Ch. 6 Pscyhology

Human factors psychology

A branch of psychology that explores how people and machines interact and how machines and physical environments can be made safe and easy to use.

Schema

A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information.

Similarity

Similar objects are perceived to be part of a group.

Synchrony

Stimuli that occur at the same time are perceived as belonging together.

Selective attention

The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus, as in the cocktail party (Ability to attend to only one voice among many).

Linear perspective

The more the lines converge, the greater their perceived distance.

Visual capture

The tendency to dominate the other senses.

Phi phenomenon

An illusion of movement created when 2 or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession.

Bottom-up processing

Analysis that begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the brain's integration of sensory information.

5. Describe binocular and monocular cues for perceiving depth and explain how they help the brain calculate distance

Binocular Cues: Depth cues, such as retinal display and convergence, that depend on the use of 2 eyes. Retinal Display: By comparing images from the 2 eyeballs, the brain computes distance-the greater disparity(difference) between two images. Convergence: The extent to which eyes converge inward when looking at an object. Monocular Cues: Depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either alone eye.

4. Explain depth perception and the visual cliff experiments

Depth Perception: The ability to see objects in 3 dimensions although the images that strike the retina are 2 dimensional; allows us to judge distance. Visual Cliff: A laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals.

Connectedness

Elements that are connected by other elements tend to be grouped together.

8. Identify the three most testable forms of ESP and explain why most research psychologists remain skeptical of ESP claims

Extra Sensory Perception: The controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input said to include... Telepathy: Mind to mind communication; one person sending thoughts to another or perceiving another's thoughts. Clairvoyance: Perceiving remote events, such as sensing that a friend's house is on fire. Precognition: Perceiving future events. Psychologists have been unable to replicate ESP phenomena under control conditions.

3. Explain the figure-ground relationship and identify the principles of perceptual grouping in form perception

Figure-Ground: The organization of the visual field into objects(the figures) that stand out from their surroundings(ground). Grouping: The perceptual tendency to organize stimulus into coherent groups.

2. Describe Gestalt psychology's contribution to our understanding of perception

Gestalt: An organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.

Proximity

Group nearby figures together.

Interposition

If one object partially blocks our view of another, we perceive it as closer.

Relative size

If we assume that 2 objects are similar in size, we perceive the one that casts the smaller retinal image as farther away.

1. Explain how illusions help us to understand some of the ways we organize stimuli into meaningful perceptions

Illusions reveal the ways we normally organize and interpret our sensations. Visual Capture: The tendency to dominate the other senses.

Change blindness

In attentional blindness shown by not realizing the person you have been talking to has changed or the screen has changed in front of you.

Perceptual adaptation

In vision the ability to adjust to an artificially displayed or even inverted visual field.

Texture gradient

Objects far away appear smaller and more densely peaked.

7. Define perceptual set and explain how it influences what we do or do not perceive

Perceptual Set: A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another. Once we have formed a wrong idea about reality, we have more difficulty seeing the truth.

Retinal disparity

Retinas receive slightly difference images since they are about 2.5 inches apart. The difference between the image lets our brain compute the relative difference.

Top-down processing

Select, organize, and interpret perceptions.

6. Describe the contribution of restored-vision and sensory deprivation research in our understanding of the nature-nurture interplay in our perceptions

There is a critical period for some aspects of sensory and perceptual development. Without the stimulation provided by early visual experiences, the brain's neural organization does not develop normally.

Closure

We fill in gaps to create a complete, whole object.

Stroboscopic effect

We perceive continuous movement in a rapid series of slightly varying images.

Relative clarity

We perceive hazy objects as further away than sharp, clear objects.

Size and shape constancy

We perceive objects as having a constant size and shape.

Relative height

We perceive objects higher in our field of vision as further away.

Continuity

We perceive smooth, continuous patterns than discontinuous ones.