Unit 2: Perception and Attention Flashcards
Which of the following statements about object recognition is correct?
A) Visual information is first processed in the primary visual cortex, but it is eventually stored in the retina.
B) In general, we need at least one second to recognize an object.
C) The primary visual cortex is responsible for identifying complex objects; in contrast, other portions of the brain identify lines and simple shapes.
D) Regions of the cortex beyond the primary visual cortex are active when we identify complex objects.
D) Regions of the cortex beyond the primary visual cortex are active when we identify complex objects.
The template model of object recognition would have the most difficulty explaining
A) how people recognize letters of the alphabet if you turned the letters upside-down.
B) how computers recognize a standardized set of numbers.
C) how people can recognize an isolated letter, without any word context.
D) how people recognize neatly printed numbers.
A) how people recognize letters of the alphabet if you turned the letters upside-down.
The “general mechanism approach” to speech perception argues that
A) we first obtain a general idea about a spoken message, and then we fill in the specific details.
B) we use similar processes for both speech perception and other auditory perception tasks.
C) learning does not play a major role in speech perception.
D) children are born with a general understanding about speech, and they fill in specific information as they grow older.
B) how people recognize letters of the alphabet if you turned the letters upside-down.
Chapter 2 discussed individual differences in the ability to recognize another person’s facial expressions. This research showed that individuals with schizophrenia are more likely than people in a control group
A) to respond slowly.
B) to make errors in identifying the facial expression.
C) to use holistic processing.
D) to use a template that processes facial expression.
A) to respond slowly.
The research on speech perception demonstrates that
A) each phoneme has a unique but consistent pronunciation.
B) context can be used to identify a missing vowel, but not a missing consonant.
C) people use visual cues from the speaker’s mouth in order to perceive an ambiguous sound.
D) listeners typically perceive a solid stream of language, without any breaks in the stream.
C) people use visual cues from the speaker’s mouth in order to perceive an ambiguous sound.
Many researchers argue that face perception is “special”; we process faces in a different way than we process other visual stimuli. According to this perspective,
A) we process the colour of human faces before we process their shape.
B) unlike other objects, information about faces does not pass through the primary visual cortex.
C) we recognize faces in terms of their entire shape, rather than in terms of their isolated features.
D) because faces are so complex, we take a long time to recognize that an object is a face; in contrast, we recognize simpler objects much more quickly.
C) we recognize faces in terms of their entire shape, rather than in terms of their isolated features.
The “o” sound in the word “dog” influences the position of your mouth when you pronounce the remainder of the word. This phenomenon is called
A) the McGurk effect.
B) categorical perception.
C) phonemic restoration.
D) coarticulation.
D) coarticulation.
According to the introductory discussion about perceptual processes,
A) humans have relatively primitive perceptual processes compared to models created by artificial intelligence.
B) although perception appears to be straightforward, it actually requires more cognitive effort than tasks such as problem solving.
C) unlike other cognitive tasks, perception requires only bottom-up processing.
D) perception requires both information from the stimulus and knowledge about previous perceptual experiences.
D) perception requires both information from the stimulus and knowledge about previous perceptual experiences.
The recognition-by-components theory argues that we recognize an object by
A) analyzing the arrangement of simple 3-dimensional shapes that form the object.
B) comparing each object to the idealized version of that object, as stored in long-term memory.
C) registering each major line, curve, and angle of an object.
D) perceiving the overall form of an object as one complete shape or gestalt.
A) analyzing the arrangement of simple 3-dimensional shapes that form the object.
According to the word superiority effect,
A) we have trouble noticing when one of the letters in a word disappears from the stimulus.
B) we can recognize a letter faster and more accurately when it is part of a word, rather than when this letter appears by itself.
C) we can recognize an unfamiliar word more quickly than an isolated letter of the alphabet.
D) bottom-up processing is more helpful than top-down processing.
B) we can recognize a letter faster and more accurately when it is part of a word, rather than when this letter appears by itself.
perception
The use of previous knowledge to gather and interpret stimuli registered by the senses. Perception requires both bottom-up and top-down processing.
object recognition
The process of identifying a complex arrangement of sensory stimuli and perceiving that this pattern is separate from its background.
sensory memory
The large-capacity storage system that records information from each of the senses with reasonable accuracy.
pattern recognition
The process of identifying a complex arrangement of sensory stimuli and perceiving that this pattern is separate from its background.
iconic memory
Sensory memory for visual information. Iconic memory preserves an image of a visual stimulus for a brief period after the stimulus has disappeared.
primary visual cortex
The portion of the cerebral cortex located in the occipital lobe of the brain, which is concerned with basic processing of visual stimuli. It is also the first place where information from the two eyes is combined.
ambiguous figure–ground relationship
A perceptual phenomenon studied by gestalt psychologists, in which the figure and the ground of a visual stimulus reverse from time to time, so that the figure becomes the ground and then becomes the figure again.
