Chapter 9 - Perception Flashcards
Attention
the level of awareness directed towards certain stimuli to the exclusion of others
Sustained attention
the maintenance of a high degree of attention over a prolonged period
Vigilance
another name for sustained attention
Selective attention
focusing on a single activity while disregarding other
environmental stimuli
Controlled cognitive process
a cognitive task that requires a high level of conscious awareness and mental effort
Salient
a descriptor for anything that is prominent, conspicuous or otherwise noticeable when compared to its surroundings
Divided attention
distributing attention to allow the processing of two or more stimuli at the same time
Automatic cognitive process
a task that requires a low level of conscious awareness or mental effort
Top-down processing
the processing of sensory information by applying prior knowledge and expectations
Perception
the mental process of recognising, interpreting and giving meaning to the information received by the sense organs
Bottom-up processing
the processing of sensory information beginning with salient sensory data, which is then integrated to form a bigger picture
Schema
our pre-existing mental ideas relating to a given concept that help us organise and interpret new information
Sensations
the information from the environment detected by the sensory organs and transmitted to the brain
Gustation
the sense of taste
Biopsychosocial model
an inter-disciplinary model that looks at the interconnection between biology, psychology and social factors
Depth perception
the ability to judge distances and see the world in three dimensions
Biological depth cues
a physiological signal or piece of information that helps us to determine how near or far an object is from another object or ourselves
Binocular depth cues
depth cues that require both eyes to send information to the brain to perceive depth
Convergence
a biological depth cue
that involves the brain interpreting tension changes in the muscles around the eyes
Retinal disparity
the brain detecting similarities and differences
between the information being sent from each eye, due to the eyes being 6–7 cm apart
Monocular depth cues
depth cues that only require one eye to send information to the brain to perceive depth
Accommodation
the ability of the eye to change focus from near to distant objects and back again
Perceptual set
the tendency to view things in a certain way due to a readiness to receive certain
stimuli