cognitive psych chapters 5 and 6

optic array

the structural pattern of light falling on the retina

optic flow

the changes in pattern of light reaching an observer when there is movement of the observer and/or aspects of the environment

focus of expansion

the point towards which someone in motion is moving; it does not appear to move but the surrounding visual environment apparently moves away from it

invariant

properties of the optic array that remain constant even though other aspects vary

affordance

the potential uses of an object, which gibson claimed are perceived directly

future path

refers to the ability to plan a trajectory based on current heading rather than immediate surroundings

tangent point

from a driver’s perspective, the point on a road at which the direction of its inside edge appears to reverse

tau

a method for estimating time to contact based on the size of an object’s retinal image divided by its rate of expansion, larger indicates shorter time to contact

tau dot

decline in tau over time helping to estimate whether there is enough time to react before contact

glover’s planning system

used before starting a movement, selects a target, influenced by goals, relatively slow

glover’s control system

used during movement, ensures accuracy, influenced by spatial characteristics, relatively fast

ideomotor apraxia

a condition caused by brain damage in which patients have difficulty in planning and carrying out learned movements

optic ataxia

a condition in which there are problems with making visually guided movements in spite of reasonably intact visual perception

what system is damaged in people with ideomotor apraxia

inferior parietal lobe, affecting the planning system

johansson’s view on biological motion

innate and automatic, highlighting its significance in human interaction

change blindness

failure to detect various changes in the visual environment

inattentional blindness

failure to detect an unexpected object appearing in the visual environment

which part of the brain is important for processing biological motion

superior temporal sulcus

what are the ways that perception of human motion is special

the only type of motion we can both perceive and produce

what type of animal were mirror neurons first found

monkeys/primates

active attention

refers to attention which is controlled by top-down processes such as the individual’s goals and expectations

passive attention

refers to attention which is controlled by bottom-up processes such as being drawn by salient external stimuli such as a loud noise or colorful object

focused/selective attention

a situation in which individuals try to attend to only one source of information while ignoring other stimuli

divided attention

a situation in which two tasks are performed at the same time

internal attention

refers to attention paid to information coming from inside ourselves, such as memory and task rules

external attention

refers to attention paid to information from outside of ourselves, such as sensory information from external stimuli

cocktail party problem

the difficulties involved in attending to one voice when two or more people are speaking at the same time

dichotic listening task

a different auditory message is presented to each ear and attention has to be directed to one message

shadowing

repeating one auditory message word for word as it is presented while a second auditory message is also presented

broadbent’s early selection theory

posits that a filter allows only one message through based on physical characteristics, preventing other information from being processed

load theory

posits that distractibility is influenced by perceptual and cognitive loads

perceptual load

refers to the perceptual demands of the current task such as the amount of visual information and clutter present in the visual field

cognitive load

refers to demands on cognitive resources such as working memory

covert attention

attention to an object in the absence of an eye movement towards it

overt attention

where attention is paid to an object while eye movement is allowed towards it

endogenous attention netowrk

attention to a stimulus controlled by intentions or goal-directed mechanisms

exogenous attention network

attention to a given spatial location determined by “automatic” processes

dorsal attention network

activated when participants expect a stimulus yet not presented

ventral attention network

activated when individuals detect unexpected and potentially important stimuli

neglect

a disorder involving right-hemisphere damage in which the left side of objects and/or objects presented to the left visual field are undetected

extinction

a disorder of visual attention in which a stimulus presented to the side opposite the brain damage is not detected when another stimulus is presented at the same time to the side of the brain damage

feature integration theory

a theory that attempts to explain visual search

dual path model

a model using two pathways to achieve a goal

ventriloquism effect

the mistaken perception that sounds are coming from their apparent source

automatic processes

no capacity limits, no required attention, hard to modify once learned

controlled processes

limited capacity, require attention, can be used flexibly

glover’s planning-control model

posits that we first use a planning system, then a control system, for goal-directed action towards objects

biological motion perception

the ability to see how a person or animal moves, and to use that information to understand the person or animal’s actions and identity

mirror neurons

neurons that respond to actions whether performed by oneself or someone else

sound segregation

the ability to distinguish different sounds from one another

deutsch and deutsch late selection theory

suggests that all information is processed fully before a bottleneck occurs, allowing for a more comprehensive understanding of stimuli

treisman’s attenuation theory

introduces the idea of flexible processing bottlenecks, where some information is attenuated rather than completely filtered out

visual attention theories

compare and contrast the views on whether visual attention is like a spotlight, zoom lens, or multiple spotlights

spotlight

illuminating a small area, can redirect the beam to focus on any given area

zoom lens

more flexible, can control how focused or un-focsued visual attention is and how large of an area it covers

multiple spotlights

most flexible and supporting the idea of split attention

illusory conjuctions

mistakenly combining features from two different stimuli to perceive an object that is not present

selective path

objects are individually selected for recognition

non-selective path

we create a gist of the visual scene, can be used to restrict the area of search