Chapter 6: Perception

Question 1

Selective Attention

Answer 1

the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus, as in the cocktail party effect. -

Question 2

Visual Capture

Answer 2

the tendency for vision to dominate the other senses. -

Question 3

Gestalt

Answer 3

an organized whole - psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of info into meaningful wholes. -

Question 4

Figure ground

Answer 4

the organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground). -

Question 5

Grouping

Answer 5

the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups. -

Question 6

Depth Perception

Answer 6

the ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance. -

Question 7

Visual Cliff

Answer 7

a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals. -

Question 8

Binocular Cues

Answer 8

depth cues, such as retinal disparity and convergence, that depend on the use of two eyes. -

Question 9

Retinal Disparity

Answer 9

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 close the object. -

Question 10

Convergence

Answer 10

a binocular cue for perceiving depth; the extent to which the eyes converge inward when looking at an object. -

Question 11

Phi Phenomenon

Answer 11

an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession. -

Question 12

Perceptual Constancy

Answer 12

perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent lightness, color, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change. -

Question 13

Perceptual Adaptation

Answer 13

in vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field. -

Question 14

Perceptual Set

Answer 14

a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another. -

Question 15

Human Factors Psychology

Answer 15

an applied field of study that examines human abilities, limitations, behaviors, and processes in order to inform human-centered designs; science of people at work. -

Question 16

Extrasensory Perception

Answer 16

the controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input. Said to include telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition. -

Question 17

Parapsychology

Answer 17

the study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis. -

Question 18

Proximity

Answer 18

a Gestalt principle of organization holding that (other things being equal) objects or events that are near to one another (in space or time) are perceived as belonging together as a unit. -

Question 19

Similarity

Answer 19

a Getalt principle of organization holding that (other things being equal) parts of a stimulus field that are similar to each other tend to be perceived as belonging together as a unit. -

Question 20

Continuity

Answer 20

Gestalt psychology principle which states that the observer tends to see a line or shape as continuing in a particular direction rather than making a turn. -

Question 21

Closure

Answer 21

a Gestalt principle of organization holding that there is an innate tendency to perceive incomplete objects as complete and to close or fill gaps and to perceive asymmetric stimuli as symmetric. -

Question 22

Connectedness

Answer 22

a Gestalt grouping principle; elements that are connected to each other group together. -

Question 23

Monocular Cues

Answer 23

depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either eye alone. -

Question 24

Relative Size

Answer 24

two objects are similar in size, we perceive the one that casts the smaller retinal image as farther away. -

Question 25

Texture Gradient

Answer 25

a graduated change in the texture, or grain, of the visual field, whereby objects with finer, less detailed textures are perceived as more distant. -

Question 26

Relative Height

Answer 26

we perceive objects higher in our field of vision as farther away. -

Question 27

Relative Motion

Answer 27

The perception of an observer that, as the observer moves forward, the objects that appear to him/her to move backwards faster are closer than apparently slower-moving objects; a monocular cue. -

Question 28

Linear Perspective

Answer 28

Where converging lines meet at a vanishing point; creates a feeling of vast space. -

Question 29

Relative Brightness

Answer 29

a monocular cue, objects up close appear brighter than objects farther away. -

Question 30

Interposition

Answer 30

monocular visual cue in which two objects are in the same line of vision and one partially conceals the other, indicating that the first object concealed is further away. -

Question 31

Relative Clarity

Answer 31

a monocular cue for perceiving depth; hazy objects are farther away than sharp, clear objects. -