edges, and Orientation. The Striate Cortex. Response to Spatial Frequency. The Striate Cortex. Organization into Columns. Across the Senses 3: Maps and Columns. Sensory Coding. Making Sense of the Neural Information. Something to Consider. Representing Bill. 4. VISUAL PROCESSING STREAMS. WHAT & WHERE, PERCEPTION & ACTION. Modularity Demonstrated by Specialized Neural Responding. Modularity Demonstrated by the Effects of Cortical Damage in Humans. Attention. Visual and Neural Selectivity. The Binding Problem. Combining Information from Different Areas. Something to Consider. Determining the Relation Between Neural Response and Perception. Across the Senses 4: Neurons that Respond to Vision and Touch. 5. INTRODUCTION TO COLOR. SOME BASIC PROPERTIES. Psychophysical Research. Discovery of the Code for Colour. Psychological Research. Confirmation of the Early Colour Theories. Colour Deficiency. Something to Consider. Colorless Wavelengths and Private Experiences. Across the Senses 5: How Colour Affects Taste and Olfaction. 6. COLOUR CONSTANCY. Lightness Constancy. Shape Constancy. Introduction to Size Constancy. Something to Consider. Instructions can Affect Perceptual Reports. Across the Senses 6: Constancies in Olfaction and Music Perception. 7. PERCEPTUAL ORGANIZATION: GROUPING AND SEGMENTING THE ENVIRONMENT. Neural Processing. The Firing of Feature Detectors. Perceptual Processing. The Alphabet of Object Perception. Recognizing Objects. Determining What Things Are. Knowledge, Experience & Processing. Something to Consider. Primitives, Intelligence, and Behind-the-Scenes Activity. Across the Senses 7: What Happens When Vision and Touch are in Conflict?. 8. THE CUE APPROACH. Oculomotor Cues. Feelings in your Eyes. Pictorial Cues. Information that can be Depicted in a Picture. Movement-Produced Cues. Information from Movement. Binocular Disparity and Stereopsis. Why Two Eyes are Better Than One. Binocular Vision. Physiology and Development. Depth Information Across Species. Something to Consider. The Dynamic Nervous System. Basic Principles.

Review :
"I have found Goldstein's Fourth Edition to be the best book on the market. The Fifth Edition is even better, as it integrates ecological approaches to perception more thoroughly, includes more findings on the application of perceptual information to everyday behavior, and expands and updates the text with exciting new discoveries about the neural bases of sensation and perception." "The 'Across the Senses' section is a great idea. The examples that Goldstein has come up with are quite entertaining, and frankly would be fun to talk about in class." "The text . . . is exceptional in its quality, organization, pedagogy, and academic credentials. I really think Goldstein has taken giant steps toward his goal of a 'simpler' more straightforward approach." "This book is much improved from the Fourth Edition. Goldstein has done a good job of explaining difficult material. Rush the text to publication."