5 Perceiving Objects And Scenes

Question 0

Viewpoint invariance

Answer 0

Objects that have properties that don’t change when viewed from different angles. The geons in the recognition-by-components theory of object perception are view invariant.

Question 1

Inverse projection problem

Answer 1

Idea that a particular image on the retina could have been caused by an infinite number of different objects. Thus, the retinal image does not unambiguously specify a stimulus.

Question 2

Gestalt psychology

Answer 2

Approach to psychology that focuses on developing principles of perceptual organization, proposing that “the whole differs from the sum of its parts.”

Question 3

Structuralism

Answer 3

Approach to psychology, prominent in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the postulated that perceptions result from the summation of many elementary sensations. Gestalt approach to perception was, in part, a reaction to structuralism.

Question 4

Sensations

Answer 4

Elementary elements that, according to this structuralists, combine to create perceptions.

Question 5

Apparent movement

Answer 5

Illusion of movement that occurs between two objects separated in space when the objects are flashed rapidly on and off, one after another, separated by a brief time interval.

Question 6

Illusionary contour

Answer 6

Contour that is perceived even though it is not present in the physical stimulus.

Question 7

Laws of perceptual organization

Answer 7

Series of rules proposed by the Gestalt psychologists that specify how we organize small parts into holes. Some of these laws are common fate, familiarity, good continuation, good figure, nearness, and similarity. Most of these laws were originally proposed by the Gestalt psychologists, but modern researchers have proposed some additional laws.

Question 8

Perceptual organization

Answer 8

Process by which small elements become perceptually grouped into larger objects.

Question 9

Law of pragnanz

Answer 9

Gestalt law of perceptional organization that states that every stimulus pattern is seen in such a way that the resulting structure is as simple as possible. Also called law of good figure or the law of simplicity.

Question 10

Law of similarity

Answer 10

Gestalt law stating that similar things appear to be grouped together.

Question 11

Good continuation

Answer 11

Gestalt law of perceptual organization that states that points that, when connected, result in straight or smoothly curving lines are seen as belonging together, and outlines tend to be seen in such a way as to follow the smoothest path.

Question 12

Law of proximity

Answer 12

Gestalt law of perceptual organization that states the things that are near to each other appear to be grouped together. Also called the law of nearness.

Question 13

Principle of common region

Answer 13

Modern gestalt principle that states that elements that are within the same region of space appear to be grouped together.

Question 14

Principle of uniform connectedness

Answer 14

Modern Gestalt principle that states that connected regions of a visual stimulus are perceived as a single unit.

Question 15

Principle of synchrony

Answer 15

Modern principle of perceptual organization that states that visual events that occur at the same time will be perceived as belonging together.

Question 16

Law of common fate

Answer 16

Gestalt law of perceptual organization that states that things that are moving in the same direction appear to be grouped together.

Question 17

Law of familiarity

Answer 17

Gestalt law a lot of perceptional organization that states that things are more likely to form groups when the groups appeared familiar or meaningful.

Question 18

Perceptual segregation

Answer 18

Perceptual organization in which one object is seen a separate from other objects.

Question 19

Figure-ground segregation

Answer 19

Perceptual separation of an object from its background.

Question 20

Figure

Answer 20

When an object is seen as separate from the background, it is called a figure.

Question 21

Ground

Answer 21

In object perception, the background is called the ground.

Question 22

Reversible figure-ground

Answer 22

Figure-ground pattern that perceptually reverses as it is viewed, so that the figure becomes the ground and the ground becomes a figure. The best-known reversible figure-ground pattern is Rubin’s vase-face pattern.

Question 23

Border ownership

Answer 23

When to areas share a border, as occurs in figure-ground displays, the border is usually perceived as belonging to the figure.

Question 24

Heuristics

Answer 24

In perception, a rule of thumb that provides “best guess” estimate of the identity of a particular stimulus.

Question 25

Algorithm

Answer 25

Procedure that is guaranteed to result in the solution to a problem. For example, the procedures we learn for addition, subtraction, and long division are algorithms.

