1. Thinking About Psychology: The Science of Mind and Behavior
Charles T. Blair-Broeker
Randal M. Ernst

2. Perception
Module 10

3. Perception
The process of organizing and interpreting sensory information

4. Sensation vs. Perception
Play “Sensation and Perception” (4:29) Segment #8 from Psychology: The Human Experience.

5. Organizational Principles
Module 10: Perception

6. Gestalt
The “whole,” or the organizational patterns that we tend to perceive
Gestalt psychologists stressed that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
By breaking experiences into their basic parts, something important is lost.

7. A Gestalt

8. Organizational Principles: Figure-Ground Relationships
Module 10: Perception

9. Figure-Ground
The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surrounding (the ground)
The figure is the object(s) that stands out or draws one’s attention.
The ground is the background.

10. Organizational Principles: Grouping Principles
Module 10: Perception

11. Grouping
The perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into understandable groups
Several principles of grouping include:
Similarity
Proximity
Closure
Continuity

12. Grouping - Similarity
The tendency to place items that look similar into a group

14. Grouping - Proximity
The tendency to place objects that are physically close to each other in a group

16. Grouping – Closure
The tendency to look at the whole by filling in gaps in a perceptual field

18. Grouping – Continuity
The tendency to perceive that movement of an object continues once it appears to move in a particular direction

20. Depth Perception
Module 10: Perception

21. Depth Perception
The ability to see in three dimensions and judge distances

22. Visual Cliff
A laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals
Infants are reluctant to crawl past the “edge” of the visual cliff
Other animals had similar results.
Suggests that depth perception, to some extend, is inborn

23. Visual Cliff

24. Depth Perception: Binocular Depth Cues
Module 10: Perception

25. Binocular Cues
Depth cues that require the use of both eyes

26. Retinal Disparity
A binocular depth cue resulting from slightly different images produced by the separation of the retinas in the left and right eye
Is most effective when the item is quite close to the person

27. Binocular Depth Cues: Finger Sausage

28. Convergence
A binocular depth cue related to the tension in the eye muscles when the eyes track inward to focus on objects close to the viewer
The more tension in the eye muscle, the closer the object is
Works best at close distances

29. Depth Perception: Monocular Depth Cues
Module 10: Perception

30. Monocular Cues Depth cues that require the use of only one eye
Monocular depth cues include: relative size, relative motion, interposition, relative height, texture gradient, relative clarity, and linear perspective.

31. Monocular Depth Cues – Relative Size
Using the perceived size of a familiar object to determine depth
The larger the object appears, the closer the object is to the viewer

32. Monocular Depth Cues – Relative Motion
A person who is moving can determine depth by focusing on a distant object.
Objects further away than the object of focus will appear to move in the same direction as the subject is moving.
Objects closer than the object of focus will appear to move in the opposite direction.

33. Relative Motion

34. Monocular Depth Cues – Interposition
Method of determining depth by noting that closer objects partially obstruct the more distant objects
Also called “overlap”

35. Monocular Depth Cues – Relative Height
Method of determining depth by noting that distant objects appear higher in your field of vision than do closer objects

36. Monocular Depth Cues – Texture Gradient
Method of determining depth by noting that distant objects have a smoother texture than nearby objects

37. Monocular Depth Cues – Relative Clarity
Method of determining depth by noting that distant objects are less clear than nearby objects
Tends to work outdoors

38. Monocular Depth Cues–Linear Perspective
Method of determining depth by noting that parallel lines appear to converge in the distance
The lines appears to eventually merge on the horizon.

39. Motion Perception
Module 10: Perception

40. Stroboscopic Motion
The illusion of motion by the rapid projection of slightly changing images
The concept a motion picture uses

41. Phi Phenomenon
The illusion of motion when fixed lights are turned on and off in a sequence

42. Perceptual Constancy
Module 10: Perception

43. Perceptual Constancy
Perceiving the size, shape, and lightness of an object as unchanging, even as the retinal image of the object changes
The understanding that objects usually remain the same

44. Perceptual Constancy: Size Constancy
Module 10: Perception

45. Size Constancy
A person’s understanding that as an object moves further or closer to them its actual size stays the same
As an object appears to become larger we realize it is getting closer, not bigger.
As an object appears to become smaller we realize it is moving farther away, not getting smaller.

46. Size Distance Relationship

47. Size Distance Relationship

48. Size Distance Relationship

49. Perceptual Constancy: Shape Constancy
Module 10: Perception

50. Shape Constancy
The understanding that an object’s shape remains the same even though the angle of view makes the shape appear changed

51. Shape Constancy

52. Perceptual Constancy: Lightness Constancy
Module 10: Perception

53. Light Constancy
The ability to see an object as having a constant level of lightness no matter how the lighting conditions change

54. Illusion of the Camera
Play “Lights, Camera, Magic!” (12:53) Segment #10 from Scientific American Frontiers: Video Collection for Introductory Psychology (2nd edition).

55. Perceptual Set
Module 10: Perception

56. Perceptual Set
A mental predisposition to perceive something one way and not another
Example of top-down processing
Influence of the “power of suggestion” (subliminal perception)
Guided by schemas: concepts or mental frameworks that organize and interpret information

57. Subliminal Perception
Play “Studying the Effects of Subliminal Stimulation on the Mind” (4:46) Segment #9 from The Mind: Psychology Teaching Modules (2nd edition).

58. Context
Module 10: Perception

59. Context
The setting or environment in which we interpret sensory stimuli

60. Illusions
Module 10: Perception

61. Illusions Misinterpreting sensory stimuli
Help researchers understand how sensation and perception normally works

62. Müller-Lyer Illusion

63. Müller-Lyer Illusion
Most people think segment AB equals BC. In reality AB is much longer than BC.

64. Müller-Lyer Illusion

65. Müller-Lyer Illusion

66. Müller-Lyer Illusion

67. Müller-Lyer Illusion
Insert “Müller-Lyer Illusion” Video #4 from Worth’s Digital Media Archive for Psychology.
Instructions for importing the video file can be found in the ‘Readme’ file on the CD-ROM.

68. Ames Room Illusion: Secret Revealed

69. The End