Table of Contents:
1. Introduction to Perception.
2. Basic Principles of Sensory Physiology.
3. The Eye and Retina.
4. The Visual Cortex and Beyond.
5. Perceiving Objects and Scenes.
6. Visual Attention.
7. Taking Action.
8. Perceiving Motion.
9. Perceiving Color.
10. Perceiving Depth and Size.
11. Hearing.
12. Hearing in the Environment.
13. Perceiving Music.
14. Speech Perception.
15. The Cutaneous Senses.
16. The Chemical Senses.
Appendix A: Methods of Adjustment and Constant Stimuli.
Appendix B: The Difference Threshold.
Appendix C: Magnitude Estimation and The Power Function.
Appendix D: The Signal Detection Approach.
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E. Bruce Goldstein
E. Bruce Goldstein is an associate professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh and is affiliated with the department of psychology at the University of Arizona. He received the Chancellor's Distinguished Teaching Award from the University of Pittsburgh for his classroom teaching and textbook writing. Before joining the faculty at the University of Pittsburgh, he was a postdoctoral fellow in the biology department at Harvard University. Dr. Goldstein has published papers on a wide variety of topics, including retinal and cortical physiology, visual attention and the perception of pictures. The author of COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY: CONNECTING MIND, RESEARCH AND EVERYDAY EXPERIENCE, 5th Edition (Cengage, 2019) and THE MIND: CONSCIOUSNESS, PREDICTION AND THE BRAIN (MIT, 2020), he edited the BLACKWELL HANDBOOK OF PERCEPTION (Blackwell, 2001) and the two-volume SAGE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PERCEPTION (Sage, 2010). He is currently teaching courses in the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, for learners over 50, at the University of Pittsburgh, Carnegie-Mellon University and the University of Arizona, including Your Amazing Mind, Cognition and Aging, The Social and Emotional Mind, and The Mystery and Science of Shadows. He received his bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from Tufts University and his Ph.D. in experimental psychology from Brown University.
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Laura Cacciamani
Laura Cacciamani is an assistant professor of cognitive neuroscience in the department of psychology and child development at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Before joining the faculty at Cal Poly, she completed a two-year postdoctoral fellowship at the Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute while also lecturing at California State University, East Bay. Dr. Cacciamani's research focuses on the neural underpinnings of object perception and memory as well as the interactions between the senses. She has published papers that have used behavioral, neuroimaging and neurostimulation techniques to investigate these topics in young adults, older adults and people who are blind. Dr. Cacciamani is also passionate about teaching, mentoring and involving students in research. She received her bachelor's degree in psychology and biological sciences from Carnegie Mellon University and her M.A. and Ph.D. in psychology with a minor in neuroscience from the University of Arizona.
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Time-tested features from previous editions -- including "Demonstrations" illustrating principles in action, "Methods" sections and "Developmental Dimension" segments -- have been updated and carried over into the 11th edition.
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The Exploration feature in MindTap -- the digital learning experience available with the text -- enables students to view experimental stimuli, perceptual demonstrations and short film clips about the research discussed in the text. These features have been thoroughly updated, and new items have been added to the labs carried over from the previous edition. Most of the items have been generously provided by researchers in vision, hearing and perceptual development.
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Reflecting the latest developments from the field, the 11th edition has been updated throughout with discussions of cutting-edge research. Especially noteworthy are a revised and more "student friendly" Chapter 1: Introduction to Perception and an expanded treatment of basic auditory mechanisms and music perception. In addition, approximately 85 new full-color figures help deepen student understanding of key concepts throughout the text.
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Helping students sharpen their critical thinking skills, chapter-ending "Think About It" questions go beyond the chapter material and ask readers to apply what they have learned in a real-world context.
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"Demonstrations" provide perceptual experiences that illustrate principles discussed in the text. The demonstrations are simple enough so that students can easily comprehend them. They also are integrated into the flow of the narrative so that they become part of the ongoing story. Topics include attentional capture, perceiving size at a distance and "tasting" with and without the nose.
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Integrated into the ongoing discussion, "Methods" sections emphasize the importance of methods and illustrate how some of the facts presented in the book were obtained. Topics include preferential looking, neural mind reading, habituation and color matching, among many others.
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In the last section of every chapter, "Something to Consider" features discuss new findings, wrap up an intriguing topic or highlight a practical application of a chapter concept. Topics include focusing attention by meditating (Chapter 6), prediction is everywhere (Chapter 7), motion, motion and more motion (Chapter 8), the changing moon (Chapter 10), auditory perception, explaining sound to an 11-year old (Chapter 11), hearing in the environment (Chapter 12), cochlear implants (Chapter 14), plasticity in the brain (Chapter 15) and multimodal aspects of olfaction (Chapter 16).
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Thoroughly updated for the new edition, the ever-popular "Developmental Dimension" feature appears at the end of each chapter and focuses on perception in infants and young children. New topics include infant attention and learning object names (Chapter 6, attention), infant affordances (Chapter 7, action), how infants respond to the beat (Chapter 13, music), infant-directed speech (Chapter 14, speech) and social touch in infants (Chapter 15, cutaneous).
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"Test Yourself" questions in the middle and at the end of each chapter enable students to check their understanding of the material just read, helping them maximize their course success.