Throughout this chapter sensations and perceptions will be discussed as separate events, whereas in reality, sensations and perceptions can be more accurately thought of as occurring along a continued where boundaries are more fluent between where a sensation ends and a perception begins. Also, a sensation would be hearing a loud, shrill tone, whereas a perception would be the classification and understanding of that sounds as a fire alarm. Sensations allow us to see a red burner, but perceptions entail the understanding and representation of the characteristic hot. In order for sensations to be useful, we must first add meaning to those sensations, which create our perceptions of those sensations. Perceptions on the other hand, require organizing and understanding the incoming sensation information. Sensations allow organisms to sense a face, and smell smoke when there is a fire. Transduction represents the first step toward perception and is a translation process where different types of cells react to stimuli creating a signal processed by the central nervous system resulting in what we experience as a sensations. The conversion from sensory stimulus energy to action potential is known as transduction. These cells relay messages, in the form of action potentials (as you learned when studying biopsychology), to the central nervous system. For example, light that enters the eye causes chemical changes in cells that line the back of the eye. When sensory information is detected by a sensory receptor, sensation has occurred. What does it mean to sense something? Sensory receptors are specialized neurons that respond to specific types of stimuli.
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