Perception

Selective attention Focusing attention on one aspect of our experience E.g. Focusing on good looks and ignoring personality

Perceptual illusions Muller-Lyer Illusion Misperception of length of lines

Perceptual organization Gestalt psychologists The whole is more than the sum of its parts

What do you see?

Figure & ground Figure = Foreground - what we focus on Ground = Background

Figure & ground

Grouping Closure Proximity Similarity Continuity Connectedness Seeing complete letters on a sign even though some bulbs are burned out.

Depth perception Visual cliff Linear perspective Infants will stop at the “cliff” The ability to perceive depth is at least partially innate. Linear perspective Parallel lines converge

Motion perception Phi phenomenon Stroboscopic movement Apparent movement of stationary lights Las Vegas marquees Stroboscopic movement Cartoon book flip pages

Which is larger?

Perceptual consistency Ponzo Illusion A bar further away appears larger even if the same size on our retinas.

Perceptual Set How do our beliefs affect our perception? Definition of the situation We often perceive what we expect to see Our mental predisposition influences what we perceive

Context effects What you see is affected by the context in which you saw it.

Human factor psychologists Organizing machines to fit our natural perceptions How could this natural map be made even better?

Human factor psychologists: Designing flight instrument displays for pilots

Extrasensory perception Telepathy Mind-to-mind communication Clairvoyance Perceiving remote events Precognition Perceiving future events Psychokinesis Mind over matter E.g. bending a spook or raising a table

There is no reliable evidence that anyone possesses ESP.