Perception

Perception

the process of organizing/ interpreting sensory info (make sense or meaning of the environment)

Bottom up then top down

process of how we experience the world

Top-down processing

perception; guided by mental processes to impact experience of the environment (changes with education/ age)

Priming

unconscious activation of an association thus predisposing one’s response (ex. money makes us hungry/ tougher and the colors red and yellow make us hungry)

Subliminal Stimuli

the things that cause priming/ prime you subconsciously

Cocktail party effect

demonstrates selective attention; focusing of a conscious awareness on a particular event (ex. at an event though many conversation happen at once, can focus on the one you’re having)

Visual Capture

the tendency of vision to dominate other senses, even logic (how optical illusions work) - ex. you grip your chair when watching a roller coaster video

Ames Room

makes it seem that a child. adult are the same height (raised floor/ forward wall)

Gestalt Psychology

a branch of psychology which focuses on the tendency of the brain to integrate information into meaningful wholes (ex. see faces in cars/ connect lines through circles to see diamond shape)

Gestalt Grouping Principles

ways in which the brain may organize stimuli for meaning

proximity

Gestalt Grouping Principle; closer objects we perceive as more related than objects further away from each other

Similarity

Gestalt Grouping Principle; objects with shared characteristics we organize as related

Enclosure

Gestalt Grouping Principle; items enclosed in a box or circle we assume are a group

Symmetry

Gestalt Grouping Principle; our brain picks up on when things are not symmetrical

closure

Gestalt Grouping Principle; our brain will fill in missing parts to create a shape

Continuity

Gestalt Grouping Principle; instead of seeing many dots, we’ll see a continuous line

Connectedness

Gestalt Grouping Principle; we may see connections in disjointed objects

Figure-Ground

Gestalt Grouping Principle; organization of visual field for fore-ground vs background objects depending on what you focus on (ex. think candlestick vs faces)

Depth Perception

seeing objects in 3D allows us to judge distance

Eleanor Gibson

scientist who did visual cliff and proved depth perception, in part, is innate

Binocular Cues

depth cues that rely on the use of both eyes

retinal disparity

(bi) the brain compares images from 2 eyeballs and computes the difference to make an object seen in the middle/ focus of vision (greater disparity = closer objects are) - think L and R eyeballs see thumb in different spots

Convergence

(bi) eyes converge inward when looking at an approaching object (greater tension means closer)

Monocular cues

depth cues that only rely on one eye/ separately

Relative Size

(mono) if two objects are the same size, the closer one seems bigger

Relative height

(mono) objects higher in the visual field are further away (think desk vs whiteboard)

interposition/ occlusion

(mono) if one object overlaps another, then the partially obscured one is further away

Linear Perspective

(mono) parallel lines appear to meet in the distance

Texture Gradient

(mono) texture becomes less apparent further away (think clover field)

Relative clarity

(mono) detailed objects are closer

Light and Shadow

(mono) nearby objects reflect more light while dimmer objects are further away

Relative Motion

(mono) while moving, closer objects seem to zip by while further objects appear not to move (think city in background vs closer trees while looking out window of train)