Chapter 3: Perception Flashcards
Define perception
Experiences resulting from stimulation of the senses.
What is the inverse projection problem
The task of determining the object responsible for a particular image on the retina
What is viewpoint invariance
The ability to recognise an object seen from different viewpoints
What is bottom up processing
The sequence of events from eye to brain because is starts at the bottom or beginning when environmental energy stimulates receptors.
What is top down processing
Processing that originates in the brain
Define speech segmentation
Due to knowledge of spoken language one can distinguish when a word ends and another begins
State the direct pathway model
According to model pain occurs when receptors in the skin called nociceptors are stimulated and send signals in a direct pathway from the skin to the brain.
Discuss Helmholtz theory of unconscious inference
Helmholtz realisation that the image on the retina is ambiguous which means a particular pattern of stimulation on the retina can be caused by large number of objects in the environment.
The likelihood principle states that we perceive the object that is most likely to have caused the pattern of stimuli we have received and according to helmholts is done by a process called unconscious inference in which our perceptions are the result of unconscious assumptions or inferences that we make about the environment.
What is the gestalt principles of organisation
they believed that the whole is more than the sum of its parts.
principles of perceptual organization:
*Principle of good continuation: points that when connected result in straight or smoothly curving lines are seen as belonging together and the lines tend to be seen in such a way as to follow the smoothest path. Objects that are overlapped by other objects are perceived as continuing behind the overlapping object.
- The law of pragnanz/ good figure or simplicity states the perceptual field and objects within it will take on the simplest and most encompassing structure permitted by the given conditions.
- principle of similarity: similar things appear to be grouped together
what are the regularities in the environment
characteristics of the environment that occur frequently
Physical regularities: are regularly occurring physical properties of the environment. Oblique effect is the easy perception of horizontals and verticals more easily than other orientations
light from above assumption: we assume that light is coming from above because light in our environment including sun and most artificial light
Semantic regularities are the characteristics associated with the functions carried out in different types of scenes the knowledge of what a given scenc looks like is called a scene schema
Explore the Bayesian inference
It proposed that our estimate of the probability of an outcome is determined by 2 factors namely
Prior probability which is our initial belief about the probability of an outcome
The extent to which the available evidence is consistent with the outcome called the likelihood.
Discuss neurons ability to respond to horizontals and verticals
Theory of natural selection: states that characteristics that enhance an animals ability to survive and therefore reproduce will be passed on to future generations.
Experience dependant plasticity: the mechanism through which the structure of the brain is changed by experience.
What is the relationship between action and perceptions
Movement facilitates perception: movement adds a dimension of complexity to perception and also helps us perceive objects in the environment accurately because moving reveals aspects of objects that aren’t apparent from a single viewpoint.
Interaction of perception and action: movement is also important in coordination that’s continually occuring between perceiving stimuli and taking action towards stimuli.
Comment on the physiology of perception and action
Research shows 2 processing streams including one involved in perceiving objects and another involved with locating and taking action towards these objects using
Brain lesioning the removing part of the brain
Neuropsychology which is the study of the behavior of people with brain damage
Object discrimination problem= temporal lobe for determining objects identity called what pathway
Landmark discrimination problem= parietal lobe for determining object location called the where pathway.
Discuss the neuropsychological approach to testing perception and action
Visual agnosia: the inability to recognise objects faces shapes despite being able to identify colour and visual texture
The pathway from visual cortex to temporal lobe is called the perception pathway (what)
Pathway from the visual cortex to the parietal lobe is called the action pathway(where)
