unit 2: perception & consciousness Flashcards
Sensation
what we sense in our sensory organs (physiological processing)
Perception
what we perceive in our minds (psychological processing)
Synesthesia
Input from one sensory system → experience in another
-strong synesthesia (rare)
-weak synesthesia (common)
brightness of notes; warmth or softness of colors; sharp tastes
-causes - sensory leakage/crosstalk between brain regions & associations/top-down processing
Bottom-up processing
data driven processing:
flow of info from stimulus to neural activity to identification + perception
Top-down processing
conceptually driven processing:
expectations, knowledge & surrounding context influence identification & perception
What do Gestalt principles help us understand?
-Describe typical grouping tendencies or organization tendencies
-Emphasis on perceiving the whole
Law of figure-ground
segregate visual scenes into a background and a figure
Law of proximity
closer elements grouped together
Law of similarity
similar items grouped together
Law of good continuation
continue contours
Law of closure
we ignore gaps/fill in missing parts
Law of common fate
elements moving together are grouped together
global precedence
-“Wholes” often come before “parts”
IVs: “Global” identification (identify large letter), “Local” identification (identify small letter)
Stimuli
-consistent
-conflicting
-neutral
Results
-RTs for global identification were faster than for local identification, showing global precedence
-Conflicting stimuli slowed local identification (because global is processed automatically and interferes)
Binocular Cues - Retinal Disparity
images from the two eyes differ
Binocular Cues - Convergence
Neuromuscular cues
- eyes turn inward to bring near objects into focus
- eyes turn outward to bring far away objects into focus
- strain on muscle is cue to distance