Chapter 3: Perception Flashcards

1
Q

Perception

A

conscious experience that results from stimulation of the senses

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2
Q

Inverse Projection Problem

A

task of determining the object that caused a particular image on the retina

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3
Q

Viewpoint Invariance

A

the ability to recognize an object seen from different viewpoints

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4
Q

Bottom-Up Processing

A

processing that starts with information received by the receptors, also called data-based processing

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5
Q

Top-Down Processing

A

processing that involves a person’s knowledge or expectations, also called knowledge-based processing

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6
Q

Speech Segmentation

A

the process of perceiving individual words within the continuous flow of the speech signal

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7
Q

Transitional Probabilities

A

in speech, the likelihood that one speech sound will follow another within a word

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8
Q

Statistical Learning

A

the process of learning about transitional probabilities and about other characteristics of language

also occurs for vision, based on learning about what types of things usually occur in the environment

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9
Q

Likelihood Principle

A

part of Helmholtz’s theory of unconscious inference that states that we perceive the object that is most likely to have caused the pattern of stimuli we have received

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10
Q

Unconscious Inference

A

Helmholtz’s idea that some of our perceptions are the result of unconscious assumptions that we make about the environment

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11
Q

Gestalt Psychologists

A

a group of psychologists who proposed principles governing perception, such as laws of organization, and a perceptual approach to problem solving involving restructuring

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12
Q

Apparent Movement

A

an illusion of movement perception that occurs when stimuli in different locations are flashed one after another with the proper timing

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13
Q

Principles of Perceptual Organization

A

rules proposed by the Gestalt psychologists to explain how small elements of a scene or display become perceptually grouped to form larger units

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14
Q

Principle of Good Continuation

A

points that when connected, result in straight or smoothly curved lines are seen as belonging together

lines tend to be seen as following the smoothest path

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15
Q

Principle of Simplicity (Pragnanz)

A

every stimulus pattern is seen in such a way that the resulting structure is as simple as possible

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16
Q

Principle of Similarity

A

similar things appear to be grouped together

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17
Q

Regularities in the Environment

A

characteristics of the environment that occur frequently

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18
Q

Physical Regularities

A

regularly occurring physical properties of the environment

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19
Q

Oblique Effect

A

the finding that vertical and horizontal orientations can be perceived more easily than other (slanted) orientations

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20
Q

Light-From-Above Assumption

A

the assumption that light is coming from above

this is a heuristic that can influence how we perceive three-dimensional objects that are illuminated

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21
Q

Semantic Regularities

A

characteristics associated with the functions carried out in different types of scenes

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22
Q

Scene Schema

A

a person’s knowledge about what is likely to be contained in a particular scene

this knowledge can help guide attention to different areas of the scene

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23
Q

Bayesian Influence

A

the idea that our estimate of the probability of an outcome is determined by the prior probability (our initial benefit) and the likelihood (the extent to which the available evidence is consistent with the outcome)

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24
Q

Prior Probability

A

a person initial belief about the probability of an outcome

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25
Q

Likelihood

A

in Bayesian inference, the extent to which the available evidence is consistent with the outcome

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26
Q

Theory of Natural Selection

A

Darwin’s theory that characteristics that enhance an animal’s ability to survive and reproduce will be passed on to future generations

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27
Q

Brain Ablation

A

a procedure in which a specific area is removed from an animal’s brain

it is usually done to determine the function of this area by assessing the effect on the animal’s behavior

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28
Q

Object Discrimination Problem

A

a problem in which the task is to remember an object based on it’s shape and choose it when presented with another object after delay

associated with research on the what processing stream

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29
Q

Landmark Discrimination Problem

A

problem in which the task is to remember an object’s location and to chose that location after delay

associated with research on the where processing stream

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30
Q

What Pathway

A

neural pathway, extending from the occipital lobe to the temporal love, that is associated with perceiving or recognizing objects, corresponds to the perception pathway (ventral)

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31
Q

Where Pathway

A

neural pathway, extending from the occipital love to the parietal lobe, that is associated with neural processing that occurs when people locate objects in space, roughly corresponds to the action pathway (dorsal)

32
Q

Mirror Neurons

A

neurons in the premotor cortex, originally discovered in the monkey, that respond both when a monkey observes someone else (usually the experimenter) carrying out an action and when the monkey itself carries out the action, there is also evidence of mirror neurons in humans

33
Q

Mirror Neuron System

A

a network of neurons in the brain that have mirror neuron properties

34
Q

Size-Weight Illusion

A

when a person is presented with two similar objects that ae the same weight but different sizes, the larger one seems lighter when they are lifted together

35
Q

What are the basic concepts of perception?

