Chapter 6 Vocab

Question 0

Selective Attention

Answer 0

The focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus, as in the cocktail party effect

Question 1

Perception

Answer 1

the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events

Question 2

Cocktail Party Effect

Answer 2

your ability to attend to only one voice among many (though let another voice speak your name and your cognitive radar will instantly bring that voice into consciousness)

Question 3

inattentional blindness

Answer 3

failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere

Question 4

Change blindness

Answer 4

inattentional blindness (gorilla in room, directions)

Question 5

Change Deafness

Answer 5

inattentional deafness (list of challenging words, voice change)

Question 6

Choice Blindness

Answer 6

The failure to notice our selection of a particular stimulus has changed.

Question 7

Choice-Blindness Blindness

Answer 7

Exhibiting denial to failing viticim to a hypothetical experiment

Question 8

Pop-Out Phenomenon

Answer 8

when a strikingly distinct stimulus, such as a smiling face in a crowd of crying people, draws our attention. Not our choice.

Question 9

Illusions

Answer 9

reveal the ways we normally organize and interpret our sensations

Question 10

Visual Capture

Answer 10

the tendency for vision to dominate the other senses

Question 11

Gestalt

Answer 11

an organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes

Question 12

Figure-ground

Answer 12

the organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground)

Question 13

Grouping

Answer 13

the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups

Question 14

Proximity

Answer 14

we group nearby figures together. (we see not six separate lines, but three sets of two lines)

Question 15

Similarity

Answer 15

we group together figures that are similar to each other. (we see the triangles and circles as vertical columns of similar shapes, not as horizontal rows of dissimilar shapes)

Question 16

Continuity

Answer 16

we perceive smooth, continuous patterns rather than discontinuous ones. (this pattern could be a series of alternating semicircles, but we perceive it as two continuous lines-one wavy, one straight)

Question 17

Connectedness

Answer 17

because they are uniform and linked, (we perceive the two dots and the line between them as a single unit)
We perceive things as uniform and linked, as a single unit

Question 18

Closure

Answer 18

we fill in gaps to create a complete, whole object

Question 19

Depth Perception

Answer 19

the ability to see objects in 3-D although the images that strike the retina are 2-D; allows us to judge distance

Question 20

Visual Cliff

Answer 20

a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals

Question 21

Binocular cues

Answer 21

depth cues, such as retinal disparity and convergence, that depend on the use of two eyes

Question 22

Retinal disparity

Answer 22

a binocular cue for perceiving depth: by comparing images from the two eyeballs, the brain computes distance-the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object

Question 23

Convergence

Answer 23

a binocular cue for perceiving depth; the extent to which the eyes converge inward when looking at an object. The greater the inward strain, the closer the object.

Question 24

Monocular cues

Answer 24

depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either eye alone.

Question 25

Relative Size

Answer 25

The one that casts the smaller retinal image is perceived as further away

Question 26

Interposition

Answer 26

If one object partially blocks our view of another, we perceive it as closer.

Question 27

Relative clarity

Answer 27

Light from distance objects passes through more atmosphere, we perceive hazy objects as farther away than sharp, clear objects.

Question 28

Texture gradient

Answer 28

A gradual change from a coarse, distinct texture to a fine indistinct texture signals increasing distance

Question 29

Relative height

Answer 29

We perceive objects higher in our field of vision as farther away

Question 30

Relative motion

Answer 30

As we move, objects that are actually stable may appear to move.

Question 31

Linear perspective

Answer 31

Parallel lines, appear to converge with distance

Question 32

Light and shadow

Answer 32

Nearby objects reflect more light to our eyes.

Question 33

Phi phenomenon

Answer 33

An illusion of movement created she two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession

Question 34

Perceptual Constancy

Answer 34

Perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination and retinal images change

Question 35

Perceptual adaptation

Answer 35

In vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field

Question 36

Perceptual set

Answer 36

A mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another

Question 37

Human factors psychology

Answer 37

A branch of psychology that explores how people and machines interact and how machines and physical environments can be made safe and easy to use

Question 38

Extrasensory perception

Answer 38

The controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input. Telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition

Question 39

Parapsychology

Answer 39

The study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis

Question 40

Schemes

Answer 40

A concept or framework that organizes and interprets information