Perception Flashcards

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1
Q

What is the ponzo illusion?

A

A misinterpreted depth cue where the horizontal line higher up in the image appears longer than the horizontal line towards the bottom. Both lines are actually the same size. This uses linear perspective.

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2
Q

What is the Müller-lyer illusion?

A

A misinterpreted depth cue where the horizontal line with outgoing arrows or fins is perceived as longer than the other horizontal line but they are both the same length.

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3
Q

What is Rubin’s vase?

A

An ambiguous figure. You should be able to perceive this image as either a vase or as two faces staring at each other. Both interpretations are ‘correct’ so your brain cannot decide which one to focus on.

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4
Q

What is the Ames room?

A

A misinterpreted depth cue. It has a viewing peephole through which people look. If two people are stood on either side of the back wall, one of them looks much bigger. The trick is in the shape of the room.

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5
Q

What is sensation?

A

Physical stimulation of sense receptors by the environment, such as light striking the retina at the back of the eye, or sound waves processed by the ear.

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6
Q

What is perception?

A

The organisation and interpretation of sensory information by the brain in order to understand the world around us. This may involve basic perceptual processed, such as separation objects from the background, or more complex processed, such as knowing what to do with a tin opener.

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7
Q

What are visual cues?

A

Visual information from the environment about movement, distance etc

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8
Q

What are visual constancies?

A

Our ability to see an object as the same even if the actual image received by the eye has changed, for example as we get closer to it or move around it.

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9
Q

What are binocular depth cues?

A

Depth cues that require both eyes. Only animals who have eyes on the front of their head can make use of binocular cues.

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10
Q

What are monocular depth cues?

A

Perceptual depth cues that allow a person to judge depth and distance using just one eye. If you were to cover one eye the depth cue would still work.

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11
Q

What are two examples of binocular depth cues?

A

Retinal disparity

Convergence

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12
Q

What are 4 examples of monocular depth cues?

A

Height in plane
Occlusion
Relative size
Linear perspective

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13
Q

What is retinal disparity?

A

When you close 1 eye, the object looks like it jumps because there is roughly 6cm between our eyes

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14
Q

What is convergence?

A

When you bring the object closer to your face, your eyes go cross eyes so your eyes are strained so you know it’s closer.

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15
Q

What is height in plane?

A

Objects higher up (visually) appear further away. It acts as a depth cue.

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16
Q

What is relative size?

A

When objects appear smaller in the visual field they are perceived as further away

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17
Q

What is occlusion?

A

Objects that are behind or obscured by other objects that are further away.

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18
Q

What is linear perspective?

A

Lines that are parallel appear to get closer together and come to a point in the distance. (Like a railway track)

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19
Q

What is fiction?

A

When a figure is perceived even though it is not part of the image or stimulus presented.

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20
Q

What is ambiguity?

A

The way in which some images or stimuli can be perceived in more than one way.

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21
Q

What are misinterpreted depth cues?

A

The brain perceives distance when it is not actually there and we apply the rule of size constancy when it should not be used.

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22
Q

What are visual illusions?

A

The unconscious mistakes of perception. In fact they are not really mistakes but are the normal, relatively consistent phenomena which are subject to regular rules of perception.

23
Q

What is size constancy?

A

The brain’s ability to perceive familiar objects as the same size, despite changes in the size of the object on the retina.

24
Q

What did Gibson believe about the influence of nature?

A

He said that we do not need to learn to perceive the world around us, that our perceptual abilities are innate and are already there from birth and in our nature.

25
Q

What did Gibson say about sensation and perception?

A

He said that they are the same thing. He suggested that our eyes are highly sophisticated organs which have evolved to detect vey fine changes in the environment.

26
Q

What is Gregory’s constructivist theory?

A

The argument that we make sense of the world around us by building on our perceptions based partly on incoming data and partly using clues from what we know around the world.

27
Q

What is nurture?

A

Refers to those aspects of behaviour that are acquired through experience, i.e learned from interactions with the physical and/or social environment.

28
Q

What is inference?

A

The process that involves taking information in front of you and drawing a conclusion about what it means based on other things you know.

29
Q

What is culture?

A

Refers to the beliefs and expectations that surrounds us. We are not conscious of living in a culture, just as a fish would not be aware that it lives in water.

30
Q

What is perceptual set?

A

A tendency or readiness to notice certain aspects of the sensory environment whilst ignoring others. Set is affected by several factors including culture, emotion, motivation and others.

31
Q

What is the aim of Hudson’s study?

A

To find out whether people from different cultural/educational backgrounds perceived depth cues in 2D images differently

32
Q

What is the method of Hudson’s study?

