psychology perception

sensation

process where our sensory receptors and sense organs detect and respond to raw sensory data that stimulates them, meaningless

perception

process where we give meaning to sensory information

sensation process

reception, transduction, transmission

perception process

selection, organisation, interpretation

visual perception process

the light travels through the eye and is focused on the retina and detected, the light (electromagnetic energy) is then converted to electrochemical energy (neural impulses), the neural impulses are transmitted to the brain via the optic nerve for further processing, neural images are decoded by the primary visual cortex into meaningful features, the brain then organises the neural impulses into patterns that closely resemble the original stimulus, the person perceives the object as …

top down processing

relies on past experience, uses context, if there are gaps in sensory data perception fills them in

bottom up processing

relies on raw sensory data, no previous knowledge used, no higher level cognitive processing used

attention

the process of focusing on specific stimuli whilst ignoring and excluding others

sustained attention

attention on a specific stimulus for a continuous period without being distracted, helps us complete tasks especially when they are boring/repetitive/long

selective attention

selecting what you pay attention to and ignoring any other stimulus

cocktail party phenomena

if a stimulus is of personal importance we will pay closer attention and tune out any other noise

changes in a stimulus that can attract out attention

movement, contrast, intensity, size, duration, repetition

divided attention

multitasking, involves distributing or dividing out attention across 2 or more activities, the more activities required the more difficult it is to divide out attention

depth perception

the ability to accurately estimate the distance of objects and therefore perceive the world in 3 dimensions

binocular depth cues

depth signals that require input from both eyes, important in determining the distance of relatively close objects

convergence

involves the brain detecting and interpreting depth or distance from changes in the eye muscles, the 2 eyes turn inwards to focus on objects that are close

retinal disparity

since our eyes r cms apart each retina receives a slightly different visual image due to different angles of view, the disparity in the location of the images on the retinas enables us to make judgements about the depth or distance of an object

monocular depth cues

depth cue requiring the use of 1 eye, can still operate with both eyes, often used by artists to form depth and distance on a 2d canvas

accommodation

involves the automatic focusing mechanism of the lens in the eye to adjust the shape of the lens in response to different distances of view from the object

linear perspective

the apparent convergence of parallel lines as they recede into the distance, it appears as if the lines come together to a single point on the horizon which demonstrates depth

interposition

an object which partially covers another is closer than the object it covers and therefore the covered object is further away

texture gradient

the gradual diminishing of detail that occurs in surfaces as they recede into the distance, we perceive objects of clear and fine detail as being closer and those that lack detail as being further away

relative size

the tendency to perceive the object that produces the largest image on the retina as being closer and the object that produces the smallest image as being further away

height in the visual field

the tendency to visually perceive objects located closer to the horizon as being more distant than objects located further from the horizon

figure-ground

identifying a figure from the background, we perceptually separate the figure against the background

closure

to mentally close up, fill in or ignore gaps in a visual image and to perceive an object as complete

similarity

grouping the parts of the particular visual stimulus that have similar/like characteristics

proximity

the tendency to perceive parts of a visual image which are positioned together as belonging together in a group

gustatory perception

relating to eating or the sense of taste

gustatory perception process

the primary gustatory cortex processes the sensation of a mixture of the 5 basic tastes

papillae

contain tastebuds which contain the various taste receptor cells

biological factors of gustatory perception

age, genetics, number of taste receptors, pregnancy

psychological factors of gustatory perception

memory, motivation, mood, food packaging and appearance

social factors of gustatory perception

culture, social media, religion

biological factors of visual perception

binocular and monocular depth cues

psychological factors of visual perception

gestalt principles, past experiences, memory

social factors of visual perception

culture

perceptual set

when our past experiences determine our expectations of how something should taste

stimulus for visual perception

light (electromagnetic energy)

organ where receptors are located for visual perception

eyes

receptors for visual perception

photoreceptors in the retina

transmission nerve for visual perception

optic nerve

brain location involved in processing for visual perception

visual cortex

stimulus for gustatory perception

chemical molecules (chemical energy)

organ where receptors are located for gustatory perception

tongue

receptors for gustatory perception

gustatory receptors in tastebuds

transmission nerve for gustatory perception

cranial/facial nerve

brain location involved in processing for gustatory perception

gustatory cortex via thalamus

similarities between visual and gustatory perception

send neural impulses from receptors to the brain, converts stimulus to electrochemical energy

perceptual distortion

an inconsistency or mismatch between a perceptual experience and physical reality

visual illusions

when perception consistently differs from objective reality

necker cube illusion

the cube can spontaneously flip to a different orientation when our attention shifts from 1 corner to another

muller-lyer illusion

2 lines of equal length each which have opposite shaped ends is incorrectly perceived as being longer than the other, line with the feather tail is perceived to be longer, line with the arrowhead is perceived to be shorter

carpentered world hypothesis

states that it occurs because of our familiarity to architectural features in the world that allows us to judge depth

ames room illusion

an illusion involving a trapezium shaped room that is longer and higher on one side than the other, when viewed through a peephole at the front of the room using only 1 eye the room appears to be rectangular, ceiling slopes inwards, distorts the size of objects in the room

spinning dancer illusion

the dancer can be interpreted as spinning either clockwise or counter-clockwise due to the lack of depth cues to distinguish between the front and back side of the silhouette, without these cues there is no clear distinction between which side of the body is closer

agnosia

the loss or impairment of the ability to recognise and identify objects, persons, sounds or other sensory stimuli

visual agnosia

the loss or impairment of the ability to recognise visual stimuli

7 types of agnosia

apperceptive visual agnosia, associative visual agnosia, prosopagnosia, simultanagnosia, topographical agnosia, colour agnosia, agnosic alexia

apperceptive visual agnosia

cant perceive the individual parts of a stimulus as a meaningful unified whole, unlikely to be able to properly draw, copy or match a picture of a simple unfamiliar object

associative visual agnosia

can describe an object or draw/copy a picture of it but dont know what they have drawn or explain what it does, cant identify meaning to objects through visual alone

prosopagnosia

the inability to recognise face including their own

simultanagnosia

the inability to recognise more than 1 object at a time in a scene that contains more than 1 object

topographical agnosia

the inability to find ones way around familiar environments, unable to use visual cues in familiar environments to guide them in the right direction and will often become lost

colour agnosia

the inability to identify and distinguish between colours despite having normal colour vision mechanisms, unable to name colours of objects or list objects of a specific colour

agnosic alexia

the inability to recognise or comprehend written or printed words, reading difficulties

supertasters

are more sensitive to certain tastes and experience tastes with greater intensity than most people especially bitter taste, due to a higher density of fungi form papillae therefore more tastebuds and taste receptors

non-supertasters

have an unusually low number of tastebuds

average tasters

about 6 tastebuds in each fungi form papillae

miracle berry

contains the miracle protein called miraculin, miraculin attaches to sweet taste receptors, when exposed to acids this changes the receptors shape and activates the sweet receptors

factors influencing flavour perception

perceptual set, colour intensity, texture

colour intensity

we perceive more intense colours of food or drinks to be more intensely flavoured

synaesthesia

a distortion where the stimulation of 1 sense produces the experience of another sense, adding to the overall perceptual experience

grapheme-colour synaesthesia

association of colour with each letter, number or word

spatial neglect

neurological disorder associated with brain injury, unable to recognise anything on either left or right side, can occur in other senses