1. Basics of Perception

Sensation

Receiving stimuli by touch, sight, and hearing.

Perception

Interpreting sensory information.

Bottom-up processing

Processing entirely new information.

Top-down processing

Processing information based on previous knowledge and experience.

[list] Gestalt Principles

• Proximity

• Similarity

• Closure

• Continuity

• Figure-ground

Proximity

Shapes, objects or design elements located near each other are usually perceived as a group.

Similarity

Shapes, objects, and design elements are usually grouped by similarities in color, shape, orientation, texture or size.

Closure

The human brain has a natural tendency to visually close gaps in forms.

Continuity

Shapes, objects or design elements that are positioned in a way that suggests lines, curves or planes will be perceived as such.

Figure-ground

Visual scenes are usually separated into a “figure” and the “ground.”

Depth perception

Awareness of three-dimensionality, solidity, and the distance between the observer and the object.

Binocular cue

Integrates information between two eyes.

Monocular cue

Only requires one eye.

Retinal disparities

Different in the distances from an object to either eye; binocular cues.

Visual clarity

How defined an object is; monocular cue.

Interposition

When two objects are in the same line of vision and the closer object partly conceals the farther object; monocular cue