Sensory, Attention, and Perception Processes Chapter 5 Psychology Grade 11 is about how we gather information about the world around us and how we can care for it and give it appropriate meaning. In this blog, we cover all the important topics in Chapter 5 Psychology Class 11 to help you prepare for your exam.
File:psychology class syllabus 11
This blog contains:
- main highlights
- Functional limitations of the sense organs
- care processes
- filter theory
- Filter Damping Theory
- multimode theory
- Chapter 5 Psychology Lecture 11: Processes of perception
- Laws of perceptual organization
- Chapter 5 Psychology class 11: Perception of space, depth and distance
- perceptual constants
- Chapter 5 Psychology Lecture 11: Sociocultural Influences on Cognition
- Chapter 5 Psychology Lecture 11: Key Questions
main highlights
- Sensation, Perception and Attention, Chapter 5 of Psychology Grade 11, addresses three main processes that determine how we acquire knowledge about things that happen around the world.
- The initial experience of a stimulus or an object registered by our sense organs is called a sensation.
- In the attentional process, we select a particular stimulus from a given set of stimuli.
- Perception is defined as the process by which we interpret stimuli in our environment and give them the proper meaning.
Functional limitations of the sense organs
- To be perceived by a sensory receptor, a stimulus must have an optimal intensity or magnitude. The relationship between stimuli and the sensations they evoke is studied in depth in a discipline calledpsychophysical.
- To be noticed, a stimulus must have a minimum value or weight. The minimum value of a stimulus required to activate a particular sensory system is known asAbsolute Threshold or Absolute Limit (AL).
- The smallest difference in the value of two stimuli, necessary for them to be perceived as different, is calledDifference threshold or difference limit (DL).
To explore:Notes on Human Development Class 11
care processes
- In the attentional process, we select a particular stimulus from a given set of stimuli.
- For example, when we walk into a shopping center, we find a lot of people, exhibition spaces and cafes, but we are careful where we go.
- There are 3 characteristics of attention, described below:
- surveillancerefers to the activity and willingness of an individual to deal with the stimuli that appear in front of him/her.
- concentrationrefers to focusing attention on certain stimuli while excluding others for the time being.
- In searching, an observer searches for a specific subset of stimuli from a given set of stimuli.
- Attention has a focus, where our maximum awareness feeds, and a margin, where we are less aware of the stimuli.
- When our consciousness focuses on a specific object or event, it is calledcenter of attention.
- When we have vague ideas about the stimulus and it is distant from the center of consciousness, it is calleda strip of attention.
filter theory
Here are some attention theories explained in Chapter 5 for Psychology Grade 11:
- It was given by Broadbent (1956). According to this theory, many stimuli enter our receptors, creating a kind of "bottleneck" situation.
- As they progress through the short-term memory system, they enter the selective filter that only allows one stimulus to pass to higher levels of attention.
Filter Damping Theory
- It was developed by Triesman (1962) and considered a modification of Broadbent's theory.
- According to this theory, stimuli that do not enter the selective filter at a certain time are not completely blocked, but only weakened (weakened) in strength.
multimode theory
- It was developed by Johnston and Heinz in 1978. According to the multimodal theory, attention is a flexible system that allows three levels of selection of a stimulus over others
- In stage one, sensory representations are built, in stage two semantic representations are built, and in stage three both enter our consciousness.
Two types of attention and factors that influence them
In this section we explain the two types of attention: persistent and selective and the factors that influence them, as explained in Chapter 5 for Psychology Grade 11:
sustained attention
While stimulus selection focuses on stimulus selection, sustained attention, on the other hand, puts the emphasis. It is defined as the ability to maintain attention on an object or event for a longer period of time.
Factors Affecting Sustained Attention
- sensory modality: It is found that performance is better when the stimuli are auditory than when they are visual
- Clarity of the stimuli: Intense and long-lasting stimuli promote sustained attention and therefore lead to better performance.
- temporary uncertainty: Stimuli can be perceived better if they appear at regular intervals, since it is easier to follow them in such cases.
- spatial uncertainty: Stimuli that appear in a fixed location are easily perceived, while those in random locations are difficult to observe.
selective attention
It mainly involves the selection of a limited number of stimuli or objects from a larger number of stimuli. Our perceptual system has a limited capacity to absorb and process information.
Factors Affecting Selective Attention
- External factors: Deals with the characteristics of stimuli. Other things remaining constant, the size, intensity, and movement of stimuli appear to be important determinants of attention. New stimuli easily attract our attention.
- the internal factorThey lie in the individual and are resolved as follows:
- motivating factorsrelated to our biological or social needs
- cognitive factorsThese include factors such as interest, attitude, and preparation set, and people easily visit objects of interest.
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Chapter 5 Psychology Lecture 11: Processes of perception
- Perception is defined as the process by which we interpret stimuli in our environment and give them the proper meaning. Two processing approaches are explained below:
- The idea that the process of knowing part of the parts that serve as the basis for knowing the whole is called knowing.upstream processing.
- The idea that the recognition process starts from the whole and leads to the identification of its various components is called "wholeness."Top-down processing.
- Human beings are naturally creative and intelligent, always trying to give essential meaning to the stimuli in their environment.
- The factors that play an important role in the perception process are described below:
- Motivation-A perceiver's needs and desires greatly influence its perception, and humans always aim to satisfy their needs and desires, and therefore humans perceive objects in such a way that they satisfy their needs and desires.
- Expectations– Expectations about what we might perceive in a given situation also have a strong influence on our perception and reflect a strong tendency to see what we expect to see, even when the results do not correspond to external reality.
- cognitive styleIt is defined as the constant management of our environment and significantly influences the way we perceive our environment.
- Cultural background and experiences-The different learning experiences and opportunities available to people in different cultural contexts also have a strong impact on perception.
- The process of organizing visual fields into meaningful wholes is defined as shape perception.
- Joyagestalt psychologistswe perceive different stimuli not as individual elements, but as an organized whole that has a specific form. For example, a pot with a bouquet of flowers is a whole, and when the flowers are removed, the pot remains a whole.
- The most primitive organization takes the form offigure-ground separation
Cipher | Boden |
The figure has a specific shape. | The bottom is relatively formless. |
He is very organized. | It is very disorganized. |
It has a clear outline. | It has no form. |
The figure stands out from the background. | The background remains behind the figure. |
The figure is clearer, more limited and relatively closer. | The background seems relatively unclear, limitless and distant from us. |
To explore:Learning grade 11 psychology notes.
Laws of perceptual organization

According to the notes of Chapter 5 of the Psychology Class 11, the laws of perceptual organization have 7 principles, all of which are explained below:
- The principle of proximity: According to this principle, objects that are spatially or temporally close to each other are perceived together.
- The similarity principle: According to this principle, similar objects with similar properties are perceived as a group
- The principle of continuity: This principle states that we tend to perceive objects as belonging when they appear to form a continuous pattern.
- The principle of smallness: According to this principle, smaller areas are more likely to look like figures against a larger background.
- The principle of symmetry: This principle suggests that symmetrical surfaces are more likely to be seen as figures against asymmetrical backgrounds.
- The principle of the environment: This principle suggests that areas surrounded by others are more likely to be perceived as shapes.
- The closing principle: We tend to fill in the stimulation gaps and perceive objects as a whole rather than as individual parts.
Chapter 5 Psychology class 11: Perception of space, depth and distance
Next, we will cover the perception of space, depth and distance as mentioned in Chapter 5 Psychology Class 11:
- The process of looking at the world in three dimensions is called distance or depth perception.
- When perceiving depth, we rely primarily on two main sources of information known as cues.
- One is calledbinocular notessince they need both eyes and another is calledmonocular notessince they allow us to perceive depth with only one eye
- monocular notesare explained below–
- Relative size:We tend to perceive an object further away when it appears small and closer when it appears larger.
- overlap: These signals occur when part of the object is covered by another object. The overlapping object is considered farther away, while the covering object appears closer.
- Straight Line Perspective:It refers to the phenomenon in which distant objects appear to be closer together than closer objects.
- aerial perspective: The air contains microscopic particles of dust and moisture that make distant objects appear fuzzy or blurry. This effect is called aerial perspective.
- light and shadow: With light, some parts of the subject will be emphasized while others will be darkened.
- relative altitude: Larger objects are perceived closer to the viewer and smaller objects are perceived further away.
- texture gradient: Denotes a phenomenon whereby the field of view is seen further with a higher density of elements.
- parralox movement: It is a kinetic monocular signal that occurs when objects at different distances move at different relative speeds.
- Binocular signals (physiological signals)Son:
- Retinal or binocular disparity: It happens because the two eyes have different positions in our mind. They are separated horizontally by a distance of about 6.5 centimeters, and due to the distance, the image formed on the retina of each eye of the same object is slightly different, known as retinal disparity.
- convergence: When we see a close object, our eyes converge inward to bring the fovea of each eye. A group of muscles sends messages to the brain about the extent to which the eyes turn inward, and these messages are interpreted as signals for depth perception. The degree of convergence decreases as the object moves away from the observer.
perceptual constants
Next in our notes for Chapter 5 of Grade 11 Psychology is perceptual constancy:
- The perception of objects is relatively stable despite changes in the stimulation of sensory receptors, which is known as perceptual constancy.
- We will now examine three types of perceptual constancy
- size consistency: The tendency for the perceived size of objects to remain relatively unchanged with changes in their distance from the observer and the size of the retinal image is called size constancy.
- Shape constancy:In our perception, the shapes of familiar objects remain unchanged, despite changes in the pattern of the retinal image resulting from differences in their orientation.
- brightness constancy: The tendency to keep an apparent luminosity constant at different illuminance levels is called luminosity constancy.
delusions
- They refer to misperceptions that are the result of misinterpreting information received from our sense organs.
- Some illusions are universal in nature, while others are more personal and culture specific.
- Some important visual illusions are as follows:
- Geometric Mirage
- Muller-Lyer illusion
- Vertical-Horizontal Illusion
- Apparent illusion of movement.
Chapter 5 Psychology Lecture 11: Sociocultural Influences on Cognition
- Sociocultural factors play a crucial role in our cognition, producing differential familiarity and emphasis on stimuli and certain habits of perceptual influence among people.
- People differ in the way they identify objects and interpret depths, depending on their cultural background.
Chapter 5 Psychology Lecture 11: Key Questions
These are the important questions for Chapter 5, Psychology Lesson 11: Sensory, Attention, and Perception Processes.
P. Define care and its characteristics.
A.The process by which certain stimuli are selected from a group of others is commonly known as attention. Its characteristics are attention, search and concentration.
F. Explain the laws of perception of the organization.
A.The perceptual laws of the organization are the principle of closure, the principle of similarity, etc.
F. Explain monocular and binocular depth perception cues
A.Monocular cues for depth perception are relative size, motion parralox, texture gradient, etc. Binocular cues for depth perception: retinal convergence and disparity
Degree in psychology
This was all about Notes on Sensory, Attention, and Perceptual Processes in Psychology Class 11, Chapter 5. See below for additional study materials and references to key NCERT chapters.Usa EdAndFacebook,YouTube, Instagram.