Chapter 6 Flashcards
Selective Attention
The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus, as in the cocktail party effect (your ability to attend to only one voice among many)
Perception
The process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events
Cocktail Party Effect
Your ability to attend to only one voice among many
Inattentional Blindness
Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere
Change Blindness
After a brief visual interruption, you fail to notice changes in your visual field
Change Deafness
The failure to notice slight changes in our auditory field
Choice Blindness
The failure to notice our selection if a particular stimulus has changed
Choice Blindness-Blindness
Exhibiting denial (blindness) to falling victim to a hypothetical experiment
Pop-Out Phenomenon
Some stimuli are so different that they demand our attention
Illusions
A perception, as of visual stimuli (optical illusion), that represents what is perceived in a way different from reality
Visual Capture
The tendency for vision to dominate the other senses
Gestalt
An organized whole; gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes
Figure-Ground
The organization of the visual fields into objects (the figures) that standout from their surroundings (the ground)
Grouping
The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups
Proximity
We group nearby figures together
Similarity
We group together figures that are similar to each other
Continuity
We perceive smooth, continuous patterns rather than discontinuous ones
Connectedness
We perceive things as a single unit
Closure
We fill in gaps to create a complete, whole object
Depth Perception
The ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two dimensional; allows us to judge distance
Visual Cliff
A laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals
Binocular Cues
Depth cues that depend on the use of two eyes
Retinal Disparity
A binocular cue for perceiving depth: by comparing images from the two eyeballs, the brain computes distance - the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object
Convergence
A binocular cue for perceiving depth; the extent to which the eyes converge inward when looking at an object - the greater the inward strain, the closer the object
Monocular Cues
Depth cues available to either eye alone
Relative Size
If we assume that two objects are similar in size,we perceive the one that casts the smaller retinal image as farther away
Interposition
If one object partially blocks the view of another, we perceive it as closer
Relative Clarity
Because light from distance objects passes through more atmosphere, we perceive hazy objects as farther away than sharp, clear objects
Texture Gradient
A gradual change from a coarse, distinct texture to a fine, indistinct texture signals increasing distance. Objects far away appear smaller and more densely packed. (Light colored things appear closer than dark colored things)
Relative Height
We perceive objects higher in our field of vision as farther away
Relative Motion
As we move, objects that are actually stable may appear to move. The nearer the object is to you, the faster it seems to move
Linear Perspective
Parallel lines appear to converge with distance. The more the lines converge, the greater their perceived distance.
Light and Shadow
Nearby objects reflect more light to our eyes. Given two identical objects, the dimmer one seems farther away. Assume that lift comes from above.
Phi Phenomenon
An illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession
Stroboscopic Movement
The brain will perceive continuous movement in a rapid series of slightly varying images
Perceptual Constancy
Perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent lightness, color, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change
Perceptual Adaption
In vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field
Context Effects
The brain can work backward in time to allow a later stimulus to determine how we or receive an earlier one
Perceptual Set
A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another
Schema
Concepts that we form through experience that organize and interpret unfamiliar information
Human Factor Psychologists
A branch of psychology that explores how people and machines interact and how machines and physical environments can be made safe and easy to use
Extrasensory Perception
The controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input. Said to include telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition
Parapsychology
The study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis
