Perception & Problem Solving

Perception

Organization, identification, and interpretation of a sensation in order to form a mental representation 

Bottom up processing

• We notice what we “see” first

• Sensory analysis starts at entry level

Ex: you see a shape with three connected lines, you look at angles, the edges and then the brain realizes that its a triangle.

Top down processing

• We notice what we interpret first

• constructing perceptions drawing both on sensations coming in and our experiences, expectations, and prior knowledge.

• ex: you read a sentence with missing letters but can fill in the blanks based on your knowledge of language

Schemas ( an internal or external factor on perception? , definition? Example? )

• Cognitive framework based on previous knowledge and experience that help us organize and interpret incoming information

• more broad and long term than perceptual set

• Blueprints of what things USUALLY look like or how situations USUALLY go

• example: Walk into a restaurant and automatically expect menus and someone taking your order = restaurant schema

• internal factor on our perception

Perceptual Set ( ( an internal or external factor on perception? , definition? Example? )

• Mental predisposition that rely on familiar ways of perceiving stimuli; or the readiness to perceive a stimulus in a particular way

• short term and more context dependent than schema

• ex: You are told to look at a picture and also told that many people see a young woman first - because of that expectation you are more likely to see the young woman

• ex: If you are looking at the clouds after watching a scary movie, you are more likely to interpret a shape as a monster rather than a harmless blob

Context ( an internal or external factor on perception? , definition? Example? )

• guide perceptual interpretations ( typos pass unobserved ) 

• personal experiences 

• cultural experiences and expectations 

  • what we experience influences what we perceive and our assumptions about what we perceive 

• the sentence “its a bat” can be interpreted as a baseball bat if you’re in a sports store or a flying bat if you are outdoors. 

Attention ( definition ) 

• interaction of sensation and perception that is affected by internal and external processes 

  • conscious awareness focuses on a very limited area of what you experience 

    • AKA - you can only notice a certain amount of stimuli at one time ( selective attention ) 

Types of selective attention ( list and definition )

1. Cocktail party effect = Focus on one conversation in a noisy environment while still being able to notice important information from other noise : auditory cortex boosts some sounds to help the brain

2. Inattention blindness = miss stimuli in the environment since your attention is elsewhere in the moment [ NOTHING CHANGED, JUST DIDN’T NOTICE THE THING AT ALL ] 

3. Change blindness = failing to notice changes in visual field / environment as a result of inattention [ MISS A CHANGE, NOT THE ENTIRE OBJECT ] 

Types of perception ( list and definition )

• Form perception = organize visual information into shapes and objects 

  • ex: recognize a face from its features

  • about detecting shapes, patters, and objects

• Depth perception = transform 2D into 3D and judge distance 

  • ex: can tell that a car is far away even though it looks small in your visual field 

  • uses cues like binocular disparity ( two eyes ) and monocular cues ( one eye ) 

  • always about distance, 3D space, near vs far 

• Motion perception = brain computes motion as images move across retina 

  • ex: see a ball flying towards you and can tell what direction and how fast it is coming

• Perceptual Constancy = being able to recognize an object no matter the angle, distance, or illumination

  • size constancy : a person walking away looks smaller but you know they are not shrinking

  • something changes in appearance but brain recognizes it as a constant

Form Perception : figure ground

• Ability to separate an object from its background

• ex: when reading you see black letters (figure) against a white page ( background ) 

• ex: you either see two faces or a vase, but not both at once because one has to be the figure and other has to be the background 

• depends on what you focus on 

Gestalt Organization Concept: Proximity

• Grouping things that are close together

Gestalt Organization Concept: Similarity

Items that are the same or similar

ex: in the photo you see patterns

Gestalt Organization Concept: Continuity

Perceive continuous patterns ( despite any interruptions )

ex: you see two lines instead of four with interruptions and crossing between the two lines 

Gestalt Organization Concept: Connectedness ( AKA Common Fate )

When things are seemingly connected or moving together are grouped together. Looks like a single unit. 

Gestalt Organization Concept: Closure

• we fill in gaps to see complete whole objects

Seeing objects in __ allows us to estimate distance

3D

Retina sees ___ images - __ takes those images and organizes it into 3 dimensions

Retina sees 2 dimensional images - the brain takes those images and organizes it into three dimensions 

Binocular Cues ( definition, retinal disparity, convergence )

• two eyes

• Retinal disparity = the difference between the retinal images of our 2 eyes provides information about depth 

  • ex: the closer the object the larger the disparity ( difference in image ) 

• Convergence = a cue to nearby objects’ distance enabled by the merging of retinal images by the brain 

Monocular Cues ( definition )

• aspects of a scene that yield information about depth when viewed with only one eye

  • rely on the relationship between distance and eye 

  • can give the illusion of depth on flat or 2 d surfaces

Types of monocular cues ( list and definition )

1. Texture gradient = textures are more clear up front

2. Relative size= objects that are close appear bigger 

3. relative height = objects closer are lower in our field of vision and those farther away appear higher 

4. interposition = when one object blocks another the one in front is perceived as closer

