Chapter 3

principle of perceptual organization

Gesalt psychology developed laws that help us understand how we perceive things

principal of proximity

elements that occur together, are grouped together

prototype matching theory

how the features of the object match another *Con: doesn't talk about process

Feature Integration Theory (FIT)

how we perceive individual features as parts of the same object

direct perception

information in our sensory receptors is all we need to perceive things

Principle of closure

mind fills in missing spaces

direct pathway model

model of pain perception that proposes that pain signals are sent directly from receptors to the brain

physical regularities

regularly occurring physical properties of the environment-Oblique Effect

principle of similarity

similar things appear to be grouped together

Ambiguous Stimulus

stimulus can be open to interpretation

template theory

template matching occurs based on what you have stored in your mind

oblique effect (physical regularities)

tend to discriminate orientations or directions better around horizonal or vertical axis compared to oblique axis

viewpoint invariance

the ability to recognize an object seen from different viewpoints

Sensation

the initial information gathering and recoding by the sensory structures

Perception

the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

experience-dependent plasticity

the process through which neural connections are created and reorganized throughout life as a function of an individual's experiences

inverse projection problem

the task of determining the object responsible for a particular image on the retina

top-down processing

the use of preexisting knowledge to organize individual features into a unified whole ; brain down; example: pain perception, the placebo effect, word superiority effect

What is Hemholtz's Theory of Unconscious Inference?

we perceieve the object that is most likely to have caused the pattern of stimulus -based on uncouncious inference

likelihood principle

we perceive the object that is most likely to have caused the pattern of stimuli we have received

feature matching theory

break things down into smaller parts Includes Pandemonium Model

pandemonium model(Feature-matching)

1. Image Demon 2. Feature demon: look at stimulus 3. Cognitive Demon: finds out what these features match to particular object 4. Decision Demon

Why is it so difficult to design a perceiving machine?

1. Inverse Projection Problem 2. Object can be hidden or blurred. 3. Viewpoint invariance

principle of pragnanz/good figure/simplicity

1. Resulting structure is as simple as possible.

principle of good continuation

A Gestalt principle of perceptual organization that states that points that, when connected, result in straight or smoothly curving lines are seen as belonging together, and that lines tend to be seen in such a way as to follow the smoothest path.

object discrimination problem

A problem in which the task is to remember an object based on its shape and choose it when presented with another object after a delay. Associated with research on the what processing stream. Damage to Temporal Lobe makes this more difficult

What are the four types of bottom-up processing theories?

Direct Perception Template Theories Feature Matching Theory Prototype Matching Theory

light-from-above assumption

The assumption that light is coming from above.

oblique effect

The finding that vertical and horizontal orientations can be perceived more easily than other (slanted) orientations.

figure-ground principle

brain organizes sensory information into a figure or figures (the center of attention) and ground (the less distinct background).

The perception pathway corresponds to the _____ pathway, while the action pathway corresponds to the _____ pathway.

What: temporal lobe; ventral pathway where: dorsal pathway: parietal lobe, spacial orientation

bottom-up processing

analysis that begins with the sense receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information ; eye to brain