AP Psych 2.1-2.2 Reading Assignment

Selective attention

focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

Inattentional blindness

failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed somewhere else

change blindness

failing to notice changes in the environment; a form of inattentional blindness

perceptual set

a mental predisposition to perceive one thing not another

gestalt

an organized whole. These psychologists emphasize our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.

figure-ground

the organization of the visual field into objects that stand out from their surroundings. Figure, what you see, and ground, the background.

grouping

the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups

depth perception

the ability to see object in three dimensions, although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance

visual cliff

a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals

binocular cues

a depth cue, such as retinal disparity, that depends on the use of two eyes

convergence

a cue to nearby objects distance, caused by retinal images that are combined by the brain

retinal disparity

a binocular cue for perceiving depth. By comparing retinal images from the two eyes, the brain computes distance—the greater the disparity between two images, the closer the object

monocular cues

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

stroboscopic movement

an illusion of continuous movement experienced when viewing a rapid series of slightly varying still images

phi phenomenon

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

autokinetic effect

the illusory movement of a still spot of light in a dark room