Chapter 9 - Perception

Question 2

Attention

Answer 2

the level of awareness directed towards certain stimuli to the exclusion of others

Question 3

Sustained attention

Answer 3

the maintenance of a high degree of attention over a prolonged period

Question 4

Vigilance

Answer 4

another name for sustained attention

Question 5

Selective attention

Answer 5

focusing on a single activity while disregarding other
environmental stimuli

Question 6

Controlled cognitive process

Answer 6

a cognitive task that requires a high level of conscious awareness and mental effort

Question 7

Salient

Answer 7

a descriptor for anything that is prominent, conspicuous or otherwise noticeable when compared to its surroundings

Question 8

Divided attention

Answer 8

distributing attention to allow the processing of two or more stimuli at the same time

Question 9

Automatic cognitive process

Answer 9

a task that requires a low level of conscious awareness or mental effort

Question 10

Top-down processing

Answer 10

the processing of sensory information by applying prior knowledge and expectations

Question 11

Perception

Answer 11

the mental process of recognising, interpreting and giving meaning to the information received by the sense organs

Question 12

Bottom-up processing

Answer 12

the processing of sensory information beginning with salient sensory data, which is then integrated to form a bigger picture

Question 13

Schema

Answer 13

our pre-existing mental ideas relating to a given concept that help us organise and interpret new information

Question 14

Sensations

Answer 14

the information from the environment detected by the sensory organs and transmitted to the brain

Question 15

Gustation

Answer 15

the sense of taste

Question 16

Biopsychosocial model

Answer 16

an inter-disciplinary model that looks at the interconnection between biology, psychology and social factors

Question 17

Depth perception

Answer 17

the ability to judge distances and see the world in three dimensions

Question 18

Biological depth cues

Answer 18

a physiological signal or piece of information that helps us to determine how near or far an object is from another object or ourselves

Question 19

Binocular depth cues

Answer 19

depth cues that require both eyes to send information to the brain to perceive depth

Question 20

Convergence

Answer 20

a biological depth cue
that involves the brain interpreting tension changes in the muscles around the eyes

Question 21

Retinal disparity

Answer 21

the brain detecting similarities and differences
between the information being sent from each eye, due to the eyes being 6–7 cm apart

Question 22

Monocular depth cues

Answer 22

depth cues that only require one eye to send information to the brain to perceive depth

Question 23

Accommodation

Answer 23

the ability of the eye to change focus from near to distant objects and back again

Question 24

Perceptual set

Answer 24

the tendency to view things in a certain way due to a readiness to receive certain
stimuli

Question 25

Past experience

Answer 25

the situations and events
we have encountered throughout our life prior to the present

Question 26

Memory

Answer 26

an information processing
system that actively receives, organises, stores and recovers information

Question 27

Motivation

Answer 27

our desires, which cause
us to perceive stimuli that align with our goals as more salient

Question 28

Context

Answer 28

the situation or conditions in which something occurs

Question 29

Perceptual constancy

Answer 29

the mind’s ability to
perceive a visual stimulus
as remaining constant even though the visual information sent to the brain about the object shows changes in shape, size, brightness and orientation

Question 30

Size constancy

Answer 30

the ability to perceive an object’s actual size, despite
changes in our retinal images of the object

Question 31

Retinal image

Answer 31

the image of an object formed on the retina of the eye

Question 32

Shape constancy

Answer 32

the ability to perceive an object’s actual shape, despite changes in the retinal image of the object

Question 33

Orientation constancy

Answer 33

the ability to perceive an object’s actual orientation, despite changes in our retinal image of the object

Question 34

Visual perceptual principles

Answer 34

a set of consistent instructions that enable us to organise and interpret visual information in a reliable and meaningful way

Question 35

Gestalt principles

Answer 35

a set of principles that explain how we interpret visual information most efficiently by grouping individual elements together to perceive a whole object

Question 36

Figure–ground

Answer 36

the tendency to perceive art of a visual stimulus as more relevant (the figure) and standing out against its less relevant surroundings (the ground)

Question 37

Camouflage

Answer 37

when a figure appears to mix with the background

Question 38

Closure

Answer 38

our ability to fill in or ignore gaps in visual stimuli and perceive objects as a meaningful whole

Question 39

Similarity

Answer 39

the tendency to group together as a whole any stimuli that are alike in size, shape or colour

Question 40

Proximity

Answer 40

the tendency to perceive the
parts of a visual stimulus that are close together as belonging to a group

Question 41

Culture

Answer 41

the many characteristics of a group of people, including their attitudes, behaviours, customs and values that are transmitted from one generation to the next

Question 42

Taste buds

Answer 42

cells in the mouth and throat that send sensory information to the brain for taste perception

Question 43

Food culture

Answer 43

the attitudes, behaviours, customs and values around food with which we were raised