Module 23 - Visual Organization and Interpretation

Question 1

Gestalt

Answer 1

An organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes

Question 2

Figure-ground

Answer 2

The organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground)

Question 3

Grouping

Answer 3

The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups

Question 4

Proximity

Answer 4

We group nearby figures together

Question 5

Continuity

Answer 5

We perceive smooth, continuous patterns rather than discontinuous ones

Question 6

Closure

Answer 6

We fill in gaps to create a complete, whole object

Question 7

Depth perception

Answer 7

The ability to see objects in 3 dimensions although the images that strike the retina are 2-dimensional; allows us to judge distance

Question 8

Visual cliff

Answer 8

A laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals

Question 9

Binocular cues

Answer 9

A depth cue, such as retinal disparity, that depends on the use of two eyes

Question 10

Retinal disparity

Answer 10

A binocular clue for perceiving depth. By comparing retinal images from the two eyes, the brain computes distance—the greater the disparity between the two images, the closer the object

Question 11

Monocular cues

Answer 11

A depth cue, such as interposition or linear perspective, available to either eye alone

Question 12

Phi phenomenon

Answer 12

An illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession

Question 13

Perceptual constancy

Answer 13

Perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent color, brightness, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change

Question 14

Color constancy

Answer 14

Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object

Question 15

Perceptual adaptation

Answer 15

The ability to adjust to changed sensory input, including an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field

Question 16

Linear perspective

Answer 16

Parallel lines appear to meet in the distance. The sharper the angle of convergence, the greater the perceived distance

Question 17

Relative size

Answer 17

If we assume two objects are similar in size, most people perceive the smaller one is farther away

Question 18

Interposition

Answer 18

If one object partially blocks our view of another, we perceive it as closer

Question 19

Relative height

Answer 19

We perceive objects higher in our field of vision as farther away

Question 20

Relative motion

Answer 20

As we move, objects that are stable may appear to move

Question 21

Light and shadow

Answer 21

Shading produces a sense of depth consisten with our assumption that light comes from above

Question 22

Brightness constancy

Answer 22

Perceiving an object as having a constant brightness

Question 23

Relative luminence

Answer 23

The amount of light an object reflects relative to its surroundings

Question 24

Shape constancy

Answer 24

Perceiving the form of familiar objects as constant even while our retinas receive changing images of them

Question 25

Size constancy

Answer 25

Perceiving an object as having an unchanging size