Perceiving and Consciousness Flashcards
What is bottom-up processing?
detection of basic stimulus features, focus on parts before the whole
What is top-down processing?
observer’s experience influencing meaningful perception, focus on meaningful/useful patterns rather than the whole as parts
What are Gestalt’s Principles?
a set of perceptual principles that describe how humans make meaningful perceptions
What does the figure-ground relationship state?
perception is automatically separated into the figure (ex: main element) and the ground (ex: the background)
What is perceptual grounding?
Our tendency to group elements of our sensory world together
What are some categories of perceptual grouping?
similarity, proximity, continuity, closure, symmetry
Describe perceptual constancy
Even as aspects of sensory signals change, perception remains constant
What is size constancy?
our perception of an object as being the same size despite it not necessarily being the same size on our retinas
What is shape constancy?
perception of an object as the same object despite differences in shape
What is attention?
the active and conscious processing of particular info (what you’re currently focusing and attending to)
What is feature integration theory?
We can detect specific features from our world without attention. Attention is required for binding of multiple features together
Describe Illusory correlations
With attention split incorrect binding of letter and colors is more likely
What is consciousness?
persona awareness of mental activities, internal sensations, and external environment
What is unconsciousness?
processing or behavior which occur without awareness
What is Freud’s unconsciousness theory?
- the mind is like an iceberg
- consciousness is above while below are deep underlying instincts and desires battling with forces to control them
What is Dualism?
- separation of mind and bond
- body is like an automaton
- mind an intangible entity in control
(early philosophical theory of consciousness)
What is introspection?
- looking in one oneself
- early tool to study consiousness
What are some issues with introspection?
it’s subjective and scientifically immeasurable
What is cognitive unconsciousness?
the unexperienced mental processes that gives rise to a person’s thoughts choices, emotions, and behavior
How were Freud’s ideas wrong but important/
- everything isn’t b/c of your mother and there’s no evidence for his “forces”
- his ideas brought forward the idea that our behaviors and thinking aren’t always our awareness
Where do we now think the mind is rooted?
the brain
How do modern views of consciousness help us study it? through which means?
- developed a more objective definition of consciousness
- helps study what happens in individuals with damage
- implement modern tools
- we can study it through experiments and neuroimaging techniques
What are the different levels of consciousness? What does each one comprise?
- minimal consciousness - responsiveness and low-level sensory awareness of sensations
- full consciousness - fully aware and able to report your mental state
- self-conscious - focus of attention is upon oneself as an object
What are common things that alter states of consciousness?
drugs and brain trauma
What are the properties of consciousness?
unity, selectivity, intentionality, transience
Explain consciousness unity and give an example.
consciousness is experienced as a whole (phenomena are integrated into a whole experience)
- Ex: painting experiences as a whole even though it’s made up of swatches of color
Explain consciousness intentionality and give an example
consciousness is about something
- Ex: experience of coming upon this sign will differ depending on the intention
Explain consciousness selectivity and give an example
- consciousness is focused by our attention
- attention acts as a spotlight (there’s limited capacity so we focus on what’s relevant to our current goals
- filters out irrelevant information (ex: cocktail-party effect, intentional blindness)
What s inattentional blindness?
occurs when one fails to notice a readily visible yet unexpected visual stimulus in one’s sight
Explain consciousness transience and give an example
consciousness is constantly shifting from the current point of focus to the next
What is change blindness?
we’re not attending to everything
- unattended changes are easy to miss
gist information instead of details
- processing the image as a whole (unity)
- changes relative to most recent information (Transience)
What is multitasking? What’s the downside to multitasking?
- paying attention to two or more stimuli simultaneously
- individual stimuli receive less attention
Are there many behaviors that fall outside of our consciousness?
yes (ex: driving, walking, shoe tying, eating)
What is automatic processing?
- conscious guidance is unnecessary
- conscious engagement may make it more difficult
What is controlled processing?
- requires more focus
- learning tasks
What can unconscious information impact?
our behavior (behavior and thoughts are an integration of information from multiple sources: conscious and unconscious information)
