unit 2 aos1 Flashcards
attention (3)
refers to the level of awareness directed towards certain stimuli to the exclusion of others. sustained, selective and divided
sustained attention
Sustained attention, also known as vigilance, involve maintaining a high degree of attention over a prolonged period
selective attention
focus our attention on a single activity and disregard other environmental stimuli
divided attention
involves distributing one’s attention to allow for the processing of two or more stimuli at the same time
perception
the process of selecting, organising, and interpreting sensory information
sensation
the process of receiving and detecting raw sensory stimuli via sensory organs and sending this information to the brain
sensory stimuli
the raw pieces of information that are detected by the five senses
Top down processing
the processing of sensory information by applying prior knowledge and expectations
bottom up processing
the processing of sensory information beginning with salient sensory data, which is then integrated to form a bigger picture
2 biological factors that influence visual perception
monocular and binocular depth cues
monocular depth cues (+1)
depth cues that only require one eye to send information to the brain to perceive depth. includes accomodation
accomodation
the ability of the eye to change focus from near to distant objects and back again. when we focus on distant objects, our ciliary muscles relax and when we focus on near objects our ciliary muscles contract
binocular depth cues (+2)
depth cues that require both eyes to send information to the brain to perceive depth. includes convergence and retinal disparity
convergence
a biological depth cue that involves the brain interpreting tension changes in the muscles around the eyes
retinal disparity
the brain detecting similarities and differences between the information being sent from each eye, due to the eyes being 6–7 cm apart
3 psychological factors that influence visual perception
perceptual set, perceptual constancy, gestalt principles
perceptual set (+4)
the tendency to view things in a certain way due to a readiness to receive certain stimuli. includes past experiences, memory, motivation, context.
how can past experiences affect your visual perception
inform our ideas and expectations about the world, and how we process stimuli from the top down processing.
how can memory affect your visual perception
Our memory is shaped by our experiences of the world, and it helps us understand how our world works. It plays an important role in our expectations of how the world should operate
how can motivation affect your visual perception
Depending on our motivation, we will perceive certain stimuli that align with our goals as more salient than others.
how can context affect your visual perception
Context is the situation or conditions in which something occurs. For our purposes, it is the location and circumstances in which the visual stimuli are being processed.
perceptual constancy
the mind’s ability to perceive a visual stimulus as remaining constant even though the visual information sent to the brain about the object shows changes in shape, size, brightness and orientation
size constancy
the ability to perceive an object’s actual size, despite changes in our retinal images of the object
shape constancy
the ability to perceive an object’s actual shape, despite changes in the retinal image of the object
orientation constancy
the ability to perceive an object’s actual orientation, despite changes in our retinal image of the object
gestalt principles (+4)
a set of principles that explain how we interpret visual information most efficiently by grouping individual elements together to perceive a whole object. includes figure-ground, closure, similarity and proximity
figure-ground
the tendency to perceive part of a visual stimulus as more relevant (the figure) and standing out against its less relevant surroundings (the ground)
closure
our ability to fill in or ignore gaps in visual stimuli and perceive objects as a meaningful whole
similarity
the tendency to group together as a whole any stimuli that are alike in size, shape or colour
proximity
the tendency to perceive the parts of a visual stimulus that are close together as belonging to a group
how can culture (social factor) influence perception
social factors are unique to our culture and the community in which we live in. the people we are surrounded by shapes the way we see the world
visual illusion +2 examples
The illusion is created by a misinterpretation (distortion or mistake) of the reality of a visual stimulus. includes muller lyer, ames room
biological explanation of muller lyer illusion
It has been suggested that the line with the arrowheads at the end causes the eyes to turn inwards, creating more tension in the muscles surrounding the eyes, and causing us to perceive the line as being closer to us. Convergence
Ames room explanation
The Ames room illusion is often explained with reference to perceptual constancy. The observer has no access to binocular depth cues and is forced to view the room with one eye through a peephole
visual agnosia (+2)
Agnosia a brain disorder that interferes with one’s ability to recognise or identify objects, people or sounds using one or more of the senses. apperceptive and associative
apperceptive visual agnosia
an inability to recognise familiar visual stimuli due to problems with processing perceptions eg: they may look at a dinner plate and not be able to recognise it as ‘a dinner plate’. If you asked them what a dinner plate was, they could describe it to you, but if you showed them a picture of a dinner plate, they could not tell you what it was. they wont be able to draw a picture of it
associative visual agnosia
an inability to recognise familiar visual stimuli, despite having no problems with processing perceptions. eg: theycould tell you what a dinner plate is. The key difference is that if given a drawing of a dinner plate to copy, they could draw the dinner plate. if you then asked them to say what they had just drawn, they could not name the object. For this reason, associative visual agnosia can be described as normal perception stripped of meaning.
prospagnosia
a type of visual agnosia involving an inability to recognise the faces of familiar people. Can be apperceptive or associative.
