Perception

  1. Perception Intro
    • Perception: mental process that assigns meaning to sensation
    • Brains notice changes, but not perfect
    • Selective attention / inattentional blindness
    • Change blindness
    • Cocktail party effect: ability to recognize your name in a large crowd
  2. Gestalt Laws
    • The “whole” is more important than the parts
    • “Figure” stands out from the “(back)ground”
    • Law of closure:
    • Law of proximity:
    • Law of similarity:
    • Law of simplicity / Pragnanz: you don’t notice the the second the. Least cognitive effort.
    • Law of continuity: brain likes things to be continuous
    • Law of common fate (motion): likes things to move in the same way
  3. Perceptual Expectations
    • Schema: a mental representation
    • Perceptual set: tendency to perceive stuff in a particular way
      • We have set expectations 
  4. Visual Illusions
    • When your mind interprets an image falsely
    • Ebbinghaus Illusion: which circle is larger>
    • Muller-Lyer Illusion: we interpret the lines as corners or angles and makes a decision about which one we think is larger
  5. Parapsychology
    • Study of paranormal phenomena (subliminal)
    • ESP
    • Telepathy
    • Clairvoyance: seeing things that are distant
    • Precognition
    • Psychokinesis