unit 2 aos1

Question 1

attention (3)

Answer 1

refers to the level of awareness directed towards certain stimuli to the exclusion of others. sustained, selective and divided

Question 2

sustained attention

Answer 2

Sustained attention, also known as vigilance, involve maintaining a high degree of attention over a prolonged period

Question 3

selective attention

Answer 3

focus our attention on a single activity and disregard other environmental stimuli

Question 4

divided attention

Answer 4

involves distributing one’s attention to allow for the processing of two or more stimuli at the same time

Question 5

perception

Answer 5

the process of selecting, organising, and interpreting sensory information

Question 6

sensation

Answer 6

the process of receiving and detecting raw sensory stimuli via sensory organs and sending this information to the brain

Question 7

sensory stimuli

Answer 7

the raw pieces of information that are detected by the five senses

Question 8

Top down processing

Answer 8

the processing of sensory information by applying prior knowledge and expectations

Question 9

bottom up processing

Answer 9

the processing of sensory information beginning with salient sensory data, which is then integrated to form a bigger picture

Question 10

2 biological factors that influence visual perception

Answer 10

monocular and binocular depth cues

Question 11

monocular depth cues (+1)

Answer 11

depth cues that only require one eye to send information to the brain to perceive depth. includes accomodation

Question 12

accomodation

Answer 12

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

Question 13

binocular depth cues (+2)

Answer 13

depth cues that require both eyes to send information to the brain to perceive depth. includes convergence and retinal disparity

Question 14

convergence

Answer 14

a biological depth cue that involves the brain interpreting tension changes in the muscles around the eyes

Question 15

retinal disparity

Answer 15

the brain detecting similarities and differences between the information being sent from each eye, due to the eyes being 6–7 cm apart

Question 16

3 psychological factors that influence visual perception

Answer 16

perceptual set, perceptual constancy, gestalt principles

Question 17

perceptual set (+4)

Answer 17

the tendency to view things in a certain way due to a readiness to receive certain stimuli. includes past experiences, memory, motivation, context.

Question 18

how can past experiences affect your visual perception

Answer 18

inform our ideas and expectations about the world, and how we process stimuli from the top down processing.

Question 19

how can memory affect your visual perception

Answer 19

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

Question 20

how can motivation affect your visual perception

Answer 20

Depending on our motivation, we will perceive certain stimuli that align with our goals as more salient than others.

Question 20

how can context affect your visual perception

Answer 20

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.

Question 21

perceptual constancy

Answer 21

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

Question 22

size constancy

Answer 22

the ability to perceive an object’s actual size, despite changes in our retinal images of the object

Question 23

shape constancy

Answer 23

the ability to perceive an object’s actual shape, despite changes in the retinal image of the object

Question 24

orientation constancy

Answer 24

the ability to perceive an object’s actual orientation, despite changes in our retinal image of the object

Question 25

gestalt principles (+4)

Answer 25

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

Question 26

figure-ground

Answer 26

the tendency to perceive part of a visual stimulus as more relevant (the figure) and standing out against its less relevant surroundings (the ground)

Question 27

closure

Answer 27

our ability to fill in or ignore gaps in visual stimuli and perceive objects as a meaningful whole

Question 28

similarity

Answer 28

the tendency to group together as a whole any stimuli that are alike in size, shape or colour

Question 29

proximity

Answer 29

the tendency to perceive the parts of a visual stimulus that are close together as belonging to a group

Question 30

how can culture (social factor) influence perception

Answer 30

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

Question 31

visual illusion +2 examples

Answer 31

The illusion is created by a misinterpretation (distortion or mistake) of the reality of a visual stimulus. includes muller lyer, ames room

Question 32

biological explanation of muller lyer illusion

Answer 32

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

Question 33

Ames room explanation

Answer 33

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

Question 34

visual agnosia (+2)

Answer 34

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

Question 35

apperceptive visual agnosia

Answer 35

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

Question 36

associative visual agnosia

Answer 36

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.

Question 37

prospagnosia

Answer 37

a type of visual agnosia involving an inability to recognise the faces of familiar people. Can be apperceptive or associative.