Perceptual Development Flashcards
What factors influence perceptual development?
Biological
Environmental
Describe a study showing the cultural differences in perception and explain its results
Europeans and East Africans were shown the same image of a woman with an object above her head - the Europeans said the object was a window (since they were more likely to think the image was of the inside of a house) whereas the East Africans said the object was a basket or box (since they were more likely to think the image took place outside)
Describe the study of the Muller-Lyer illusion and explain its results
Segall et al. (1966) presented it to participants from western and non-western cultures - the western participants were more likely to be susceptible to it since they often see similar shapes in houses, whereas the non-western participants do not often see such harsh lines and therefore were not as easily fooled
Describe the bouba-kiki study
Participants are shown two shapes, one rounded and one pointed, and are given two names: “bouba” and “kiki” - they are asked to guess which shape is which
Explain the results of the bouba-kiki study
The participants said that the rounded shape was bouba and the pointed shape was kiki - this is a cross modal effect - our perceptions of the sounds of the words and the look of the shapes correspond to each other - this has also been found to be a fairly universal effect
What is a critical period?
The time period in which certain kinds of experiences must occur if perceptual abilities and the brain mechanisms that underlie them are to develop normally
Describe the study of critical periods
Blakemore and Cooper, 1970 - they took kittens away from their mothers and kept them in darkness, apart from for 5 hours every day in which they were exposed to only either vertical or horizontal stripes - this was done for 5 months - the kittens then had electrodes implanted in their brains, and were exposed to bars of either vertical or horizontal light
Explain the results of the critical periods study
The kittens raised in completely vertical environments were unable to see horizontal objects and vice versa - the cortical neurons of both groups of kittens developed in accordance with the stimulus features of their environments - they would never be able to see the other type of lines at any point in their lives
How does the critical periods study relate to humans?
We may not have critical periods in the same way, but there may be a time period in which if it is missed, perceptual abilities will be impaired, just not entirely lost
