Chapter 3 - Perception

Question 1

perception

Answer 1

experiences resulting from stimulation of the senses

Question 2

inverse projection problem

Answer 2

the task of determining the object that caused a particular image on the retina.

Question 3

viewpoint invariance

Answer 3

the ability to recognize an object seen from different viewpoints.

Question 4

bottom-up processing

Answer 4

processing the starts at the “bottom” or beginning of the system.

when environmental energy stimulates the receptors.

also called data-based processing.

Question 5

top-down processing

Answer 5

processing the starts at the “top” or beginning of the perceptual system

processing that originates in the brain.

Question 6

speech segmentation

Answer 6

the ability to tell when one word ends and next word begins.

Question 7

action pathway

Answer 7

Neural pathway, extending from the occipital love to the parietal love, that is associated with neural processing that occurs when people take action.

corresponds to the WHERE pathway

Question 8

apparent movement

Answer 8

an illusion of movement perception that occurs when stimuli in different locations are flashed one after another with the proper timing.

(the galloping horse carousel)

Question 9

Bayesian inference

Answer 9

the idea that our estimate of the probability of an outcome is determined by the prior probability (our initial belief) and the likelihood (the extent to which the available evidence is consistent with the outcome)

Question 10

brain ablation

Answer 10

a procedure in which a specific area is removed from an animal’s brain. It is usually done to determine the function of this area by assessing the effect on the animal’s behavior.

Question 11

direct pathway model

Answer 11

model of pain perception that proposes the pain signals are sent directly from receptors to the brain.

Question 12

experience-dependent plasticity

Answer 12

a mechanism that causes an organism’s neurons to develop so they respond best to the type of stimulation to which the organism has been exposed.

Question 13

Gestalt psychologist

Answer 13

a group of psychologists who proposed principles governing perception, such as laws of organization, and a perceptual approach to problem solving involving restructuring.

Question 14

law of pragnanz

Answer 14

law of perceptual organization that states that every stimulus pattern is seen in such a way that the resulting structure is as simple as possible.

also called the law of good figure and the law of simplicity

Question 15

landmark discrimination problem

Answer 15

problem in which the task is to remember an object’s location and to choose that location after a delay.

Associated with research on the WHERE processing stream.

Question 16

light-from-above assumption

Answer 16

the assumption that light is coming from above. this is a heuristic that can influence how we perceive three-dimensional objects that are illuminated.

Question 17

likelihood

Answer 17

In Bayesian inference, the extent to which the available evidence is consistent with the outcome.

Question 18

likelihood principle

Answer 18

part of Helmoltz’s theory of unconscious inference that states that we perceive the object that is MOST LIKELY to have caused the pattern of stimuli we have received.

Question 19

object discrimination problem

Answer 19

a problem in which the task is to remember an object based on its shape and choose it when presented with another object after delay.

Associated with research on the WHAT processing stream.

Question 20

oblique effect

Answer 20

the finding that vertical and horizontal orientations can be perceived more easily than other (slanted) orientations.

Question 21

perception pathway

Answer 21

neural pathway, extending from the occipital lobe to the temporal lobe, that is associated with perceiving or recognizing objects.

Corresponds to the WHAT pathway.

Question 22

physical regularities

Answer 22

regularly occurring physical properties of the environment.

For example, there are more vertical and horizontal orientations in the environment that oblique (angled) orientations.

Question 23

placebo

Answer 23

a pill or procedure that patients believe delivers active ingredients, but which contains no active ingredient.

Question 24

placebo effect

Answer 24

a decrease in pain from a procedure or substance that delivers no active ingredient

Question 25

principle of good continuation

Answer 25

law of perceptual organization stating that points that, when connected, result in straight or smoothly curving lines are seen as belonging together.

In addition, lines tend to be seen as following the smoothest path.

Question 26

principle of good figure

Answer 26

law of perceptual organization that states that every stimulus pattern is seen in such a way that the resulting structure is as simple as possible.

also principle of good figure and law of pragnanz

Question 27

principle of similarity

Answer 27

law of perceptual organization that states that similar things appear to be group together.

Question 28

principle of simplicity

Answer 28

law of perceptual organization that states that every stimulus pattern is seen in such a way that the resulting structure is as simple as possible.

also principle of good figure and law of pragnanz

Question 29

principle of perceptual organization

Answer 29

rules proposed by the Gestalt psychologists to explain how small elements of a scene or display become perceptually grouped to form larger units.

Question 30

prior OR prior probability

Answer 30

a persons initial belief about the probability of an outcome.

Question 31

regularities in the environment

Answer 31

characteristics of the environment that occurs frequently.

for example, blue is associated with open sky, landscapes are often green and smooth, and verticals and horizontals are often associated with buildings.

Question 32

scene schema

Answer 32

a person’s knowledge about what is likely to be contained in a particular scene.

The knowledge of what is usually in an office may cause a person to look toward the desk to see the computer

Question 33

semantic regularities

Answer 33

characteristics associated with the functions carried out in different types of scenes.

for example, food preparation, cooking, and perhaps eating occur in a kitchen.

Question 34

theory of natural selection

Answer 34

Darwin’s theory that characteristics that enhance an animal’s ability to survive and reproduce will be passed on to future generations.

Question 35

unconscious inference

Answer 35

Helmholtz’s idea that some of our perceptions are the result of unconscious assumptions that we make about the environment.

Question 36

WHAT pathway

Answer 36

neural pathway, extending from the occipital lobe to the temporal lobe, that is associated with perceiving or recognizing objects.

Corresponds to the perception pathway.

Question 37

Where pathway

Answer 37

Neural pathway, extending from the occipital lobe to the parietal lobe, that is associated with neural processing that occurs when people locate objects in space.

roughly corresponds to the action pathway.