Attention and perception part 2 unit 7

Question 1

What is the first step in the perceptual process?

Answer 1

A: The distal stimulus, which is the stimulus in the environment.

Question 2

What role does the distal stimulus play in perception?

Answer 2

It initiates the perceptual process by interacting with sensory organs (e.g., light reaching the eyes).

Question 3

What is the second step in the perceptual process?

Answer 3

The proximal stimulus, which is the image or signal detected by sensory receptors.

Question 4

How is the proximal stimulus created in visual perception?

Answer 4

Light reflected from the distal stimulus is projected onto the retina.

Question 5

What happens during the receptor processes stage?

Answer 5

Sensory receptors convert the proximal stimulus into electrical signals through transduction

Question 6

What happens during receptor processes in sensation?

Answer 6

Sensory receptors convert the proximal stimulus into electrical energy.
Receptors are specialized to detect specific types of energy (e.g., light, pressure, chemicals).
Visual receptors (rods and cones) in the retina use light-sensitive pigments to transform light into electrical energy through a process called transduction.

Question 7

What is transduction?

Answer 7

The process of converting sensory input (e.g., light) into electrical energy.

Question 8

What happens during the neural processing stage?

Answer 8

Neurons transmit the electrical signals from sensory receptors to specific brain areas (e.g., occipital lobe for vision).

Question 9

Which brain areas process visual and auditory signals?

Answer 9

A: - Visual: Occipital lobe.

Auditory: Temporal lobe.

Question 10

What are the final steps of the perceptual process?

Answer 10

A: Perception, recognition, and action:

Perception: Conscious awareness of the stimulus.
Recognition: Categorizing the stimulus (e.g., identifying it as a tree).
Action: Behavioral response (e.g., moving toward the tree).

Question 11

Does the perceptual process always follow a linear order?

Answer 11

A: No, actions can modify perception and recognition (e.g., moving closer changes visual details).

Question 12

What is top-down processing?

Answer 12

Perception guided by prior knowledge, experience, and expectations.

Question 13

How does top-down processing influence perception?

Answer 13

Previously acquired knowledge helps interpret ambiguous stimuli (e.g., rat-man experiment).

Question 14

What is constructive perception?

Answer 14

A form of top-down processing where sensory information combines with prior knowledge to build a perception.

We have seen examples of this when studying implicit memory: knowledge and expectations help
us interpret stimuli, even when the stimuli are incomplete or distorted

Question 15

Who proposed the idea of unconscious inference in perception?

Answer 15

A: Hermann von Helmholtz.

Question 16

What is the likelihood principle in perception?

Answer 16

The idea that we perceive the most likely cause of the sensory input based on past experiences.

Question 17

What is unconscious inference?

Answer 17

This judgment is an unconscious inference: our perceptions are the result of automatic
assumptions we make about the environment based on our previous experiences and knowledge

Question 18

What is an example of top-down processing?

Answer 18

Recognizing a group of dots as a house due to prior exposure to similar shapes.

Question 19

What is bottom-up processing?

Answer 19

Perception driven purely by sensory data without prior knowledge.

Question 20

What is the ecological approach to perception?

Answer 20

Proposed by James J. Gibson, it suggests that all the necessary information for perception is provided by the environment.

Question 21

How does the ecological approach explain depth perception?

Answer 21

Texture gradients in the environment provide cues about depth and distance.

Question 22

What is optic flow?

Answer 22

Optic flow is a perception of motion created by movement through an environment:

Closer objects appear to move faster.
The destination point (focus of expansion) remains stationary.

Question 23

How do top-down and bottom-up processes complement each other?

Answer 23

Bottom-up processes handle clear sensory information, while top-down processes assist when stimuli are ambiguous. (open to more than one interpretation)

Question 24

What does perception as an interaction mean?

Answer 24

It involves both bottom-up sensory data and top-down knowledge to create a complete perception.

Goldstein (2017, pp. 10) views perception as ”an interaction between bottom-up processing, which
starts with the image on the receptors, and top-down processing, which brings the observer’s
knowledge into play