Psychology: Sensation, Perception, and Cognitive Biases

Sensation

The process by which sensory receptors detect physical energy and send information to the brain.

Perception

The brain's interpretation and organization of sensory information.

Selective attention

Focusing awareness on a limited part of the environment while ignoring others.

Cocktail party effect

Ability to focus on one voice among many while still noticing personally relevant information (like your name).

Inattentional blindness

Failure to notice visible objects when attention is directed elsewhere.

Change blindness

Failure to notice changes in the environment.

Bottom-up processing

Perception that starts with sensory input and builds upward to a percept.

Top-down processing

Perception guided by prior knowledge, expectations, and experience.

Perceptual set

A mental predisposition to perceive something in a certain way.

Sociocultural factors on perception

Cultural norms and societal experiences that shape how we interpret sensations.

Gestalt principles

Rules that describe how we naturally organize sensory information into meaningful wholes.

Grouping

The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups.

Closure

Tendency to fill in gaps to perceive a complete object.

Continuity

We perceive smooth, continuous patterns rather than discontinuous ones.

Figure and ground

The organization of visual fields into objects (figure) and their background (ground).

Proximity

Tendency to group nearby objects together.

Similarity

Tendency to group similar items together.

Depth perception

Ability to judge distance and three-dimensional space.

Binocular cues

Depth cues requiring both eyes.

Retinal disparity

The slight difference between the images in each eye that helps determine depth.

Convergence

The inward turning of the eyes as objects get close.

Monocular cues

Depth cues available to each eye alone.

Relative clarity

Hazy objects seen as farther away.

Relative size

Smaller retinal image is perceived as farther away.

Texture gradient

Textures appear finer and less detailed as distance increases.

Linear perspective

Parallel lines appear to converge with distance.

Interposition

One object blocking another is perceived as closer.

Perceptual constancy

Recognizing objects as unchanging despite changes in lighting, distance, or angle.

Color constancy

Perceiving objects as having consistent color, even if changing illumination alters the wavelengths reflected by the object.

Perceptual Adaptation

The ability to adjust to changed sensory input, including an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field

Critical Period

An optimal period when exposure to certain stimuli or experiences is required

Metacognition

Thinking about your own thinking.

Concept

A mental grouping of similar objects, events, or ideas.

Superordinate (Concept)

When thinking about the word "car," it would be more descriptive; so "sports car," or "minivan".

Subordinate (Concept)

When thinking about the word "car," it would be more descriptive; so "vehicle," or "mode of transportation".

Prototype

The best or most typical example of a concept.

Schema

A mental framework that organizes information.

Assimilation

Fitting new information into existing schemas.

Accommodation

Adjusting schemas to fit new information.

Algorithm

A step-by-step procedure that guarantees a solution.

Heuristics

Simple thinking strategies used to make quick judgments.

Representativeness heuristic

Judging likelihood by how well something matches a prototype.

Availability heuristic

Judging likelihood based on how easily examples come to mind.

Insight

A sudden realization of a problem's solution; contrasts with a strategy-based solution, "Ah! Now I get it".

Confirmation bias

Looking for information that validates our beliefs & preconceptions.

Fixation

In cognition, the inability to view a problem from a new perspective; an obstacle to problem-solving.

Intuition

An effortless, immediate, automatic feeling or thought, as contrasted with explicit, conscious reasoning.

Base-rate fallacy

Ignoring statistical information in favor of vivid or specific information.

Mental set

Tendency to approach problems using past strategies.

Priming

Activation of associations that influence perception or behavior.

Framing

How information is presented affects decisions.

Sunk-cost fallacy

Continuing a behavior due to previously invested resources.

Gambler's fallacy

Belief that past random events affect future outcomes.

Overconfidence

Tendency to overestimate accuracy of our judgments.

Hindsight bias

Belief that one "knew it all along" after an event happens.

Divergent thinking

Generating many possible solutions (creative thinking).

Convergent thinking

Narrowing down to a single best solution.

Functional fixedness

Inability to see new uses for familiar objects.