Myers' AP Psychology (2024): Modules 2.1a-2.1b - Perception - Influences on Perception; Perceptual Organization and Interpretation

Selective Attention

focusing conscious awarness on a particular stimulus

True or False: We can fully consciously attend to two things at the same time.

false; our consciousness focuses on but one thing at a time

True or False: Each day, distracted driving kills about 100 Americans

false; it kills 9, however, in the U.S, motor vehicle crashes in general are a leading cause of death, and kill over 100 people every day.

Inattentional Blindness

failing to see visible objects when we are paying attention to something or somewhere else

Change Blindness (form of Inattentional Blindness)

failing to notice changes in the environment

Perceptual Set

a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another (look closely at the images)

Our perceptual set is determined by which processing? Top-down or Bottom-up?

top-down

We interpret sensory stimuli into meaningful perceptions, by organizing sensations into a _; a conscious, organized, and whole perception.

gestalt

What is needed for Form-Perceptual Recognition (organizing a conscious perception from a set of sensory stimuli)?

figure-ground and grouping

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

Depth Perception

the ability to see objects in three dimensions; allows us to judge distance

Visual Cliff

a laboratory model of a cliff with a "drop-off" area covered by glass; for testing depth perception

We use binocular cues to judge the distance of of nearby objects. What are Binocular Cues?

depth cues that depends on both eyes, to judge the distance between nearby objects

What are the two main binocular cues?

convergence and retinal disparity

Convergence

a cue to nearby objects' distance, enabled by the brain combining retinal images

Retinal Disparity

by comparing retinal images from both eyes, the brain computes distance--the greater the difference between the two images, the closer the object

Monocular Cues

depth cues that are available to either eye alone

What are the Five Main Monocular Depth Cues?

relative clarity, relative size, texture gradient, linear perspective, interposition

Motion Perception

our brains assumption that shrinking objects are retreating (not getting smaller) and enlarging objects are approaching

Our brain perceives a rapid series of slightly varying still images as continuous movement--a phenomenon called __. So when you're watching something on your phone, your screen isn't moving. It's just showing you about 24 to 60 different images per second that cause an illusion of continuous movement.

stroboscopic movement

We construct movement in blinking marquees and holiday lights. Lighted signs exploit this _ with a quick succession of light going on and off that creats the impression of a moving arrow.

phi phenomenon

Phi Phenomenon

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

When we stare at a stationary light in a dark room, our natural eye movement makes the light seem to move. This illusory movement is called the ___ ______.

autokinetic effect

a top-down process called _ allows us to identity people and things in less time than it takes to draw a breath, regardless of the viewing angle, distance, and illumination.

perceptual constancy

Color/Vibrance Constancies

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

Shape and Size Constancies

we perceive the form of familiar objects as constant even while our retinas receive changing images of them, like an opening door

Perceptual Adaptation

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