Ap Psychology Unit 2

Automatic Processing

The unconscious, effortless processing of information that occurs without deliberate thought.

Convergence

The degree to which the eyes turn inward to focus on a close object, providing depth perception.

Linear Perspective

A depth cue that involves parallel lines appearing to converge as they recede into the distance.

Relative Clarity

A depth cue where objects that are clearer and more detailed are perceived as closer than hazy or blurry objects.

Relative Size

A depth cue where smaller objects are perceived as being farther away than larger objects when they are known to be the same size.

Top-Down Processing

The cognitive process where perception is influenced by expectations, prior knowledge, and experiences.

Visual Cliff

A laboratory device used to test depth perception in infants and young animals, demonstrating their ability to perceive depth.

Bottom-Up Processing

The analysis of the smaller features to build up to a complete perception, starting from sensory input.

Gestalt Psychology

A psychological approach that emphasizes that the whole of anything is greater than its parts, focusing on patterns and configurations.

Perceptual Constancies

The ability to perceive objects as unchanging despite changes in sensory input, such as size, shape, and color constancy.

Retinal Disparity

A binocular cue for depth perception that arises from the slightly different images seen by each eye.

Change Blindness

The phenomenon where a change in a visual stimulus goes unnoticed by the observer.

Inattentional Blindness

The failure to notice a fully visible but unexpected object because attention was engaged on another task.

Perceptual Set

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another, influenced by expectations and experiences.

Stroboscopic Movement

An illusion of movement created when a series of still images are shown in rapid succession.

Cocktail Party Effect

The ability to focus on a single conversation in a noisy environment while filtering out other stimuli.

Interposition

A depth cue where one object partially blocks another, indicating that the blocked object is farther away.

Phi Phenomenon

An optical illusion where stationary objects shown in rapid succession appear to be moving.