Question 26

Recognition-by-components (RBC) theory

Answer 26

Theory of object perception proposed by Biederman, which proposes that we recognize objects by decomposing them into volumetric features call geons.

Question 27

Geon

Answer 27

Volumetric features of vitamins recognition-by-components theory of object perception.

Question 28

Non-accidental properties (NAPs)

Answer 28

Properties of edges in the retinal image that corresponds to the properties of edges in the three-dimensional environment. For example, a non-accidental property of a rectangular solid is three parallel edges. Non-accidental properties are visible from most viewpoints.

Question 29

Accidental viewpoint

Answer 29

Viewpoint relative to an object that results in perception of an accidental (or rarely encountered) property of the object. For example, all three sides of the solid cube visible for most viewpoints, an accidental property – seeing only one side of the cube – occurs when the cube is seen from the accidental viewpoint of an end-on cue. This concept is associated with the recognition-by-components theory of object perception.

Question 30

Discriminability

Answer 30

Generally, the ability to distinguish between one stimulus and another. In the recognition-by-components theory of object perception, discriminability is a property of geons, which indicates that each geon can be distinguished from other geons from almost all viewpoints.

Question 31

Principle of componential recovery

Answer 31

Principle of the recognition-by-components model that states that we can rapidly and correctly identify an object if we can perceive its individual geons.

Question 32

Scene

Answer 32

View of a real-world environment that contains (1) background elements and (2) multiple objects that are organized in a meaningful way relative to each other in the background.

Question 33

Gist of a scene

Answer 33

General description of the scene. People can identify most scenes after viewing them for only a fraction of a second, as when they flicked rapidly from one TV channel to another.

Question 34

Persistence of vision

Answer 34

Phenomenon in which perception of any stimulus persists for about 250 ms after the stimulus is physically terminated.

Question 35

Masking stimulus

Answer 35

Visual pattern that, when presented immediately after visual stimulus, decreases a person’s ability to perceive the stimulus. This stops the persistence of vision and therefore limits the effective duration of the stimulus.

Question 36

Global image features

Answer 36

Information that may enable observers to rapidly perceive the gist of the scene. Features associated with specific types of scenes include degree of naturalness, degree of openness, degree of roughness, degree of expansion, and color.

Question 37

Regularities in the environment

Answer 37

Characteristics of the environment that occur regularly and in many different situations.

Question 38

Physical regularities

Answer 38

Regularly occurring physical properties of the environment. For example, there are more vertical and horizontal orientations in the environment than a oblique (angled) orientations.

Question 39

Oblique effect

Answer 39

Enhanced sensitivity to vertically and horizontally orientated visual stimuli. This effect has been demonstrated by measuring both perception and narrow responding.

Question 40

Light-from-above heuristic

Answer 40

Assumption that light usually comes from above, which influences our perception of form in some situations.

Question 41

Semantic regularities

Answer 41

Characteristics associated with the function carried out in different types of scenes. These characteristics are learned from experience. For example, most people are aware of the kinds of activities and objects that are usually associated with kitchens.

Question 42

Theory of unconscious interference

Answer 42

Idea proposed by Helmholtz that some of our perceptions are the result of unconscious assumptions that we make about the environment.

Question 43

Likelihood principle

Answer 43

Idea proposed by Helmholtz that we perceive the object that is most likely to have caused the pattern of stimuli we have received.

Question 44

Bayesian inference

Answer 44

Statistical technique that takes probabilities into account.

Question 45

Contextual modulation

Answer 45

When the neural response to stimulus is influenced by the context within which a stimulus occurs. This term has been used to refer to the situation in which are neuron’s response is influence by stimulation of an area outside of its receptor field.

Question 46

Region-of-interest (ROI) approach

Answer 46

Procedure used in brain imaging in which subjects are pretested on the stimuli to be studied. This enables researchers to establish the precise location in the brain that they will be studying for each individual person.

Question 47

Binocular rivalry

Answer 47

Situation in which two different images are presented simultaneously to the left and right eyes and perception alternate back and forth between the two images.