Cognition (Perception Edition)

Perception

the process by which our brain organizes and interprets sensory information, transforming it into meaningful objects and events

—a crucial step in cognition, allowing us to understand and interact with the world around us

—top down processing

bottom up processing

using your senses, stimuli are triggered which are then processed by your brain

—build up from sensory input

—sensation

top down processing

you interpret what your senses detect which is influenced by experience, learning and environment

selective attention

process of focusing on a specific aspect of information while ignoring others

—allows us to prioritize sensory information that is most releavant to our current goals or tasks playing a key role in how we perceive and interact with our environment

cocktail party effect

our ablity to focus on a single conversation in a noisy environment, like a crowded party, while tuning out other stimuli

—our perception can be directed to what we find most relevant or interesting

—common example of sleective attention in auditory context

inattentional blindness

an individual fails to notice an unexpected stimulus in their visual field when their attention is focused on something else

—highlights limit of our perceptual and cognitive processing, demonstrating that we can miss significant information in our environment when we are not directly paying attention to it

change blindness

failure to notice large changes in one’s environment when the change occurs simultaneously with a visual disruption

—illustrates the limits of our visual perception and attention, showing that our awareness of changes in our surroundings is often less acute than we might assume

schemas

mental frameworks that help us organize and interpret information in the world around us

—influence perception by shaping our expectations and guiding our attention

perceptual set

tendency to perceive or notice some aspects of the available sensory data and ignore others

—its influenced by our expectations, experiences, nad context, shaping our perception by predisposing us to see what we expect to see

gestalt psychology

we perceive whole objects or figures (gestalts) rather than just a collection of parts

—it suggests that our brains are wired to see structure, pattern, and organization in the world, guiding how we interpet sensory information and experience perception

figure-ground

refers to the ability to distinguidh an object (figure) from its surroundings (ground).

—involves the brain;s organization of sensory information, highlighting important stimuli while filtering out irrelevant background details

binocular depth cues

visual information that requires both eyes to perceive depth and distance

-these cues help us perceive the world in three dimensions

retinal disparity

when each eye sees a slightly different pic because of their separate positions on our face

-our brain uses hese differences to figure out how far away things are, helping us see the world in 3D

convergence

when our eyes more inward toward each other to focus on a close object

-helps us understand how near something is, aiding in our perception of depth

monocular depth cues

visual indicators of distance and space that can be perceived using just one eye

-help us understand how far away things are (depth)

relative clarity

a depth cue where objects that are clearer and more detailed are perceived as closer, while objects that are hazier are ones that seem further away

—help us gauge distance and depth in what we seere

relative size

visual cues where objects closer to us appear larger, while objects further away appear small

-brain uses this difference in size to help determine distance between objects and how far away they are from us

texture gradient

the way we perceive texture to become denser and finer as it recedes into the distance

-help us understand depth, as closer objects have clearer, more distinguishable textures, while further objects appears smmother and less dilated

linear perspective

a depth cue where a parallel line appears to converge as they recede into the distance

-helps our brain perceive depth, allowing us to judge how far away objects are based on how the lines come together

interposition

occurs when 1 object overlaps another, leading us to perceive the overlapping objectas closer

—helps us understand the arrangement of objects in space, contributing to our depth perception

perceptual constancies

brain’s ability to see objects as unchanging, even when the image on our retina (like size, shape, or color) changes

-helps us recognize objects under different conditions, maintaining a stable perception of the world

shape constancy

our ability to perceive an object as having the same shape, even when angle of view or distance from which we see the object changes

-help us recognize objects regardless of th epov from which we view them

size constancy

our perception that an object remains the sae size even when its distance from us changes, causing the image on our resting to grow or shrink

—allows to accurately judge the size of objects regardless of changes in their apparent size due to distance

color constancy

ability to perceive colors of objects as stable under varying lighting conditions

-means that even when the lighting changes, we still see the object as having the same color, helping us identify and different late objectes in our environment consistently

apparent movement

the perception of motion when there isn’t any actual movement

-its how we see still images, like in animations or movies, as moving occurs when our brain fills in the gaps, creating the illusion of motion from a series of still images