A

He showed 2D drawings to participants in South Africa - native black people who were either schooled or unschooled; and white people of European descent who were either schooled or unschooled. The participants had to say which animal the man was trying to spear. The spear was pointing at an elephant and an antelope but depth sues suggested it was actually being aimed at the antelope.

33
Q

What were the results of Hudson’s study?

A

In the picture, because of the height in plane and relative size of the elephant, most of us would say the antelope. However Hudson found that many people replied the elephant. Both black and white schooled participants were more likely to perceive depth than unschooled participants. White schooled participants were more likely to perceive depth that black schooled participants.

34
Q

What was the conclusion of Hudson’s study?

A

People from different cultural/educational backgrounds use depth cues differently and have a different perceptual set. This supports Gregory’s theory as it shows that depth cues are learned.

35
Q

What are 3 weaknesses of Hudson’s study?

A

The instructions may not make sense
Some of the participants may have been confused by seeing drawings on paper
The research is from a long time ago and may be poorly designed

36
Q

What was the aim of McGinnies’ study?

A

To see if things that cause anxiety are less likely to be noticed than things that are emotionally neutral

37
Q

What was the method of McGinnies’ study?

A

Eight male and eight female students were shown neutral and offensive ‘taboo’ words flashed on a screen.
After each word was shown participants had to say it out loud
The amount of emotional arousal was measured through their galvanic skin response (GSR) which records electrical changes in the skin.

38
Q

What were the results of McGinnies’ study?

A

He found that participants took longer to recognise the offensive words than the neutral ones. In other words participants took slightly longer to say words like ‘bitch’ and ‘penis’ out loud compared to words such as ‘apple’ and ‘dance’. It was clear that so-called taboo words produced bigger changes in participants’ GCR than the neutral words did.

39
Q

What was the conclusion of McGinnies’ study?

A

It suggested that emotion is a factor in perceptual set. The higher anxiety level that is associated with taboo words slows down the recognition of the words when compared to neutral words. McGinnies referred to this as ‘perceptual defence’. Our brains, when confronted with words that are offensive, or cause embarrassment or anxiety, block out this information- even if it’s just for one moment.

40
Q

What is one strength of McGinnies’ study?

A

It used an objective measurement of emotion.

41
Q

What are two weaknesses of McGinnies’ study?

A

Delayed recognition may be more to do with embarrassment

The results are contradictory.

42
Q

What is the aim of Gilchrist and Nesberg’s study?

A

To find out if food deprivation affects the perception of pictures of food.

43
Q

What was the method of Gilchrist and Nesberg’s study?

A

Two groups of students: one deprived of food for 20 hours and a control group (not hungry)
Students were shown four slides, each one showing a meal.
The slide was displayed for 15 seconds
The picture was shown again, but dimmer, and participants had to adjust the lighting to make it look the same as it did before.

44
Q

What were the results of Glichrist and Nesberg’s study?

A

Participants perceived the food as brighter the longer they were deprived of food.
The control group (who weren’t deprived of food) didn’t perceive the food as brighter.

45
Q

What was the conclusion of Gilchrist and Nesberg’s study?

A

Being deprived of food increased perceptual sensitivity.

This shows that hunger is a motivating factor that affects the way food-related pictures are perceived.

46
Q

What are two weaknesses of Gilchrist and Nesberg’s study?

A

The studies are unethical

It was not like everyday life.

47
Q

What is a strength of Gilchrist and Nesberg’s study?

A

Similar studies have found similar results

48
Q

What is expectation?

A

A belief about what is likely to happen based on past experience

49
Q

What was the aim of Bruner and Minturn’s study?

A

To find out wether an ambiguous figure was seen differently if the context of the figure was changed.

50
Q

What was the method of Bruner and Minturn’s study?

A

An independent groups design was used where participants were either presented with a sequence of letters or a sequence of numbers with the same ambiguous figure in the middle. The ambiguous figure could be seen as either the letter B or as the number 13.
Participants has to report and also draw what they saw.

51
Q

What were the results of Bruner and Minturn’s study?

A

Those who saw a sequence of letters were more likely to report the figure and being the letter B and tended to draw a ‘B’.
If shown numbers they were more likely to say it was the number 13 and drew a ‘13’.

52
Q

What was the conclusion of Bruner and Minturn’s study?

A

This shows that expectation of what the figure represented was affected by the context that the figure was presented in.

53
Q

What are two weaknesses of Bruner and Minturn’s study?

A

It used an artificial task

There were individual differences between groups.

54
Q

What is one strength of Bruner and Minturn’s study?

A

It has real life application.