Chapter 7 Flashcards
Gibson’s Ecological approach to perception
He felt that traditional laboratory research on perception was too artificial because participants couldn’t move their heads
Optic flow
Movement of an observer creates the perception of the movement of objects
gradient of flow; difference in flow as a function of distance from the observer
focus of expansion; point in distance where there is no flow
Examples of how the senses do not work in isolation, including balance, swaying, and walking research.
Senses work together to accomplish the same goal. When one sense is off, the other compensate to help us
Extensions of Gibson’s perspective into other disciplines like environmental psychology.
Studying the acting observer
Identifying invariant information
Considering the senses as working together
Swaying Room research
Children were places in a ‘swinging room’ where the floor was stationary but the walls and ceilings moved, creating optic flow patterns. Children swayed back and forth. When the room returned to being stationary some swayed and staggered and others even fell. Adults had the same response as children when in the swinging room.
Spatial disorientation during flight
Out ability to maintain our body orientation in relation to the surrounding environment.
- Often difficult to maintain in fight as stimuli varies dramatically
- Discrepancies between sensory systems creates illusions
- Between 5-10 percent of all aviation accidents are caused by spatial disorientation
Wayfinding and the role of landmarks
The process of finding our way from one place to another and how landmarks help us find our way
Tolman’s research with rats in a maze
Demonstrated wayfinding
Discovered that rats created a ‘cognitive map’
O’Keefe et al
Physiological evidence in rats for ‘place cells’
Differential hippocampal response based on location of the rat to specific places
Maguire et al. – Importance of experience
Bus drivers vs taxi drivers in London
Recognition of landmarks
Hippocampal volume ( measured by MRI )
Topographical agnosia
An inability to recognize landmarks in real-world environments
Loss of tissue in the parahippocampal gyrus
Affordances – what objects are used for
An objects potential for action is part of our perception.
People with certain brain damage show that they may not be able to name objects but can still describe how they are used or can use them.
