Sensation & Perception - Hardcover

Wolfe, Jeremy M.; Kluender, Keith R.; Levi, Dennis M.; Bartoshuk, Linda M.; Herz, Rachel S.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0878939539 ISBN 13: 9780878939534

Publisher: Sinauer Associates Inc, 2008

Synopsis

Why does the sky look blue? Why does sugar taste sweet? Can my dog hear the same things I hear? We all start out as natural enthusiasts for the subject material of a Sensation and Perception class. Sinauer AssociatesÂ’ new Sensation and Perception text is written by experts in each of the five senses who never lost that enthusiasm and who have a passion for conveying the excitement of this field of study to students. Sensation and Perception provides up-to-date and accurate descriptions of vision, audition, touch, taste, and olfaction in a lively and engaging manner. The book reflects the recent explosion of knowledge in higher-level perception with extensive coverage of topics such as attention, haptic perception, and speech and music. At the same time, the text provides a solid grounding in the basics of sensory physiology and psychophysics.

For students for whom this is the beginning and end of their study of sensation and perception, this text is intended to give an accessible, engaging and intellectually satisfying survey of the major topics in the field. For those who are continuing, the text will be a stimulating invitation to more extensive study in this rich field.

This is the first introductory sensation and perception textbook to take advantage of full-color printing through out. A robust website includes activities and demonstrations as well as additional written material for added depth.

About this title

About the Author:

JEREMY M. WOLFE is Professor of Ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, USA. His early work includes papers on binocular vision, adaptation, and accommodation. Dr. Wolfe was trained as a vision researcher/experimental psychologist and remains one today. The bulk of his recent work has dealt with visual search and visual attention. He has taught Introductory Psychology for over twenty years, first at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, where he won the Baker Memorial Prize for undergraduate teaching in 1989, and now, also, at Harvard. KEITH R. KLUENDER is Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, USA. His research encompasses how people hear complex sounds such as speech, how experience shapes the way we hear, how what we hear guides our actions and communication, clinical problems of hearing impairment or language delay, and practical concerns about computer speech recognition and hearing aid design. Dr. Kluender is deeply committed to teaching, and has taught a wide array of courses, philosophical, psychological, and physiological. DENNIS M. LEVI has taught at the University of California, Berkeley, USA since 2001. He is Dean/Professor in the School of Optometry and Professor at the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute. In the lab, Dr. Levi and colleagues use psychophysics, computational modelling, and brain imaging (fMRI) to study the neural mechanisms of normal pattern vision in humans, and to learn how they are degraded by abnormal visual experience (amblyopia). LINDA M. BARTOSHUK is Professor of Otolaryngology and Psychology at Yale University, USA. Her research on taste has opened up broad new avenues for further study, establishing the importance of the genetic basis of taste preferences (and their impact on health) and demonstrating the significant anatomical differences underlying these preferences. Her work has also improved the treatment of oral pain in cancer patients and people with neurological damage resulting in a loss of taste. RACHEL S. HERZ is currently Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour at Brown University Medical School, USA. Her research focuses on olfactory cognition and perception and the roles and features of emotion, memory, and language. Using an experimental approach grounded in evolutionary theory and incorporating both cognitive-behavioural and psychological techniques, Dr. Herz aims to understand how biological mechanisms and cognitive processes interact to influence perception, cognition, and behaviour ROBERTA L. KLATZY is Professor of Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University, USA, where she also holds faculty appointments in the Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition and the Human--Computer Interaction Institute. She has done extensive research on haptic and visual object recognition, human navigation under visual and nonvisual guidance, and motor planning. Her work has application to haptic interfaces, navigation aids for the blind, exploratory robotics, teleoperation, and virtual environments. SUSAN J. LEDERMAN is Professor of Psychology at Queen's University, USA, with cross-appointments in the School of Computing and in the Centre for Neuroscience. Her research interests span both perception and cognition, with particular emphases on psychophysics, haptic perception and recognition of objects and their underlying neural processes and representations, multisensory perception, and sensory-guided motor control. She has applied the results of her research to a number of real-world problems, including the design of haptic and multisensory interfaces for virtual environments and teleoperation.

Review:

The interrelated phenomena of sensation and perception are fascinating subjects for students of the mind and brain. Sensation and Perception will draw students into the topic easily, luring them with engaging stories, colorful images, and fun demonstrations that will make them want to explore the brain s complex mechanisms for making sense of the world. ... this is a welcome addition to the textbooks of similar vein, because it is fresh and friendly, and is stamped with the mark of its high-quality scientist authors. --Leslie P. Tolbert, The Quarterly Review of Biology

About this edition

• Publisher: Sinauer Associates Inc
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0878939539
• ISBN 13: 9780878939534
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 460