A

perceptions can change based on added information

involves a process similar to reasoning or problem solving

perceptions occur in conjunction with actions

36
Q

What is the inverse projection problem?

A

refers to the task of determining the object responsible for a particular image on the retina

involves starting with the retinal image and then extending outward to the source of that image

37
Q

Why is it so difficult to design a perceiving machine?

A

the inverse projection problem

objects can be hidden or blurred (people van often identify objects that are obscured and therefore incomplete, or in some cases objects that are blurry)

objects look different from different viewpoints (viewpoint invariance)

38
Q

What are the direct perception theories of understanding perception?

A

bottom-up processing

perception comes from stimuli in the environment

parts are identified and put together, and then recognition occurs

39
Q

What are constructive perception theories of understanding perception?

A

top-down processing

people actively construct perceptions using information based on exceptions

40
Q

What is bottom-up processing?

A

perception may start with the senses

incoming raw data

energy registering on receptors

41
Q

What is top-down processing?

A

perception may start with the brain

person’s knowledge, experience, expectations

42
Q

How are word perceived in a sentence?

A

when you hear words in a sentence spoken in a foreign language, your ability to pick out or understand certain words based on context demonstrates top-down processing

e.g. listening to a baseball game that is broadcast in Spanish may make it easier to hear players names or certain “baseball related” words

43
Q

What is speech segmentation?

A

the ability to tell when one word ends and another begins

44
Q

What is the direct pathway model of experiencing pain?

A

an early model that emphasized nociceptors that would send pain messages directly to the brain

a bottom-up processing model

more recent modes have found that expectations, attention, and distraction van affect hoe we experience pain in a “top-down” manner (the Placebo Effect, attention, play games during bandages change)

45
Q

What is the recognition-by-components theory (RBC)?

A

we perceive objects by perceiving elementary features

geons: three-dimensional volumes

objects are recognized when enough information is available to identify object’s geons

46
Q

What are geons?

A

discriminability: geons can be distinguished from other geons from almost all viewpoints

resistance to visual noise: geons can be perceived in “noisy” conditions

distinct: 36 different geons have been identified

47
Q

What are the two stages of object identification?

A

a pre-attentive stage that automatically computes basic features

an attentive stage that binds together the basic features to form objects

48
Q

What is the procedure of the visual search Coglab?

A

search a visual image and respond as quickly as possible once they find a particular item, or when they are certain the item is not in the image

measure time to identify target item when the number of distractors varies

if search time is independent of the number of the distractor, it happens in the pre-attentive stage

if search time increases with the number of the distractor, it happens in the attentive stage

49
Q

What is the feature integration theory (FIT)?

A

pre-attentive stage

automatic

no effort or attention

unaware of process

object analyzed into features

50
Q

What is the Treisman and Schmidt (1982) visual search study?

A

participants report combination of features from different stimuli

illusory conjunctions occur because features are “free floating”

subjects were good at reporting digits
subjects made errors reporting letters and colors

more of the errors were “conjunction” errors
subjects said they saw a red letter T and a blue X

51
Q

What is Balint’s syndrome?

A

inability to focus attention on individual objects

high number of illusory conjunctions reported

52
Q

What is Helmholtz’s theory of unconscious inference?

A

top-down theory

some of our perceptions are the result of unconscious assumptions we make about the environment

we use our knowledge to inform our perceptions

we infer much of what we know about the world

53
Q

What is the likelihood principle?

A

we perceive the world in the way that is “most likely” based on our past experiences

54
Q

What is the “old” view of perceptual organization?

A

structuralism

perception involves adding up sensations

55
Q

What is the “new” view of perceptual organization?

