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
Past experience
the situations and events
we have encountered throughout our life prior to the present
Memory
an information processing
system that actively receives, organises, stores and recovers information
Motivation
our desires, which cause
us to perceive stimuli that align with our goals as more salient
Context
the situation or conditions in which something occurs
Perceptual constancy
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
Size constancy
the ability to perceive an object’s actual size, despite
changes in our retinal images of the object
Retinal image
the image of an object formed on the retina of the eye
Shape constancy
the ability to perceive an object’s actual shape, despite changes in the retinal image of the object
Orientation constancy
the ability to perceive an object’s actual orientation, despite changes in our retinal image of the object
Visual perceptual principles
a set of consistent instructions that enable us to organise and interpret visual information in a reliable and meaningful way
Gestalt principles
a set of principles that explain how we interpret visual information most efficiently by grouping individual elements together to perceive a whole object
Figure–ground
the tendency to perceive art of a visual stimulus as more relevant (the figure) and standing out against its less relevant surroundings (the ground)
Camouflage
when a figure appears to mix with the background
Closure
our ability to fill in or ignore gaps in visual stimuli and perceive objects as a meaningful whole
Similarity
the tendency to group together as a whole any stimuli that are alike in size, shape or colour
Proximity
the tendency to perceive the
parts of a visual stimulus that are close together as belonging to a group
Culture
the many characteristics of a group of people, including their attitudes, behaviours, customs and values that are transmitted from one generation to the next
Taste buds
cells in the mouth and throat that send sensory information to the brain for taste perception
Food culture
the attitudes, behaviours, customs and values around food with which we were raised
