Perception

Perception

The integration of stimulation from the senses; an active process that involves inferences and top-down processes.

Sensation

The biological process of receiving and detecting stimuli from the senses.

Top-down Processes

The involvement of memory, expectations, mood, current context, and beliefs in the interpretation of information from the senses.

Inference

Drawing conclusions or making assumptions based on available information.

Perceptual Constancy

The ability to perceive the world as remaining constant despite variations in the raw data received by the brain from the senses.

Brightness Contrast

Our perception of brightness is not solely dependent on the absolute amount of light reflected from an object, but also on the amount of light reflected from other objects in the vicinity.

Perceptual Set

The readiness to interpret stimuli in a certain way depending on expectations, experience, and psychological state.

Illusory Contours

The perception of boundaries or shapes that are not actually present in the visual stimulus.

Monocular Depth Cues

Depth cues that can be perceived with only one eye, such as motion parallax, relative size, linear perspective, texture gradient, aerial perspective, and occlusion.

Binocular Depth Cues

Depth cues that require the use of both eyes, such as convergence and binocular (retinal) disparity.

Moon Illusion

The phenomenon where the moon appears larger when it is on the horizon compared to when it is higher in the sky.

Visual Illusions

Perceptual distortions caused by top-down processes, such as the Muller-Lyer illusion, Ponzo illusion, and Ames room illusion.

Auditory Perception

The ability to locate the source of sound, which is influenced by differences in sound intensity, overall intensity, and the time it takes for sound to reach different ears.

Motion Perception

The ability to perceive and distinguish between object motion and observer motion, using visual and auditory cues.

Apparent Motion

The perception of motion created by a succession of flashing lights or motionless images.

Phi Phenomenon

The illusion of motion created by rapidly changing visual stimuli.

Induced motion

The perception of motion in a stationary object when surrounding objects are moving.

Motion after-effect

The perception of backward motion in the scenery after moving forward for a period of time.

Feature analysis

A bottom-up process of perception where different feature detectors are activated when a stimulus is presented.

Gestalt

A top-down process of perception where the whole is perceived as greater than the sum of its parts.

Figure-ground distinction

The distinction between the object that stands out (figure) and the background (ground).

Proximity

The grouping principle where objects that are close to each other are perceived as belonging together.

Good continuation

The grouping principle where objects that form a smooth and continuous pattern are perceived as belonging together.

Closure

The grouping principle where the perceptual system fills in missing information to create a complete interpretation.

Perceptual ambiguity

The phenomenon where the perception of an object or pattern can "flip" between different interpretations.

Insight problems

Problems that require a sudden shift in perception or understanding to find a solution.

Nature

The inborn factors that influence perceptual organization, such as depth perception in infants.

Nurture

The learned factors that influence perceptual organization, such as the ability to perceive subtle differences in harmony for trained musicians.