perception

Question 1

sensation vs perception

Answer 1

sensation is recognising sensory information and perception is using your past experiences to interpret it

Question 2

the ponzo illusion

Answer 2

• 2 lines pointed towards each other with 2 lines in the middle
• misinterpreted depth cue
• the horizontal line at the top appears larger than the one at the bottom but they are the same length

Question 3

the muller lyer illusion

Answer 3

• 2 differently pointing arrows
• misinterpreted depth cue
• the line with outwards pointing ‘fins’ appears larger but they are the same length

Question 4

rubin’s vase

Answer 4

• ambiguous face or vase figure
• ambiguity
• the figure could either be perceived as 2 faces or a vase

Question 5

the ames room

Answer 5

• a square looking room
• misinterpreted depth cue
• 2 people of the same height appear vastly different due to shape of room but looks to be square

Question 6

the necker cube

Answer 6

• a cube with 1 shaded face
• ambiguity
• the marked face can be seen as either the front or back face

Question 7

the kanizsa triangle

Answer 7

• 3 cut out circles
• fiction
• 3 figures places so our depth cues perceive a triangle that is not there

Question 8

the binocular depth cues

Answer 8

• retinal disparity= comparing the 2 different images produced by our eyes
• convergence= measuring the strain produced by our eye muscles to judge distance

Question 9

monocular depth cues

Answer 9

• height in plane= objects that appear higher up are further away
• relative size= objects that appear smaller are further away
• occlusion= objects that overlap another as closer
• linear perspective= parallel lines coming together at a point, the closer to the point the further it is

Question 10

Gibson’s direct theory of perception

Answer 10

• perception happens directly from our senses as they have all the information we need to perceive accurately
• sensation and perception is the same thing
• there is no use for past experience in perception
• if there is no ‘flow’ of objects around us our brain knows we are not moving
• motion parallax is also a monocular depth cue
• when in motion, the objects closer to us move faster and those further away move faster

Question 11

evaluation of the direct theory of perception

Answer 11

+ real world meaning- gibson’s theory was constructed by world war 2 pilots, explains how we perceive the world on a daily basis. high external
- visual illusions- gibson says we perceive perfectly from senses but illusions prove we do not. low internal

Question 12

Gregory’s constructivist theory of perception

Answer 12

• our brain makes a ‘guess’ in order to perceive what happens around us
• e.g. if you don’t believe in ghosts, you may explain rising steam or smoke on a dark night by coming from a kettle or fire
• a lot of what we perceive is ambiguous or incomplete, so our brain uses interference to understand it
• interference is when the brain uses sensory information from our eyes to draw a conclusion, which most of the time is correct
• visual cues help our brain perceive meaning we usually are correct with the exception of illusions
• perception is from nurture
• perception grows as we do, we will perceive a chair as a chair as we have seen chair-like objects before
• culture is a big factor in perception

Question 13

evaluation of the constructivist theory

Answer 13

+ supporting evidence- Hudson found that white schooled participants were more likely to perceive accurately than black schooled participants, showing culture affects how we perceive. high internal
- illusions- the theory supports illusions but only 2D ones, designed to trick us, not proving everyday perception. low external

Question 14

Gilchrist and Nesberg study of motivation

Answer 14

method: 26 volunteered to go 20 hours without food and a control group who ate as normal. after 20 hours all participants were shown 4 slides of the same meal, then turned off after 15 seconds. participants had their own version of pictures and had to adjust the lighting to show how bright they saw the picture
results: the food deprived group perceived the image brighter, control group perceived accurately

Question 15

evaluation of motivation study

Answer 15

+ support from similar studies- sanford deprived participants of food and showed them ambiguous figures, the longer they were deprived the more likely they were to perceive the figures as food. high internal
- ethical issues- may not be fair to deprive them of food even though they had informed consent. ethical issues

Question 16

Bruner and Minturn expectation study

Answer 16

method: participants shown a series of letters or numbers then an ambiguous figure that could be perceived as either, then were asked to write what they saw
results: group shown letters much more likely to see the figure as a letter, same for numbers

Question 17

evaluation of expectation study

Answer 17

• artificial task- we do not come across expectation during every day perception, so it tells us little about how it works. low external
• independent groups design- there may have been issues of individual differences between the groups. low internal