Chapter 6 - Vocabulary

Question 0

Selective Attention

Answer 0

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

Question 1

Perception

Answer 1

The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.

Question 2

Cocktail party effect

Answer 2

Listening to one voice among many.

Question 3

Inattentional blindness

Answer 3

Failing to see visual objects when our attention is directed elsewhere.

Question 4

Change blindness

Answer 4

We sometimes fail to notice changes because our attention is focused elsewhere.

Question 5

Change deafness

Answer 5

We sometimes failed to notice a change in a person’s voice.

Question 6

Choice blindness

Answer 6

You fail to notice a change in a choice you made.

Question 7

Choice blindness blindness

Answer 7

A blindness to the phenomenon of choice blindness.

Question 8

Pop-out phenomenon

Answer 8

Stimuli that is so distinct that it demands our attention.

Question 9

Illusions

Answer 9

Reveal the ways we normally organize and interpret our sensations.

Question 10

Visual capture

Answer 10

The tendency for vision to dominate the other senses.

Question 11

Gestalt

Answer 11

An organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.

Question 12

Figure ground

Answer 12

The organization of the visual field into objects that stand out from their surroundings.

Question 13

Grouping

Answer 13

The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups.

Question 14

Proximity

Answer 14

We group nearby figures together.

Question 15

Similarity

Answer 15

We group together figures that are similar to each other.

Question 16

Continuity

Answer 16

We perceive smooth and continuous patterns rather than discontinuous ones.

Question 17

Connectedness

Answer 17

Because they are uniform and linked, we perceive the two dots and the line between them as a single unit.

Question 18

Closure

Answer 18

We fill in gaps to create a complete whole object.

Question 19

Depth perception

Answer 19

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

Question 20

Visual cliff

Answer 20

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

Question 21

Binocular cues

Answer 21

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

Question 22

Retinal disparity

Answer 22

A binocular cue for perceiving depth: by comparing images from the two eyes, the brain computes the distance - the greater the disparity between the two images, the closer the object.

Question 23

Convergence

Answer 23

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.

Question 24

Monocular cues

Answer 24

Depth cues that are available to either eye alone.

Question 25

Relative size

Answer 25

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

Question 26

Interposition

Answer 26

If one object partially blocks our view of another, we perceive it as closer.

Question 27

Relative clarity

Answer 27

Because light from distant objects passes through more atmosphere, we perceive hazy objects as farther away than sharp, clear objects. In fog or snow, the car in front of you may therefore seem farther away than it is.

Question 28

Texture gradient

Answer 28

A gradual change from a coarse, distinct texture to a fine, indistinct textures signals increasing distance. Objects faraway are smaller and are more densely packed.

Question 29

Relative height

Answer 29

We perceive objects higher in our field of vision as farther away. Because we perceive the lower part of a figure-ground as closer, we perceive it as figure.

Question 30

Relative motion

Answer 30

As we move, objects that are actually stable may appear to move. If while riding on a bus you fix your gaze on an object, the objects closer than the fixation point appear to move backwards.

Question 31

Linear perspective

Answer 31

Parallel lines such as railroad tracks, appear to converge with distance.the more the lines converge, the greater the distance.

Question 32

Light and Shadow

Answer 32

Nearby objects reflect more light to our eyes. Given two identical objects, the dimmer one appears to be farther away.

Question 33

Phi phenomenon

Answer 33

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

Question 34

Perceptual constancy

Answer 34

Perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change.

Question 35

Shape constancy

Answer 35

We perceive the form of familiar objects as constant even when our retinal images of them change.

Question 36

Size constancy

Answer 36

We perceive objects as having a constant size even while our distance from them varies.

Question 37

Perceptual adaptation

Answer 37

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

Question 38

Perceptual set

Answer 38

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.

Question 39

Schema

Answer 39

Through experience we form concepts that organize and interpret unfamiliar information.

Question 40

Context effects

Answer 40

The context of the effect determines how you interpret it.

Question 41

Human factors psychology

Answer 41

A branch of psychology that explores how people and machines interact and how machines and physical environments can be made safe to use.

Question 42

Extrasensory perception (ESP)

Answer 42

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

Question 43

Parapsychology

Answer 43

The study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis.