L5 - Perceiving Objects Flashcards
(33 cards)
What is Gestalt Psychology concerned with?
How perceptual organisation is achieved – how we separate and link visual elements into individual objects.
What does ‘prägnanz’ refer to in Gestalt Psychology?
Guiding principles of perceptual organisation: Similarity, Proximity, Good Continuation, Closure, and Simplicity.
What is the principle of Similarity in perceptual organisation?
Objects that resemble each other are grouped together.
What is the principle of Proximity?
Objects close to each other are grouped perceptually.
What is the principle of Good Continuation?
Prefer to organise objects with smooth continuous contours.
What is the principle of Closure?
Tendency to perceive closed figures over incomplete ones.
What is the principle of Simplicity?
Tendency to interpret objects in the simplest way possible.
What is figure-ground segregation?
Separating an object (figure) from its background (ground).
What does research by Barense et al. (2011) suggest about figure-ground perception?
It relies on past experience and learning.
What are feature detection theories?
Theories suggesting object recognition involves identifying basic ‘building-block’ features.
What is Treisman’s (1986) contribution to visual search?
It takes longer to find a target defined by a combination of features.
What is a Feature Net?
A bottom-up model where features are detected first, followed by letter and word identification.
What does the Recognition-by-Components (RBC) theory propose?
Objects are recognised by identifying ‘geons’ – basic geometric components.
According to Biederman (1987), what makes an object non-recoverable?
Missing vertices – harder or impossible to recognise.
According to Biederman (1987), what makes an object recoverable?
Missing continuous edge segments – easy to fill in.
What is a weakness of the RBC theory?
It focuses on bottom-up processing and overlooks rapid whole-object perception and embodied cognition.
What is perceptual constancy?
Perceiving constant object properties despite changing sensory input.
What is size constancy?
Perceiving an object’s size as constant despite distance changes.
What is shape constancy?
Perceiving object shape as constant despite angle/viewpoint changes.
What is colour constancy?
Perceiving an object’s colour as constant despite changes in lighting.
How do we achieve perceptual constancy?
By comparing the object with its background and using interpretation.
What are binocular cues?
Depth perception using differences between views from each eye (stereopsis).
What are oculomotor cues?
Depth cues from eye movement: convergence and accommodation.
What are monocular (pictorial) cues?
Depth cues from a single eye: interposition, linear perspective, texture gradients.
