Unit 2 Preception

Perception

The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events.

Bottom-up processing

Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information

Top-down processing

Information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations.

Schema

A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information based on past experiences.

Perceptual set

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

Gestalt psychology

An organized whole

Figure and ground

The organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground).

Closure

The Gestalt principle that the brain tends to fill in gaps to create a complete, whole object.

Proximity

A Gestalt principle where we group nearby figures together.

Similarity

A Gestalt principle where we group similar figures together (e.g., seeing a field of flowers as rows of the same color).

Attention

The cognitive process of selectively concentrating on a discrete aspect of information while ignoring other perceivable information.

Selective attention

The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus, such as the "Cocktail party effect" where you can hear one voice among many.

Inattentional blindness

Failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere (e.g., not seeing a gorilla walk through a basketball game).

Change blindness

Failing to notice changes in the environment (e.g., not noticing a person you are talking to has been replaced by someone else).

Binocular depth cues

Depth cues, such as retinal disparity and convergence, that depend on the use of two eyes.

Retinal disparity

A binocular cue for perceiving depth

Convergence

A binocular cue for perceiving depth

Monocular depth cues

Depth cues available to either eye alone, such as relative size and interposition.

Relative clarity

A monocular cue

Relative size

A monocular cue

Texture gradient

A monocular cue

Linear perspective

A monocular cue

Interposition

A monocular cue

Apparent movement (Phi Phenomenon)

An illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession.