2.1 AP psychology notes

perception

how we interpret the world

bottom up processing

relying on external sensory information

top down processing

relying on internal expectations, explains why people see the same things differently despite the same stimuli

schemas

internal factors that filter our perceptions and fill in gaps based on what we expect, it is your way to organize cognitive information

perceptual sets

your expectations of what you will see, based on environmental context, emotions, culture

gestalt principles

explains how we organize perceptions into meaningful wholes, making a quick sense of our environments

1st principle of gestalt: closure

our brain fills in gaps to create a complete image

figure and ground

we distinguish objects from their background, organization of the visual field into objects that stand out from their surroundings, also auditory

proximity

we perceive objects as grouped together if they are close

similarity

we perceive objects as grouped together if they are alike

attention

a combination of sensation and perception, affected by internal and external factors

Selective attention

focusing on one stimulus and filtering the rest out

cocktail party effect

auditory selection

inattentional blindness

failing to notice a change because you’re focused elsewhere

change blindness

not noticing a large change in a scene because you’re distracted, blink, or have another visual interception

binocular cues

help us perceive depth using both eyes

monocular cues

relative size, linear perspective, and texture gradient give illusion of depth even with one eye

perceptual constancies

allows us to maintain a stable perception of objects even when their appearances change in our visual field, we recognize an object’s shape even if its angle changes

apparent motion

occurs when we perceive motion even though objects aren’t actually moving helps explain phenomena like animations, optical illusions, certain neurological conditions