PerceptionChapter 8, Section 3
Perception
• Allows us to confront changes in the environment; this allows us to adapt to change.
• The brain receives information from the senses and organizes/interprets it into meaningful experiences.
Gestalt•Closure: Tendency to group according to enclosed or completed figures rather than open/incomplete parts.•Continuity: Tendency to see smooth, continuous contours rather than discrete, disrupted shapes.•Proximity: Tendency to group together those elements that are close to each other.•Similarity: Tendency to group together those elements that are similar in appearance.•Simplicity: Tendency to perceive a pattern in the simplest, most organized manner-foundation of Gestalt psychology.
Figure-Ground Perception
• Ability to discriminate properly between a figure and its background.
Perceptual Inference
• When our brains “fill in the gaps” on what is missing from sensory stimuli.• Example: You hear a dog
barking, and you can deduce that it’s a dog and not a rhinoceros.
• Often depends on experience.
Learning to Perceive
• Active involvement in one’s environment is important for accurate perception.
• Influenced by our needs, beliefs, and expectations.– When we want something, we are
more likely to see it.• Perceptual Set-Prepares you to
see what you want to see. – Example: Backward Masking
Depth Perception
• Ability to recognize distances and 3D.– Develops in infancy.
• Monocular cues– Relative Height: Objects that
appear farther away from another object are higher in your plane of view.
– Interposition: Overlapping of image which causes us to view the object in its entirety to be closer.
– Light and Shadows: Brightly lit objects seem closer.
Depth Perception, (cont’d)
• Monocular cues, (cont’d)– Texture-Density Gradient: The
farther removed the object is, the less detail we can identify.
– Linear Perspective: Parallel lines converge when stretched into the distance.
– Motion Parallax (Video)
Monocular Cues
Depth Perception, (cont’d)
• Binocular cues– Convergence: Your eyes turn
inward to look at nearby objects. (Finger)
– Retinal Disparity: Each eye receiving a slightly different image. (Finger)
Constancy/Illusions
• Constancy • Illusions
– Created when perceptual cues are distorted so that our brains cannot correctly interpret size, space, and depth.• Muller-Lyer Illusion
– Two lines that have the same length appear different when “arrows” are pointed in different directions.
• Ponzo Illusion– Two lines that have the same length
appear different when placed in context with converging lines.
Muller-Lyer Illusion Ponzo Illusion
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