1. Principles of Perception

2. Perceptual Inference
Definition: When we fill-in holes between our sensations to develop a perception.
Perceptual Inference depends on experience
Ex. Our brain helps cover movie goofs / continuity errors

3. Gestalt
A pattern formed based on organizing bits of info into more meaningful wholes
Ex. The story of the blind men and the elephant.

4. Gestalt Principles
Closure: we “close” open objects

5. Gestalt Principles
Continuity: More likely to continue patterns, rather than disrupted ones

6. Gestalt Principles
Similarity: Similar objects are grouped, dissimilar ones stick out.

7. Gestalt Principles
Proximity: Objects close together are perceived as one object

8. Figure-Ground Perception
An object is separated from its background
Visually, one area is dark, other is lighter.
Hearing, able to pick out a melody from the rest of the song, one person’s voice in a crowd.

9. Figure-Ground

10. Learning to Perceive
Senses are Nature, Perception Acquisition is nurture.
Ex. Babies learn to perceive the difference between a human face and a blank oval.
Needs and wants will make us more likely to perceive objects
Ex. hungry people can more readily perceive food.

11. Constancy
We perceive objects the same way, regardless of changes in conditions
Ex. A stapler is perceived as being the same even if lighting and your angle towards it are different.

12. Illusions
Incorrect perceptions, misrepresenting physical stimuli

13. Illusions
The legendary works of M.C. Esher

14. ESP (Extrasensory Perception)
The belief that humans have additional senses beyond the ones we readily acknowledge
Ex. speaking to the dead, etc.