psych unit 2 part 1

perception

process of organizing and interpreting sensory information

ex: recognizing an object by matching it to a past memory

top-down processing

processes that uses prior knowledge to interpret sensory information

ex: assuming the new menu item in cafeteria is bad based on prior opinion on food there.

bottom-up processing

processes that takes in sensory information to assemble it.

ex: analyzing a classroom that you haven’t seen before.

schemas

mental frameworks used to organize information

ex: a toddler learns that a dog has four legs so they believe that all four legged furry creatures are dogs

perceptual sets

the expectation to perceive things a certain way due to prior knowledge

ex: a child perceiving a cloud as a UFO

gestalt psychology

study of how brain organizes sum of parts into wholes

ex: seeing a unified picture instead of separate parts

closure

filling visual gaps to perceive a whole shape

figure/ground

separating a focused object (figure) from its background (ground)

proximity

grouping nearby items together

similarity

grouping items that look alike

selective attention

focusing on one stimuli while ignoring others.

ex: reading while ignoring background noise

cocktail party effect

the brain's ability to shift focus to one voice in a noisy room if your name is mentioned.

ex: turning when your name is heard despite loud cheering in crowd

change blindness

failing to notice a visual change in the environment

ex: not noticing when a service worker is replaced by someone else

inattention (inattentional blindness)

failing to see visible objects because focus is elsewhere

ex: missing a gorilla walking by while being focused on counting basketball passes

binocular depth cues

using both eyes to see depth and distance

ex: threading a needle is easier with two eyes than one

retinal disparity

each eye sees a slightly different picture and the brain combines them to judge distance

ex: thumb seems like its jumping or moving when you hold up it up and close one eye at a time

convergence

eyes turning inward to focus on close objects

eye: crossing your eyes as you touch your finger to your nose

monocular depth cues

depth tricks that work with only one eye

ex: using shadow and size to make a 2D painting look 3D

relative clarity

being able to tell distance by clarity

ex: nearby trees look sharper than distant mountains

relative size

being able to tell distance by size

ex: a cat down the street looking smaller than a cat more nearby

texture gradient

being able to tell distance by texture

ex: brick wall that is nearby is more detailed and rougher than a brick wall further away that looks smoother

linear perspective

being able to tell distance by lines narrowing down

ex: train tracks looking like they meet at a single point on the horizon

interposition

being able to tell distance by objects overlapping each other

ex: nearby tree slightly overlapping house that is further

perceptual constancy

recognition that objects do not physically change despite changes in viewing conditions

ex: rotating notebook and it still having the same rectangular shape

apparent motion/movement

the perception that something seems like its moving when it isn’t

ex: stop-motion animation looking like smooth movement.