AP Psych Unit 2.1

perception

organizing and interpreting sensory information, allowing us to recognize meaningful objects and events

bottom-up processing

begins sensory input, building perception from the smallest pieces of sensory information (A /-\ A)

top down processing

uses prior knowledge, expectations and experiences to interpret sensory information

schemas

mental frameworks that help organizes and interpret information. We have schemas for people, objects, and events that shape our perceptions

ex: babies recognizing their mothers face, they will become upset when meeting someone new.

perceptual set

a readiness to perceive things a certain way, based on expectations emotions, or cultural background

ex: if you expect something to be scary, you may perceive neutral situations as more frightening

context

the surrounding or circumstances can change perception

ex: seeing a coat hanger at night might seem more scary

gestalt psychology

focuses on how people naturally organize sensory information into meaningful wholes

figure and ground

distinguishing an object (figure) from its background (ground). able to switch from seeing something and not

grouping principles

organizing stimuli into coherent groups

proximity

we group nearby objects together

similarity

we group similar looking items

closure

we fill in gaps to see a complete object

selective attention

focusing on one thing amoung many distractions

cocktail party effect

ability to focus on a single conversation in a noisy room

inattentional blindness

failing to notice visible objects when attention is directed elsewhere

change blindness

flaming to notice changes in the environment