chapter 3 (perception)

Question 1

perception

Answer 1

conscious experience that results from stimulation of the senses.

Question 2

inverse projection problem

Answer 2

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

Question 3

viewpoint invariance

Answer 3

ability to recognize an object seen from different viewpoints.

Question 4

bottom-up (data-based) processing

Answer 4

processing that starts with info received by receptors.

Question 5

top-down (knowledge-based) processing

Answer 5

processing that involves a person’s knowledge or expectations.

Question 6

speech segmentation

Answer 6

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

Question 7

transitional probabilities

Answer 7

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

Question 8

statistical learning

Answer 8

process of learning about transitional probabilities and about other characteristics of language. statistical learning also occurs for vision.

Question 9

likelihood principle

Answer 9

part of heimholtz’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.

Question 10

unconscious inference

Answer 10

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

Question 11

gestalt psychologists

Answer 11

proposed principles governing perception such as laws of organization and a perceptual approach to problem solving involving restructuring.

Question 12

apparent movement

Answer 12

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

Question 13

principles of perceptual organization

Answer 13

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

Question 14

principle of good continuation

Answer 14

law of perceptual organization stating that points that, when connected, result in straight or smoothly curving lines are seen as belonging together. tend to follow smoothest path.

Question 15

law of pragnanz/good figure/simplicity

Answer 15

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

Question 16

principle of similarity

Answer 16

similar things appear to be grouped together.

Question 17

regularities in environment

Answer 17

characteristics of environment that occur frequently.

Question 18

physical regularities

Answer 18

regularly occurring physical properties of environment. ex: more vertical and horizontal than angled lines in environment.

Question 19

oblique effect

Answer 19

finding that vertical and horizontal orientations can be perceived more easily than angled ones.

Question 20

light-from-above assumption

Answer 20

assumption light comes from above. heuristic.

Question 21

semantic regularities

Answer 21

characteristics associated with the functions carried out in different types of scenes. ex: activities associated with kitchen.

Question 22

scene schema

Answer 22

person’s knowledge about what is likely to be contained in particular scene. can guide attention.

Question 23

bayesian inference

Answer 23

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

Question 24

brain ablation

Answer 24

procedure in which specific area is removed from animal’s brain. usually done to determine the function of the area by assessing effect on behaviour.

Question 25

object discrimination problem

Answer 25

task is to remember an object based on its shape and choose it when presented with another object after a delay. what processing stream.

Question 26

landmark discrimination problem

Answer 26

task is to remember an object’s location and choose that location after a delay. where processing stream.

Question 27

what (ventral) pathway

Answer 27

neural pathway extending from occipital lobe to temporal lobe associated with perceiving/recognizing objects. perception pathway.

Question 28

where (dorsal) pathway

Answer 28

neural pathway extending from occipital lobe to parietal lobe associated with neural processing that occurs when locating objects in space. action pathway.

Question 29

mirror neurons

Answer 29

neurons in premotor cortex that respond both when a person does an action and when they watch someone else carry out the same action.

Question 30

size-weight illusion

Answer 30

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