Lesson 1: Influences on Perception

change blindness

form of inattentive blindness that involves failing to notice changes in the environment

perceptual set

mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

selective attention

focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus

inattentive blindness

failing to see visible objects when one’s attention is directed elsewhere

…% of Americans have read or sent a text message while driving

60

our interpretation of stimuli is affected by…

context, motivation, and emotion

cocktail party effect

brain’s ability to focus auditory attention on a single stimulus while filtering out background noise

schema

mental framework or organized pattern of thought that helps individuals perceive, interpret, and organize information, as well as determine a perceptual set