5. Perception Flashcards
What is attention?
we attend to meaningful stimuli… filter out irrelevant data
What is inattentional blindness?
Example of gorilla: You concentrate on something and miss something else
What is habituation?
Decrease in response to a repeated stimulus
What is a perceptual set?
What we EXPECT to see, hear…, etc.
What is bottom-up processing?
brain pieces together parts, lines, shapes: build up a pattern
Progression of individual components: builds up to a whole
What is top down processing?
perception guided by KNOWN patterns: Expectations;
e.g. Meeting Mom at the airport. You already know what you’re looking for
What are the 2 principles of perception?
Figure-ground, laws of grouping
What is the figure ground principle of perception?
object-background (our ability to interpret sensory information depends on what we label as figure and what we label as ground in any particular case)
(1) Ambiguous figures: old-young woman
(2) Reversible figures: faces-vase
(3) Camouflage
What are the laws of grouping?
This principle asserts that things that are close to one another tend to be grouped together.
(1) Similarity
(2) Proximity
(3) Continuity (we are more likely to perceive continuous, smooth flowing lines rather than jagged, broken lines)
(4) Closure (we see objects rather than a series of parts)
What is perceptual constancy?
The tendency to perceive an object you are familiar with as having a constant shape, size, and brightness despite the stimuli changes that occur.
What is depth perception?
A flat 2-dimensional world into 3D’
What are binocular cues?
TWO eyes working together. Each eye sends a different message to the Visual Cortex
‘Binocular disparity’: eyes are 2 ½ inches apart –> send different messages
What are monocular cues?
Depth perceived by only one eye
Name 6 monocular cues
Interposition: when near surfaces overlap far surfaces. If one object partially blocks the view of another object, humans perceive it as closer
Linear perspective: (ponzo illusion)—things further away vs close are in same size
Relative size – architecture needs this—the two circles in the centre are the same size but look different when put in a different background. Relative size cues can provide information about the relative depth of the two objects
Texture gradient: Fine details on nearby objects can be seen clearly, whereas such details are not visible on faraway objects
Atmospheric perspectives: things further away we get a less acute view of it. Objects that are a great distance away have lower luminance contrast and lower color saturation.
Motion parallax: things farther away looks like they are moving slower (e.g look outside car window)
What is the visual cliff?
innate depth perception
What is motion perception?
Motion perception is the process of inferring the speed and direction of elements in a scene based on visual input.
1. Object passes through our visual field
2. Eyes and head move tracking
o “the background moves”…
o NO!! brain cancels out wrong signals
What is a visual illusion? Give examples
A misinterpretation of an actual stimulus (inappropriate compensation)
Muller-Lyer: two lines and the arrows (convergent vs divergent)
Ames Room
Ponzo illusion
Necker’s cube
Moon illusion—when the moon is on the horizon it looks huge, as it progresses up to the air –> it starts to “shrink”
Hermann’s grid – lateral inhibition
What is social perception?
Reading facial expression: survival mechanism
Not good in autism
Why was rorschach test used?
Culture suggests not everybody see things the same way
E.g. hunter hunting yellow springbok or elephant?
What is subliminal perception?
Perception we know but doesn’t reach our consciousness
e.g. stroop effect
“drink vodka” – alcohol advertising: about sex, or having a skull shaped ice cube..
