2.1a influences on perception

bottom-up processing

Information processing that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information

top-down processing

Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing our our experience and expectations

schema

A concept, developed through experience and learning, that helps to organize and interpret unfamiliar information

perceptual set

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

selective attention

Focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

cocktail party effect

The ability to focus on a single conversation or sound in a noisy environment while filtering out other surrounding sounds

inattentional blindness

Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

change blindness

Failing to notice changes in the environment

gestalt psychology

The human tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful, organized wholes

closure

The tendency to perceive an incomplete figure as a whole

figure and ground

The organization of the visual field into objects that stand out from their surrounding objects

proximity

The tendency to organize objects close to each other into a perceptual group and interpret them as a single entity

similarity

the tendency to organize objects with similar qualities into a perceptual group and interpret them as a whole