illusory contours
The perception of edges in a visual stimulus even though edges are not physically present. Also known as subjective contours.
recognition-by-components theory
In visual perception, a theory proposing that people can recognize three-dimensional shapes, in terms of an arrangement of simple 3D shapes called geons. Geons can be combined to form meaningful objects.
gestalt psychology
(pronounced “geh-shtahlt”) The theoretical approach which emphasizes that: (1) humans actively organize what they see, (2) they see patterns, and (3) the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
subjective contours
The perception of edges in a visual stimulus, even though edges are not physically present. Also known as illusory contours.
visual sensory memory
Sensory memory for visual information. Iconic memory preserves an image of a visual stimulus for a brief period after the stimulus has disappeared.
distal stimulus
In perception, the actual object that is “out there” in the environment, for example, a pen on a desk.
feature-analysis theories
In perception, the proposal that we recognize visual objects, based on a small number of characteristics or components known as distinctive features.
distinctive feature
In visual perception, an important characteristic of the visual stimulus.
figure
In gestalt psychology, when two areas share a common boundary, the figure is the area that has a distinct shape with clearly defined edges. This area seems closer and more dominant. In contrast, the ground is the area that forms the background.
ground
In gestalt psychology, when two areas share a common boundary, the area that is seen as being behind the figure, forming the background.
top-down processing
The kind of cognitive processing that emphasizes the importance of concepts, expectations, and memory in object recognition and other cognitive tasks.
viewer-centered approach
A modification of the recognition-by-components theory of object recognition. However, the viewer-centered approach proposes that people store a small number of views of a three-dimensional object, rather than just one view.
word superiority effect
The observation that a single letter is more accurately and rapidly recognized when it appears in a meaningful word, rather than when it appears alone or in a meaningless string of unrelated letters.
proximal stimulus
In perception, the information registered on the sensory receptors—for example, the image on the retina created by a pen on a desk.
holistic (recognition)
A term describing the recognition of faces and other selected stimuli, based on their overall shape and structure, or gestalt.
templates
According to an early theory of visual object recognition, the specific perceptual patterns stored in memory.
bottom-up processing
The kind of cognitive processing that emphasizes stimulus characteristics in object recognition and other cognitive tasks. For example, the physical stimuli from the environment are registered on the sensory receptors. This information is then passed on to higher, more sophisticated levels in the perceptual system.
speech perception
The process by which the auditory system records sound vibrations that are generated by someone talking. The auditory system then translates these vibrations into a sequence of sounds that are perceived as speech.
retina
The part of the visual system covering the inside back portion of the eye. The retina contains millions of neurons that register and transmit visual information from the outside world.
geons
In recognition-by-components theory, the simple 3D shapes that people use in order to recognize visual objects.
change blindness
The failure to detect a change in an object or a scene due to overuse of top-down processing.
special mechanism approach
In psycholinguistics, the theory that humans are born with a specialized device that allows them to decode speech stimuli. As a result, speech sounds are processed more quickly and more accurately than other auditory stimuli, such as instrumental music.
inattentional blindness
The failure to notice an unexpected but completely visible object that suddenly appears while attention is focused on some other events in a scene. Inattentional blindness results from the overuse of top-down processing.
ecological validity
A principle of research design in which the research uses conditions that are similar to the natural setting where the results will be applied.
gestalt
(pronounced “geh-shtahlt”) In perception and problem-solving, an overall quality that transcends the individual elements in the stimulus.
fMRI
A method of measuring brain activity based on the principle that oxygen-rich blood is an index of brain activity. A magnetic field produces changes in the oxygen atoms in the brain while a person performs a cognitive task. A scanning device takes a “photo” of the changes.
prosopagnosia
(pronounced “pros-o-pag-no-zhe-ah”) The inability to recognize human faces visually, though other objects may be perceived relatively normally. People with prosopagnosia also have comparable problems in creating visual imagery for faces.
face-inversion effect
The observation that people are much more accurate in identifying upright faces, compared to upside-down faces.
general mechanism approaches
The idea that speech perception can be explained without proposing any specialized phonetic module. In other words, humans use the same neural mechanisms to process both speech sounds and nonspeech sounds.
categorical perception
A phenomenon in which people report hearing a clear-cut phoneme (e.g., a clear-cut b or a clear-cut p) even though they actually heard an ambiguous sound, between the two phonemes (e.g., a sound partway between a b and a p).
McGurk effect
The observation that visual information influences speech perception; listeners integrate both visual and auditory information when perceiving speech.
schizophrenia
A serious psychological disorder characterized by lack of emotional expression, hallucinations, disordered thinking, and poor performance on many cognitive tasks.
speech module
A hypothetical, special-purpose neural mechanism that specifically handles all aspects of speech perception, but not other kinds of auditory perception. Also known as the phonetic module.
