Week 3 - Processes and Perception - Part 2 Vision

Question 1

list monocular, binocular and oculomotor cues for depth and explain how these types of information might be used to judge distance

Answer 1

Monocular cues - Visual input from each eye separately

Binocular cues - Visual input is integrated from 2 eyes.

Oculomotor cues - Information from the movement of eye muscles gives spatial information to the brain of where that item is (left, right, up down etc)

Question 2

describe, with examples, Gibson’s (2000) notions of direct perception, information pickup and affordances. Explain how these ideas can be used to understand visually-guided action

Answer 2

Gibson’s “direct perception” - an alternative to the prevailing view that the most important part about perception is identifying objects. It reflects an ecological approach, that perception and action are closely intertwined.

Information pick up - from the ambient optic array of light unconsciously.

Affordances - the potential uses of an object - what something offers in terms of interaction. We can interact with/pass through the environment. (no affordance = we cant interact/pass through the environment.

Question 3

describe the special features of biological motion, including evidence for and against the role of the mirror neuron system in detection of biological motion, imitation and interpreting intent.

Answer 3

Biological motion - ‘perception of motion’ - Johansson (1975) using point light displays to display the perception of human biological movement (top down)

Mirror neuron system: particular neurons activated when animals perform an action and when they observe another animal performing the same action. This system facilitates imitation and understanding of others and their intents.

Multimodal -
perception of multiple modes of perception (feeling, vision, auditory)