5. Linear perspective = parallel lines seem to converge in the distance ( ex: railroad tracks ) 

6. light and shadow = closer objects appear brighter ; shading produces depth 

7. relative clarity = hazy objects perceived as distant 

Motion perception

• objects traveling toward us growing in size and those moving away shrink in size

Motion Parallax

• Objects closer move past faster than objects farther away

( viewing the scenery from a moving car, a far mountain vs the roadside )

Stroboscopic Movement

• Brain sees rapid series of slightly different images as movement ( flip book )

Phi Phenomenon

• Lights turning on and off in sequence we perceive as movement ( lane ending signal )

Perceptual constancy ( definition )

being able to recognize an object regardless of angle , distance, or illumination

list and define types of perceptual constancy

1. Shape = shape is constant even if the retinal image changes

2. color = we perceive familiar objects has having consistent color even if changing illumination

3. size = perceive certain objects to have an unchanging size, no matter how far away 

Illusions

• using perceptual constancy and other aspects of perception, images can be manufactured to create illusions, where you perceive one thing but in reality it is something different. This can be for perception types like size, depth 

Ponzo illusion: an illusion of size in which 2 objects of equal size are positioned between two converging lines so they appear to be different sizes

Ames room = confuses assumptions of the horizontal and vertical natures of square rooms

Concepts

mental groups of similar items, people, places → forms the basis of thought 
An AP Psychology concept example is classical conditioning, where a child associates a neutral stimulus (a dog) with an unconditioned stimulus (being bitten) to develop a conditioned response (fear).

Prototypes

• the best/most typical example of any given concept

  • think of it at the first thing that comes to mind

  • helps for easy sorting by matching new items to prototypes ( AKA how does this best match the most typical example )

robin for the category "bird" or an apple for the category "fruit". This is because a robin and an apple are the best or most typical examples

Schemas

• frameworks for thinking

• patterns of thinking and behavior that people use to interpret the world 

EX: a child learning about animals. For instance, a child might have a basic "dog" schema (four legs, furry) and then see a cat. They might initially try to fit the cat into their "dog" schema (assimilation). When they learn a cat is a different animal with unique traits like meowing and a different "dog" schema, the child modifies their existing understanding and creates a new "cat" schema (accommodation)

Assimilation 

• improving existing knowledge of something thanks to new but congruent information NOT CHANGING THE SCHEMA 

• ex: a child believes that a dog is furry, but they later learn that dogs have four legs 

Accomodation

• taking in new information and changing the existing schema to incorporate the new information that contradicts previous thinking when a child who believes all four-legged animals are "dogs" encounters a cat, realizes it's not a dog, and must create a new "cat" schema to incorporate this new information.

Problem solving : Algorithm 

• Step by step procedures or set of rules 

• addresses problems by attempting all possible solutions until correct one is found 

Problem Solving : Heuristics

• Reduce number of options with “mental shortcuts” to make judgements; experience-based strategy but doesn’t guarantee a correct outcome 

Examples include crossing the street by first looking both ways, which uses a quick assessment of danger instead of a lengthy risk analysis, or using the availability heuristic by assuming a plane crash is more likely after seeing it in the news. 

Problem Solving: Insight

• “Aha!” moment

• the solution just comes to us

Creativity

• coming up with new or novel ideas and engaging in divergent thinking ( instead of convergent ) 

Convergent thinking vs divergent thinking

• Convergent = looking for the “right “ answer [ what is expected, used to ] 

• Divergent = looking for a unique/creative answer [ looking at different approaches ] 

Executive functions

• cognitive processes that allow individuals to generate , organize,plan, and carry out goal directed behaviors and experience critical thinking 

• frontal lobes

Representativeness Heuristics

• judge the likelihood of things based on if they fit a prototype (using stereotypes ) or prior expectations 

• Allows you to make snap judment 

• ex: assuming a quiet, analytical person who wears glasses is an accountant rather than a salesperson

Availability Heuristics

• Estimate probability of an event  based on how easily the information pops in our mind

• recalling the first or most vivid example that comes to mind 

• ex: overestimating the risk of a plane crash after hearing about it on the news, but underestimating car crashes which are more deadly and frequent 

Belief Perseverance

We cling to our beliefs even if evidence proves them wrong.

Mental Set

• prior experiences that were successful

• Leads to sticking to most familiar and ignoring alternatives 

Functional Fixedness

we only thinking of using an object for the intended use

ex: not being able to use newspapers to cover up an object

Priming

the activation , often unconsciously, of particular association in memory

where a person's reaction time or understanding of a word is faster if it's preceded by a related word. For instance, if you see the word "doctor," you will process the word "hospital" more quickly afterward because the concept has been activated in your mind. Another example is conceptual priming, where being primed with words related to "money" or "prestige" can influence a person's later decision, such as choosing more expensive socks

Gamblers Fallacy

• the mistaken belief that past events can influence future events that are entirely independent of them in reality

ex: flipping heads on a coin 5 times in a row means that you will flip heads

Sunk cost fallacy

• tendency to continue with an endeavor we’ve invested money, effort, or time into - even if current costs outweight the benefits