Unit 2 cognition: Perception

Question 1

Bottom-up processing

Answer 1

Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information.

Question 2

Top down processing

Answer 2

Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations.

Question 3

Schemas

Answer 3

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.

Question 4

Perceptual set

Answer 4

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.

Question 5

Gestalt Psychology

Answer 5

The whole experience is greater than the sum of the individual parts.

Question 6

Closure

Answer 6

The tendency to complete figures that are incomplete.

Question 7

Figure-ground

Answer 7

The organization of the visual field into objects that stand out from their surroundings.

Question 8

Proximity

Answer 8

Gestalt grouping principle; we group nearby figures together.

Question 9

Similarity

Answer 9

The tendency to perceive things that look like each other as being part of the same group.

Question 10

Attention

Answer 10

a state in which an individual is focused on certain aspects of the environment rather than on others

Question 11

Selective attention

Answer 11

The ability to focus on one stimulus while excluding other stimuli that are present.

Question 12

Cocktail party effect

Answer 12

Ability to attend to only one voice among many.

Question 13

Change blindness

Answer 13

Failing to notice differences in the environment.

Question 14

Inattentional blindness

Answer 14

Failing to see visible objects when our focus is directed elsewhere.

Question 15

Binocular depth cues

Answer 15

Depth cues that depend on the use of two eyes.

Question 16

Retinal disparity

Answer 16

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.

Question 17

Convergence

Answer 17

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.

Question 18

Monocular cues

Answer 18

visual indicators of distance and space that can be perceived using just one eye.

Question 19

Relative clarity

Answer 19

Objects that appear sharp, clear, and detailed are seen as closer than more hazy objects

Question 20

Relative size

Answer 20

A monocular cue for perceiving depth; the smaller retinal image is farther away.

Question 21

Texture gradient

Answer 21

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.

Question 22

Linear perspective

Answer 22

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.

Question 23

Interposition

Answer 23

A monocular cue for perceiving depth; if one object partially blocks our view of another, we perceive it as closer.

Question 24

Habituation

Answer 24

a form of non-associative learning that refers to the decrease in response to a stimulus after repeated exposure.

Question 25

Sensory adaptation

Answer 25

the way our senses adjust to different stimuli.

Question 26

Visual cliff

Answer 26

an apparent, but not actual, drop from one surface to another.

Question 27

Perceptual constancy (size, color, shape, lightness)

Answer 27

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.

Question 28

Apparent motion

Answer 28

an illusion of motion or change in size of a visual stimulus.