Visual Interpretation

gestalt

an organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.

figure-ground

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

grouping

the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups

binocular cues

depth cues, such as retinal disparity, that depend on the use of two eyes

retinal disparity

a binocular cue for perceiving depth by comparing images from the retinas in the two eyes, the brain computes distance—the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object.

monocular cues

depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either eye alone

phi phenomenon

an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession

perceptual adaptation

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