Introduction to Perception

Question 1

What is the first stage of perceptual processing?

Answer 1

Elicitation of environmental stimuli

Question 2

What is the second stage of perceptual processing?

Answer 2

Transduction/transformation of neural energy

Question 3

What is the third stage of perceptual processing?

Answer 3

Neural coding which occurs inside the peripheral and central nervous system

Question 4

What is the fourth (last) stage of perceptual processing?

Answer 4

Awareness of the existence of a stimuli as a ‘percept’

Question 5

In what ways have humans managed to beat our own perception?

Answer 5

DeepBlue vs Kasparov in 1997 where scientists created a computer that beats humans in chess.

AlphaGo vs Lee Sedol in 2016 where a computer could beat the world’s best chess player.

Question 6

What is the best example of the human ability to recognise objects and process visual scenes effortlessly?

Answer 6

CAPTCHA test which prevents bots from accessing secure sites.

Completely Automated Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart

Question 7

What are distal stimuli?

Answer 7

External physical objects or events that occur far away.

Question 8

What are proximal stimuli?

Answer 8

Sensation representations of distal stimuli in sensory receptors.

Question 9

What are ‘percepts’?

Answer 9

Perceptual experiences and mental representations of distal stimuli (external objects/events).

Question 10

What are the four characteristics of perception?

Answer 10

1) Cognitive Impenetrability
2) Infant Development of Perception
3) Emergent Properties
4) Lacks Perceptual Detail

Question 11

What is Cognitive Impenetrability?

Answer 11

Knowing the physical layout of an object doesn’t influence it’s perceived properties or help us perceive it.

Question 12

What are Emergent properties?

Answer 12

The concept that simple forms of perceptual stimulation convey large amounts of information.

Question 13

What are two examples of cognitive impenetrability?

Answer 13

Sheppard’s Table illusion shows tables that appear to have different sizes, but have the exact same surface.

Colours behind Transparent filters look different than reality because of the transparent filter illusion.

Question 14

What aspect of survival do emergent properties help with?

Answer 14

Successful interaction and perception of the environment.

Question 15

What is a real life example of perception’s lack of detail?

Answer 15

Change Blindness wherein the eye is unable to distinguish differences between images, which implies that perception is not always accurate.

Question 16

How do perceived components inhibit the ability of AI perception?

Answer 16

The complexity of physical stimuli and perceived properties lead to a high ambiguity of retinal images for intelligent technology. This disallows them from perceiving depth and cues to depth.

Question 17

What is parallel processing?

Answer 17

The existence of separate channels specialised for processing different attributes of a visual scene.

Question 18

What is modular organisation?

Answer 18

Wherein different visual areas of the brain are specialised to process and perceive attributes of a scene.

Question 19

What is hierarchical organisation?

Answer 19

Wherein the parallel streams (of parallel processing) have stages that increase in complexity over time.

Question 20

What is the process of problem binding within parallel processing?

Answer 20

Parallel input signals are integrated in the cortex to provide a unified and coherent percept.

Question 21

What are illusory conjunctions?

Answer 21

The processing of separate attributes during a brief 0.8ms presentation of images which doesn’t successfully integrate in the brain.