Unit 2 cognition: Perception Flashcards
Bottom-up processing
Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information.
Top down processing
Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations.
Schemas
a collection of basic knowledge about a concept or entity that serves as a guide to perception, interpretation, imagination, or problem solving. For example, the schema “dorm room” suggests that a bed and a desk are probably part of the scene, that a microwave oven might or might not be, and that expensive Persian rugs probably will not be.
Perceptual set
A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.
Gestalt Psychology
The whole experience is greater than the sum of the individual parts.
Closure
The tendency to complete figures that are incomplete.
Figure-ground
The organization of the visual field into objects that stand out from their surroundings.
Proximity
Gestalt grouping principle; we group nearby figures together.
Similarity
The tendency to perceive things that look like each other as being part of the same group.
Attention
a state in which an individual is focused on certain aspects of the environment rather than on others
Selective attention
The ability to focus on one stimulus while excluding other stimuli that are present.
Cocktail party effect
Ability to attend to only one voice among many.
Change blindness
Failing to notice differences in the environment.
Inattentional blindness
Failing to see visible objects when our focus is directed elsewhere.
Binocular depth cues
Depth cues that depend on the use of two eyes.
Retinal disparity
A binocular for perceiving depth: by comparing images from the retinas in the two eyes, the brain computes distance - the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object.
Convergence
The ability to turn the two eyes inward toward each other to look at a close object, enabling the slightly different images of an object seen by each eye to come together and form a single image, allowing us to see depth with the use of both of our eyes.
Monocular cues
visual indicators of distance and space that can be perceived using just one eye.
Relative clarity
Objects that appear sharp, clear, and detailed are seen as closer than more hazy objects
Relative size
A monocular cue for perceiving depth; the smaller retinal image is farther away.
Texture gradient
A monocular cue for perceiving depth; a gradual change from a coarse distinct pattern to a fine, indistinct pattern signals increasing distance. Objects far away appear smaller and more densely packed.
Linear perspective
Two objects appear closer together as the distance from them increases, as seen in the tracks of a railroad that appear to converge on the horizon.
Interposition
A monocular cue for perceiving depth; if one object partially blocks our view of another, we perceive it as closer.
Habituation
a form of non-associative learning that refers to the decrease in response to a stimulus after repeated exposure.
Sensory adaptation
the way our senses adjust to different stimuli.
Visual cliff
an apparent, but not actual, drop from one surface to another.
Perceptual constancy (size, color, shape, lightness)
The ability to perceive an object as being the same size despite the fact that the size of its retinal image changes depending on its distance from the observer.
Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object.
A type of perceptual constancy in which an object is perceived as having the same shape when viewed at different angles.
the tendency to perceive a familiar object as having the same brightness under different conditions of illumination; for example, a piece of white paper appears to have similar brightness in daylight as it does at dusk, even though the energy it reflects may be quite different.
Apparent motion
an illusion of motion or change in size of a visual stimulus.
