WEEK 1 - Introduction and object recognition

Question 1

Ambiguous/reversible figures

Answer 1

in the brain = perception changes but not the stimulus

perception reverses but not visual information

Question 2

perceptual constancy

Answer 2

the tendency of seeing an object still In its form despite changes in orientation

• shape constancy
• size constancy
• brightness constancy

Question 3

Tachistoscope procedure

Answer 3

This device flashes a series of images on to a screen at a rapid speed to test visual perception, memory, and learning

Question 4

Word frequency effect

Answer 4

we SEE more often, we recognise them more quickly

Question 5

Recency effect

Answer 5

Going to recognise a word faster if we have just been exposed to it as opposed to not having seen it recently

Question 6

Repetition priming

Answer 6

change in responding to a word or an object as a result of a previous encounter with that same item, either in the same task or in a different task.

-implicit memory

Question 7

Word superiority effect

Answer 7

e.g more likely to recognise ‘boat’ rather than ‘b’ when presented at the same time)

Question 8

Degrees of wellformedness

Answer 8

(e.g ‘Fike and and ‘Lafe’ as opposed to ‘xshs’ and ‘wynp’)

Question 9

Feature net model

Answer 9

A system for recognizing patterns that involves a network of detectors.

Letters are identified via their component features”.

Question 10

prosopagnosia

Answer 10

inability to recognise faces
- might occur due to brain damage or a condition since birth

• still able to identify shapes

Question 11

Inversion effect

Answer 11

Faces are much harder to recognise when they are upside down, but does not apply on objects

Question 12

holistic recognition

Answer 12

faces are processed as a whole and not purely based one its features

Question 13

composite effect

Answer 13

Occurs when two faces are split horizontally and stuck together, our brain struggles to identify two operate identities as we recognise it as a whole

Question 14

Introspection (Wundt & Titchener)

Answer 14

The examination or observation of one’s own mental and emotional processes

• Majority of mental activity occurs in our unconscious, even though introspection focusses on the conscious
• How people experience events is subjective to the individual

Question 15

The transcendental method (Kant)

Answer 15

idealism. triangle thing

. (1) Ego transcendence

(self: beyond ego), (2) self-transcendence (beyond the self: the other), and (3) spiritual transcendence (beyond space and time).

Question 16

Behaviourism (Watson)

Answer 16

focused not on the internal emotional and psychological conditions of people, but rather on their external and outward behaviors. He believed that a person’s physical responses provided the only insight into internal actions

Question 17

Computers

Answer 17

can be characterized as the study of the behavior of computer systems, the kinds of personalities they exhibit, and the human reaction to these personalities and behaviors. Today there are numerous computer systems that have definite personality characteristics.

Question 18

Gestalt laws of perceptual organisation

Answer 18

The human brain is exceptionally good at filling in the blanks in an image and creating a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. It’s why we see faces in things like tree leaves or sidewalk cracks.

Question 19

Word superiority effect

Answer 19

top down processing: words provide contact for letters so we dont need to actually read each letter

Question 20

What is the feature net model of word recognition

Answer 20

A model for word recognition based on dectectors activating on three levels of perception: feature, letter & word

Question 21

excitatory connection

Answer 21

link between nodes so that one node when activated then activates the other

Question 22

recognition by components model

Answer 22

is a top-down process proposed by Irving Biederman in 1987.

• RBC theory
• we are able to recognize objects by separating them into geons

Question 23

What is one advantage of object recognition based on geons?

Answer 23

Geons are viewpoint-independent: no matter what angle you are at, you are able to recognize the object

Question 24

What are two differing theories of object recognition?

Answer 24

RBC: Recognition by components model (geons, viewpoint-independent) or viewpoint-dependent models

Question 25

What are two top down factors influencing word recognition?

Answer 25

1) frequency (familiarity)

2) recency

Question 26

What is the “degree of well formedness” principle of word recognition?

Answer 26

the more english like a string of letters, the easier it is to recognize it

Question 27

What is the activation level of detectors in the feature net model based on?

Answer 27

1) recency 2) frequency

Question 28

What is the importance of bigrams in the feature net model?

Answer 28

Bigrams - strings of two letters - provide evidence for the word superiority effect and help to reduce confusion due to limited or obscured input

Question 29

What are the three (or four) levels of detectors in the feature net model?

Answer 29

feature, letter & word (plus proposed bigram in between letter & word)

Question 30

What did the McClelland & Rumelhart Model add to the feature net model?

Answer 30

They proposed that detectors can both inhibit & excite detectors at higher levels and other detectors at the same level

Question 31

What did the McClelland & Rumelhart Model add to the feature net model?

Answer 31

They proposed that detectors can both inhibit & excite detectors at higher levels and other detectors at the same level

Question 32

What is an exception to both the feature net and the RBC (Recognition by Components) models?

Answer 32

Face recognition - its holistic, not component based

Question 33

What is the difference between template matching and prototype matching in object recognition?

Answer 33

template matching is the belief (widely disproved) that we recognize objects by matching them to an image of what the object/letter should look like. Prototype matching on the other hand says we match letters to a prototype: an average of all category members (images) encountered

Question 34

What is an example of why prototype matching is more generally agreed to be true?

Answer 34

Letters come in all forms, shapes & sizes and we still recognize them as the same thing

Question 35

word superiority effect

Answer 35

refers to the phenomena os how people better recognise letters than words

Question 36

Inversion effect

Answer 36

difficulty recognising upside down pictures