Chapter 3: Nature and Perception

Question 1

Define perception.

Answer 1

Experiences resulting from stimulation of the senses.

Question 2

What is inverse projection problem?

Answer 2

The task of determining the object responsible for a particular image on the retina.

Question 3

People’s ability to recognize an object even when it is seen from different viewpoints.

Answer 3

Viewpoint invariance

Question 4

Image generates electrical signals that are transmitted through the retina, and then to the visual receiving area of the brain. This sequence of events from eye to brain is called…

Answer 4

Bottom-up processing

Question 5

What is top-down processing?

Answer 5

Processing that originates in the brain, at the “top” of the perceptual system. Perceptions come from past experiences, culture, and knowledge.

Question 6

An example/kind of a top-down processing…

Answer 6

Multiple personalities of a blob

Question 7

What does “multiple personalities of a blob” mean?

Answer 7

Even though all of the blobs are identical, and are perceived as different objects depending on their orientation and the context in which they are seen.

Question 8

The ability to tell when one word in a conversation end and the next one begins is a phenomenon called…

Answer 8

Speech segmentation

Question 9

Transitional probabilities is…

Answer 9

The likelihood that one sound will follow another within a word.

Question 10

Every language has transitional probabilities for different sounds, and the process of learning about transitional probabilities and about other characteristics of language is called…

Answer 10

Statistical learning

Question 11

An early idea about how people use information was proposed by 19th century physicist and physiologist…

Answer 11

Hermann von Helmholtz (1866/1911)

Question 12

One of Helmholtzs’ contribution to perceptions based on his realization that…

Answer 12

…the image on the retina is ambiguous.

Question 13

What is an ophthalmoscope?

Answer 13

Instruments that enables physicians to examine the blood vessels inside the eye.

Question 14

Define the likelihood principle.

Answer 14

Preceiving the object that is most likely to have caused the pattern of timely we have received.

Question 15

What is an unconscious interference?

Answer 15

One’s perceptions is the result of unconscious assumptions, or inferences, that one makes about the environment.

Question 16

Define sensations according to Wundt’s definition.

Answer 16

It is the overall experience that could be understood by combining basic elements of experience.

Question 17

The Gestalt approach to perception originated, in part, from…

Answer 17

Wilhelm Wundt’s structuralism and Helmholtz’s theory of unconscious inference

Question 18

What is Hermann von Helmholtz’s theory called?

Answer 18

Theory of Unconscious Inference

Question 19

Define apparent movement.

Answer 19

Although movement is perceived, nothing is actually moving.

Question 20

Three components to stimuli that create apparent movement.

Answer 20

(1) One light flashes on and off
(2) There is a period of darkness, lasting a fraction of a second
(3) The second light flashes on and off

Question 21

Basic principle of the Gestalt psychology.

Answer 21

The whole is different than the sum of its parts.

Question 22

“Points that, when connected, result in straight or smoothly curving lines are seen as belonging together, & the lines tend to be seen in such a way as to follow the smoothest path. Also, objects that are overlapped by other objects are perceived as continuing behind the overlapping objects.” What principle is this?

Answer 22

Principle of Good Continuation

Question 23

“Every stimulus pattern is seen in such a way that the resulting structure is as simple as possible.” What principle is this?

Answer 23

Law of Pragnanz, also called the Principle of Good Figure/Principle of Simplicity

Question 24

What is the principle of similarity?

Answer 24

Similar things appear to be grouped together.

Question 25

What are the three most popular principles of perceptual organization?

Answer 25

(1) Principle of Good Continuation
(2) Law of Pragnanz
(3) Principle of Similarity

Question 26

Define regularities in the environment.

Answer 26

The frequently occurring characteristics found in the environment.

Question 27

Two types of regularities.

Answer 27

Physical regularities and semantic regularities.

Question 28

Physical regularities are…

Answer 28

…regularly occurring physical properties of the environment.

Question 29

Oblique effect is the ability to…

Answer 29

…perceive horizontals & verticals more easily than other orientations.

Question 30

Usually assume that light is coming from above, because light in our environment, including the sun and most artificial light, usually comes from above is a perception called…

Answer 30

Light-from-above assumption

Question 31

Characteristics associated with the functions carried out in different types of scenes is called…

Answer 31

Semantic regularities

Question 32

What is a scene schema?

Answer 32

It is the knowledge of what given scene typically contains.

Question 33

Bayesian inference was named after…

Answer 33

Thomas Bayes (1701-1761)

Question 34

Bayesian inference proposed that our estimated of the probability of an outcome is determined by two factors…

Answer 34

(1) Prior probability

(2) Likelihood of the outcome

Question 35

Define prior probability.

Answer 35

It is the initial belief about the probability of an outcome.

Question 36

An extent to which the available evidence is consistent with the outcome is called…

Answer 36

Likelihood of the outcome

Question 37

Four approaches of object perception.

Answer 37

(1) Helmholtz’s Unconscious Inference
(2) Gestalt Laws of Organization
(3) Regularities in the environment
(4) Bayesian inference

Question 38

There are more neurons that respond to horizontals & verticals, why is this so? One possible answer is based on the theory of natural selection which states that…

Answer 38

…characteristics that enhance an animal’s ability to survive, & therefore reproduce, will be passed on to future generations.

Question 39

Learning can shape the response properties of neurons through the process of _______________.

Answer 39

Experience-dependent plasticity

Question 40

What is experience-dependent plasticity?

Answer 40

Shaping of the neural responding by experience.

Question 41

Physiological research on perceiving objects and interacting with them involves two methods.

Answer 41

Brain ablation and neuropsychology

Question 42

What is brain ablation?

Answer 42

A technique on removing parts of the brain in animals.

Question 43

Define neuropsychology.

Answer 43

The study of the behavior of people with brain damage.

Question 44

Pathway in the brain leading from the striate cortex to the temporal lobe.

Answer 44

What pathway

Question 45

Pathway in the brain leading from the striate cortex to the parietal lobe.

Answer 45

Where pathway

Question 46

What and where pathway is also called…

Answer 46

Ventral pathway (what) and the dorsal pathway (where)

Question 47

The term dorsal refers to the…

Answer 47

…back or the upper surface of an organism

Question 48

The term ventral refers to the…

Answer 48

…lower part of the brain

Question 49

Pathway in the brain from the visual cortex to the temporal lobe.

Answer 49

Perception pathway

Question 50

Pathway in the brain from the visual cortex to the parietal lobe.

Answer 50

Action pathway, also called the how pathway

Question 51

When a person is presented with two similar objects, such as two cubes, that are the same weight but different sizes, the larger one seems lighter when they are lifted together is an example called…

Answer 51

Size-weight illusion

Question 52

Does the Gestalt approach leans toward bottom-up or top-down processing?

Answer 52

Bottom-up processing