Psych ch.5
Terms
undefined, object
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- just noticeable difference
- the smallest detectable difference in stimulus energy that can be told 50% of the time
- absolute threshold
- the minimum amount of stimulus energy that can be detected 50 percent of the time
- perceptual constancy
- the perception of objects as constant in size, shape, colour, and other properties despite changes in their retinal image
- accommodation
- the ability of the lens of the eye to change its shape and bend light rays so that the objects are in focus
- relative size
- a depth cue whereby larger objects are perceived as closer than smaller ones
- binocular disparity
- a depth cue based on the difference between two retinal images of the world
- sensitivity
- the ability to detect a stimulus
- depth perception
- the ability to perceive distance
- perception
- the process through which people take raw sensations from the environment and interpret them, using knowledge, experience, and understanding of the world, so that the sensations become meaningful experiences
- parallel distributed processing (PDP) models
- an approach to understanding object recognition in which various elements of the object are thought to be simultaneously analyzed by a number of widely distributed, but connected, neural units in the brain
- psychophysics
- an area of research focusing on the relationship between the physical characteristics of environmental stimuli and the psychological experiences those stimuli produce
- attention
- the process of directing and focusing psychological resources to enhance perception, performance, and mental experience
- top down processing
- aspects of recognition that are guided by higher level cognitive processes and psychological factors such as expectations
- response criterion
- the internal rule a person uses to decide whether or not to report a stimulus
- convergence
- a depth cue involving the rotation of the eyes to project the image of an object on each retina
- schemas
- mental representations of what we know, and have come to expect, about the world
- perceptual organization
- the task of determining what edges and other stimuli go together to form an object
- linear perspective
- a depth cue whereby objects closer to the point at which two lines appear to converge are perceived as being at a greater distance
- ecological approach
- an approach to perception maintaining that humans and other species are so well adapted to their natural environment that many aspects of the world are perceived without requiring higher level analysis and inferences
- subliminal stimuli
- stimuli that are too weak or brief to be percieved
- bottom up processing
- aspects of recognition that depend first on the information about the stimulus that comes to the brain from the sensory receptors
- computational approach
- an approach to perception that focuses on how computations by the nervous system translate raw sensory stimulation into an experience of reality
- interposition
- a depth cue whereby closer objects block one's view of things farther away
- supraliminal stimuli
- stimuli that are strong enough to be consistently percieved
- weber's law
- a law stating that the smallest detectable difference in stimulus energy is a constant fraction of the intensity of the stimulus
- signal-detection theory
- a mathematical model of what determines a person's report that a near-threshold stimulus has or has not occured
- motion parallax
- a depth cue whereby a difference in the apparent rate of movement of different objects provides information about the relative distance of those objects
- constructivist approach
- a view of perception taken by those who argue that the perceptual system uses fragments of sensory information to construct an image of reality
- texture gradient
- a graduated change in the texture, or grain, of the visual field, whereby objects with finer, less detailed textures are perceived as more distant
- height in the visual field
- a depth cue whereby objects higher in the visual field are perceived as more distant
- stroboscopic motion
- an illusion in which lights or images flashed in rapid succession are perceived as moving
- looming
- a motion cue involving a rapid expansion in the size of an image so that it fills the available space of the retina