Perception October 11, 20010

Perception We do not merely have sensory experiences; we perceive objects The brain receives information form the senses and organizes and interprets it into meaningful experiences Gestalt- the experience that comes from organizing bits and pieces of information into meaningful wholes

Principles People use patterns to understand perception These include, proximity, continuity, similarity, simplicity and closure. When you hear music you do not hear only one not at a time, but you catch all the notes together

Figure-Ground Perception Tell the difference between an object and its background Example (Tree vs Sky) Voices in a noisy room? Multiple TV’s in a room Print on a page

Perceptual Inference Is it there if you cant see it? Driving up a hill Dark room finding a chair What do you think of when you approach a house and hear a barking dog

Learning How ALL BEHAVIOR IS LEARNED, PERCEPTION IS A BEHAVIOR! When you want something, you can see it in your mind Honest old ladies perception Subliminal messages- brief sounds or visual messages presented below the absolute Threshold

Depth Perception The ability to recognize an object in 3 dimensions and perceive distance Size, Height, Light and Shadows, and Texture Density gradient Motion parallax- the apparent movement of objects that occurs when the observer changes position

Depth Perception Binocular Depth Cues- depend on the movement of both eyes The way your eyes turn inward to view objects closer to you. (Convergence) Linear Perspective- two parallel lines seem to converge as they continue on

Constancy Constancy- the tendency to percieve certain objects in the same way regardless of changing, angle, distance, or lighting This is how you picture people coming towards you and not changing their appearance

Illusions Illusions- perceptions that misrepresent physical stimuli Magicians Does it play tricks on the eye or does it play tricks on the brain Mirrors in a a mirror maze

Extrasensory Perception Extrasensory Perception- is the ability to receive information by some means other that ordinary senses There are 4 types Clairvoyance Telepathy Psychokinesis precognition