Unit 4: Sensation, Perception, and Consciousness
As human beings, we perceive our world through our senses. This means that we are constantly performing a complex set of processes by which we take in sensory information, convert it into a form usable by the brain, and have the brain send signals to a relevant part of the body in order to tell it how to respond - all in a matter of milliseconds. In this unit, we will highlight two sensory systems and gain a deeper understanding of how we perceive the world around us. We will also discuss how our perceptions of the world and our self are influenced by our different states of consciousness. What happens when we are asleep? What is the function of our dreams? We will also learn how our biological rhythms function and how they can be used to explain phenomena like jetlag. Finally, the unit concludes with a discussion related to psychoactive drugs and how these drugs play a role in our state of consciousness.
Completing this unit should take approximately 16 hours.