Visual Organization, Interpretation, and Perception

Vocabulary practice flashcards covering visual perception, depth cues, perceptual constancies, and organization principles.

Color constancy

Perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object.

Perceptual adaptation

The ability to adjust to changed sensory input, including an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field.

Depth perception

The ability to see objects in 3 dimensions although the images that strike the retina are 2 dimensional, allowing distance to be judged.

Visual cliff

A device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals.

Binocular cue

A depth cue, such as retinal disparity, that depends on the use of 2 eyes.

Retinal disparity

A binocular cue for perceiving depth where the brain computes distance by comparing retinal images from the 2 eyes; the greater the disparity (difference) between the 2 images, the closer the object.

Monocular cue

A depth cue, such as interposition or linear perspective, available to either eye alone.

Phi phenomenon

An illusion of movement created when 2 or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession.

Perceptual constancy

Perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent color, brightness, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change.

Perceptual set

A mental predisposition to perceive 1 thing and not another.

Extrasensory perception

A controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input; includes telepathy and precognition.

Parapsychology

The study of paranormal phenomena, including extrasensory perception (ESP).

Gestalt

An organized whole; the tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.

Figure-ground

The organization of the visual field into objects (figures) that stand out from their surroundings (ground).

Grouping

The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups.