Ch 2&3 Flashcards
Perception occurs when
sense data – what we see, hear, smell, taste, and or touch – is transmitted to the brain
The brain almost instantly transforms the
Sensory messages into conscious perceptions by attaching meaning to the sense data
Perception is the process of
Selecting, organizing, and interpreting sensory data
Stages of perception 1(selection)
Selection is the first stage in the perception process
Selection involves
Selecting from the environment stimuli to which we will attend
Organization 2nd stage
Categorize stimuli to make sense of it
We tend to organize stimuli on the basis of
- Schema
- Figure and Ground
- Proximity
- Similarity
- Closure
Schemas
Are mental templates that enable us to organize and classify stimuli into manageable groups or categories
Figure – ground
Figure ground organization occurs when a portion of the stimuli selected from the environment is the focal point of our attention (“figure”) and the rest is placed in the background (“ground”)
Proximity
Group stimuli that are physically close to each other
Similarity
Group elements together based on size, color, shape, and other characteristics
Closure (puzzle)
“ fill in the missing pieces” To form a whole or complete picture
Interpretation 3rd stage
stimuli that we have selected and organized from the environment when we assign meaning to the stimuli
Perceptual errors
Confusing fact with inference can bias our perceptions and cause errors.
An inference is
An interpretation based on a fact
(Educated guess) 
