1. PERCEPTION
Def: the mental process of organizing sensory input into meaningful patterns

2. psychophysics Ernst Weber
The study of the relationship btwn stimuli and our responses to them

3. Just noticeable difference (difference threshold)
Smallest amt 2 stimuli have to differ for us to tell them apart
Weber’s Law: the amt of change needed to produce a constant JND is a constant proportion of the original stimulus intensity

4. Absolute thresholds
Lowest levels of awareness of faint stimuli with no competing stimuli present
Must be detected 50% of the time

5. Subliminal perception
Perception of a stimulus below the threshold for conscious recognition
No evidence to support that it affects our behavior

6. Signal (or stimulus) detection theory
Detection of a stimulus depends partly on experience, expectations, motivation, and alertness
How we separate the stimulus (signal) from background stimuli (noise)

7. Processing incoming information

8. Top-down processing
Processing info guided by our thoughts or higher-level mental processes
Move from the general to the specific
Deductive Reasoning: logical thinking that begins with a general idea, then develops specific evidence to support or refute it

9. Bottom-up processing (feature analysis)
Starts with noticing individual elements, then appreciate the whole picture
Inductive Reasoning
Begins with sensory inputs

10. Feature detectors
Neurons in visual association cortex that focus specifically on edges, lines, angles, curves, and movement
We build an image from simple stimuli and combine them into complex formats

11. attention The brain can focus only on one thing at a time
Multitasking is divided attention

12. Focused or selective attention
Homing in on one particular stimulus
Cocktail Party Effect—hearing name in a crowded party
Stroop Effect

13. Selective inattention
Screening out unwanted stimuli b/c it causes anxiety or feels threatening or b/c it is thought to be of no importance
“You hear what you want to hear”

14. Inattentional blindness
Our focus is directed at one stimulus, leaving us blind to other stimuli

15. Change Blindness
Inability to see changes in our environment when our attention is directed elsewhere

16. Perceptual adaptation
Ability to adapt to an environment and filter out distractions
Sensory adaptation and habituation

17. Perceptual organization

18. Gestalt psychology
Study of the brain’s tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes

19. Figure-ground Figure—what is focused on
Ground—blurry background; what is ignored
Ambiguous figures

20. grouping Tendency to organize stimuli into groups
5 types of grouping patterns:
Proximity
Similarity
Continuity
Closure
Connectedness

21. Depth perception
Def: the ability to see the world in 3 dimensions and to know proximity of an object

22. Binocular cues
Retinal Disparity: difference btwn the images the eyes perceive; due to different angles
Convergence: eyes moving inward when focusing on an object

23. Monocular cues Linear Perspective
Interposition (occlusion): overlapping
Relative Size: far away objects look small
Relative Height: objects higher in vision seem farther away
Relative Clarity
Light and Shadow: dimmer objects are farther
Texture Gradient: degree of detail increases for closer objects
Motion Parallax: closer objects appear to move faster

24. MOTION perception
Phi Phenomenon: movement of a series of pictures at a rate that suggests motion
Relative Motion: when we move, objects fixed in one place appear to move with us

25. Perceptual constancy
Def: ability and need to perceive objects as unchanging even as changes may occur in distance, point of view, and illumination

26. Color constancy
Perception that color of an object remains the same even if lighting changes

27. Size constancy
Tendency to perceive objects as the same apparent size regardless of distance from us

28. Shape constancy
When our viewing angle changes or an object rotates and we still perceive the object as staying the same shape

29. Lightness constancy
Perception of whiteness, blackness, or grayness of objects remains constant now matter how much illumination has changed

30. Optical illusion There are many but only 3 you need to be aware of…
Müller-Lyer Illusion
Ponzo Illusion
Moon Illusion

31. Perceptual set
Top-down processing; refers to our disposition to perceive one aspect of a thing and not another

32. Influences on perceptual sets
Schemas: mental filters or maps that organize our information about the world
Context
Culture

33. parapsychology Fake psychology (pseudopsychology)
Falsely claims the legitimacy of extrasensory perception (ESP): perception w/o sensory input
Telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, psychokinesis
Research indicates that ESP is not possible