Chapter 6 Vocab Flashcards
The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus as in the cocktail party effect
Selective attention
The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events
Perception
Ability to attend to only one voice among many
Cocktail party effect
Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere
Inattentional blindness
After a brief visual interruption you fail to notice changes in your visual field
Change blindness
The failure to notice slight changes in our auditory field
Change deafness
Exhibiting denial (blindness) to falling victim to a hypothetical experiment
Choice Blindness Blindness
When a strikingly distinct stimulus draws our attention
Pop-out phenomenon
The failure to notice our selection of a particular stimulus has changed
Choice blindness
The tendency for vision to dominate the other senses
Visual Capture
A perception as of visual stimuli (optical illusion) that represents what is perceived in a way different from reality
Illusion
An organized whole
Gestalt
The organization of the visual field into objects that stand out from their surroundings
Figure-ground
The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups
Grouping
Grouping of nearby figures together
Proximity
Grouping of figures that are similar to each other
Similarity
Perceiving smooth continuous patterns rather than discontinuous ones
Continuity
Because they are uniform and linked we perceive them as single units
Connectedness
Filling in of gaps to create a complete whole object
Closure
Ability to see objects in 3 dimensions although the images that strike the retina are 2 dimensional allow us to judge distance
Depth perception
Laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals
Visual cliff
Depth cues such as retinal disparity and convergence that depend on the use of two eyes
Binocular cues
Binocular cue for perceiving depth by comparing images from the two eyeballs brain compute difference
Retinal disparity
Binocular cue for perceiving depth to the extant to which the eyes coverage inward when looking at an object
Convergence
Depth cues such as interposition and linear perspective available to either eye alone
Monocular cues
Assume two objects are similar in size we perceive the one that casts the similar retinal image further away
Relative size
In one object partially blocks are view of another we perceive it as closer
Introspection
Perceiving hzy objects further away than sharp clear objects
Relative clarity
Gradual change from a coarse distinct texture to a fine indistinct texture signals increasing distance
Texture gradient
Perceiving objects higher in our field of vision as further away
Relative height
As we move objects that are actually stable May appear to move
Relative motion
Parallel lines appear to converge with distance
Linear perspective
Nearby objects reflect more light given two identical objects the dimmer one seems further away
Light and shadow
An illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession
Ph phenomenon
Perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change
Perceptual constancy
In vision the ability to adjust to artificially displaced or even inverted visual field
Perceptual adaption
A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another
Perceptual set
Concepts
Schema
Branch of psychology that explores how people and machines interact and how machines and physical environments can be made safe and easy to use
Human factors psychologists
The controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input
Extrasensory perception
Study of paranormal phenomena including ESP and psychokinesis
Parapsychology