A

Gestalt psychologists

the mind groups patterns according to laws of perceptual organization

56
Q

What is the Coglab on apparent motion?

A

what will observers see, if two stimuli are briefly flashed in rapid succession?

the timing of the flashes was important

short ISI (the interstimulus interval), two dots were presented simultaneously

long ISI (two dots were presented alternatively)

intermediate ISI (perception of motion)

57
Q

What is the theoretical importance of apparent motion?

A

perception involves a process of perceptual organization that required an understanding of the relationships between stimuli

if perception involves simple detecting the properties of the physical world, one would expect that the observer would either to be able to detect the stimuli or not, but the precept is quite different: motion is observed, even though it is not a property of either of the stimuli

58
Q

What is the law of good continuation?

A

lines tend to be seen as following the smoothest path

59
Q

What is the law of pragnanz (simplicity or good figure)?

A

every stimulus pattern is seen so the resulting structure is as simple as possible

60
Q

What is the law of similarity?

A

similar things appear grouped together

61
Q

What is the law of proximity?

A

things near to each other appear grouped together

62
Q

What is the law of common fate?

A

things moving in the same direction appear to be grouped together

63
Q

What are the characteristics of the Gestalt laws?

A

Gestalt laws often provide accurate information about properties of the environment

reflect experience

experience is important but does not overcome perceptual principles

Gestalt laws are intrinsic

64
Q

What is the oblique effect?

A

people can perceive verticals and horizontals more easily than other orientations

65
Q

What is the light-from-above assumption?

A

light comes from above

is usually the case in the environment

we perceive shadows as specific information about depth and distance

66
Q

What are semantic regularities?

A

the meaning of a given scene is related to what is happening with that scene, and semantic regularities are the characteristics associated with the functions carried out in different types of scenes

a scene schema is the knowledge of what a given scene ordinarily contains (e.g. if you think of a professor’s office, what would you expect to find/see there?)

we know characteristics associated with the functions carried out in different types of scenes

67
Q

What is Bayesian inference?

A

Thomas Bayes (1701-1761)

one’s estimate of the probability of a given outcome is influenced by two factors:
the prior probability (our initial belief about the probability of an outcome, hypothesis)
the likelihood of an observation given the outcome (hypothesis)

68
Q

What is the relationship between neurons and the environment?

A

some neurons respond best to things that occur regularly in the environment

neurons becomes tuned to respond best to what we commonly experience (horizontals and verticals, experience-dependent plasticity)

69
Q

How does movement facilitate perception?

A

movement helps us perceive things in our environment more accurately than static, still images

70
Q

What is the interaction between perception and action?

A

our actions within or upon the environment around us involve a constant stream of updating perceptions and recognition of very subtle changes

71
Q

What is the “what” stream?

A

identifying an object

perception

ventral

72
Q

What is the “where” stream?

A

identifying the object’s location

occipital –> parietal

dorsal

action

73
Q

How is dissociation logic used to determine the function of structures?

A

if you are trying to understand a complex system, you can logically deduce conclusions from “malfunction”

damage to different areas of the brain cause very different deficits

we can conclude that a specific area is necessary for a specific function

brain ablation method allows scientists to damage specific areas of otherwise normal brains (usually in monkeys or cats)

controlled damage allows for clear conclusions to be drawn

74
Q

What is single dissociation?

A

one function is lost, another remains

example: monkey A has damage to temporal lobe, this monkey is no longer able to identify objects (what) but can still identify locations (where)

therefore, what and where rely on different mechanisms, although they may not operate totally independent of one another

75
Q

What is double dissociation?

A

requires two individuals with different damage and opposite deficits

example: money A with temporal love damage has intact where but impaired what; monkey B with parietal love damage has intact what but impaired where

therefore, what and where streams must have different mechanisms AND operate independently of one another

76
Q

What are mirror neurons?

A

these neurons respond while a subject watches an action being performed in the same way as if the subject was performing the action

fMRI research has found evidence of a mirror neuron system in the brain

Lacoboni (2005) found higher rate of mirroring if the subject’s intention to perform the action was greater