Perception

Perception

The organization and processing of incoming sensory information.

Bottom-Up Processing

Brain processes information without prior expectations; focuses on the face value of sensations.

Top-Down Processing

Brain uses prior expectations and context clues to interpret stimuli.

Schemas

Mental shortcuts based on past experiences to make expectations for stimuli.

Perceptual Set

Expectation from our senses influences our experiences.

Attention

The conscious focusing on a task or incoming stimulus.

Selective Attention

Focusing on the most important stimuli at one time; multitasking is not possible.

Cocktail Party Effect

The ability to focus on a single conversation amidst a noisy environment while ignoring others.

Inattentional Blindness

Failing to notice visible changes in the environment when attention is focused on something else.

Change Blindness

A form of inattentional blindness where changes in the environment go unnoticed.

Gestalt Psychology

Focuses on how we perceive the whole picture of a situation, emphasizing principles such as closure and proximity.

Closure

The brain's ability to fill in gaps and finish incomplete images or words.

Figure and Ground

The distinction between an object (figure) and its background (ground) in perception.

Grouping

Organizing stimuli into groups or patterns based on Gestalt principles.

Proximity

Perceiving objects that are close together as a group.

Similarity

Perceiving objects that look alike as a group.

Depth Perception

The ability to visually determine how far away an object is.

Visual Cliff

An experiment used to test depth perception in infants and animals.

Binocular Cues

Depth perception cues that require both eyes.

Convergence

Binocular cue where both eyes turn inward to focus on a nearby object.

Retinal Disparity

The difference in images between our two eyes due to their distance apart.

Monocular Cues

Depth perception cues that only require one eye.

Relative Clarity

The ability to see more details in close objects than in distant ones.

Relative Size

Objects recognized to be the same size appear larger when closer.

Texture Gradient

Close objects show more texture detail than those farther away.

Linear Perspective

Parallel lines that seem to converge in the distance indicating depth.

Interposition

Objects that block others are perceived as closer.

Perceptual Constancies

Perception that certain properties of objects, like size and shape, remain constant despite changes in stimuli.

Color Constancy

Perception of an object as a constant color under varying lighting conditions.

Perceptual Adaptation

Brain's ability to adjust to changes in stimuli, altering its perception of normal.

Apparent Motion

An optical illusion where objects appear to move when viewed in a rapid sequence.

Stroboscopic Movement

Illusion of smooth motion seen in movies, created by rapid sequences of still images.

Phi Phenomenon

Perception of motion in blinking lights due to spatial separation.

Autokinetic Effect

The illusion of movement perceived when a solid beam of light is stared at in a darkened room.