Cognitive Psychology (Ch. 3 Perception)

What is perception?

experiences resulting from stimulation of the senses (Necessary 1st step for other cognitive forms)

What shapes perception?

Experience

What is sensation?

stimulation of the senses (touch, taste, sight, sound, smell)

What is perception derived from?

Perception is derived from sensation

What properties make visual perception complex?

Ambiguous objects, hidden/blurred objects, viewpoint matters, and scenes are complex

What helps demonstrate that sensation and perception are different?

Visual illusions

Inverse projection problem

determining the object responsible for a particular image on the retina

Viewpoint invariance

the ability to recognize an object from different viewpoints

Bottom Up Processing

Processing from lower to higher levels (senses to brain)

What is template matching?

Recognizing objects by comparing input to template in memory

What is feature matching?

Recognizing objects by detecting features and forming them into a whole

Top down processing

Processing from high to lower levels (Actively constructing perception based on expectations, goals, & knowledge of environment)

Finding that perception is influenced by experience is a good example of?

Top down influence

What is top down perception?

Perception influenced by context

Speech segmentation

Ability to tell where a word begins and ends in a convo

What are two approaches to object perception?

Helmholtz's Unconscious Inference & Gestalt Principles of Organization

What is the likelihood principle? (A part of Helmholtz's unconscious inference)

We perceive the world in a way that's most likely based on our past experiences

What is unconscious inference? (A part of Helmholtz's unconscious inference)

Implicit assumptions/inferences about what's most likely

What is apparent motion?

Illusion of movement

What is gestalt psychology?

the whole is greater than the sum of its parts

What does Gestalt's Principles of Organization propose?

Perception is determined by specific set of organizing principles, not just stimulation of the retina

Principle of Good Continuation

Lines perceived as following smooth paths.

Principle of Good Simplicity

Objects perceived as resulting from the simplest structure

Principle of Similarity

similar things perceived to be grouped together

Principle of Proximity

things that are near each other appear to be grouped together

Principle of Connectedness

Objects visually connected together are perceived as being grouped together

Principle of Symmetry

perceive objects that are balanced or symmetrical

Principle of Closure

unfinished objects are perceived as being complete

Principle of Figure Ground

separate objects (figure) and surfaces (ground) are perceived even when they are grouped

Principle of Enclosure

objects enclosed by lines are perceived as being grouped together

What are Physical Regularities?

Physical properties that commonly occur in the environment we live in

Oblique Effect

horizontal and vertical lines occur more frequently in our environment, making them easier to perceive

Light from above assumption

The assumption that light usually comes from above, which influences our perception of form in some situations.

Semantic Regularities

characteristics that occur frequently in a particular environment

Scene Schema

knowledge of what a given scene typically contains

Bayesian Inference

our estimate of the probability of an outcome is determined by the prior probability (our initial belief) and the likelihood (the extent to which the available evidence is consistent with the outcome).

Prior Probability (Included in Bayesian Inference)

our initial belief about the probability of an outcome

What is Likelihood? (Included in Bayesian Inference)

the extent to which the available evidence is consistent with the outcome

What does perception allow us to do?

Interact with environment through action (Perception is informed by action)

Perception and action rely on different _______?

Neural Pathways

Which lobe is associated with the "What" aspect?

Temporal Lobe (Ventral Pathway)

Which lobe is associated with the "Where" aspect?

Parietal Lobe (dorsal pathway)

Double Dissociation

when one perceptual function can be damaged without affecting the other

Difference between action and perception pathways

Action = Landmark discrimination

Perception = Object discrimination

What are mirror neurons?

neurons that fire when an individual performs an action, or when an individual observes an action.