perception

Question 1

what is sensation

Answer 1

physical stimulation of the sensory receptors is processed by the sense receptors
our brain interprets the information from our five senses which leads to perception

Question 2

what is perception

Answer 2

organisation and interpretation of sensory information by the brain
information received from sense receptors is combined with the brains interpretation of what the information means

Question 3

what is the difference between sensation and perception

Answer 3

sensation is the detection of a stimulus in the environment such as light or sound waves

perception is the brain interpreting and understanding these sensations

Question 4

what is the ponzo illusion

Answer 4

misinterpreted depth cue. two separate horizontal lines of the same length one above the other surrounded by two lines converging, gives the appearance of depth. people perceive the top horizontal line as longer than the one below because it appears to be more distant.

converging lines gives the illusion of distance. the brain uses size constancy and mentally scales up the more distant line while mentally scaling down the closer line

Question 5

what is the muller lyer illusion

Answer 5

misinterpreted depth cue. two separate horizontal lines of the same length, side by side. one with outgoing fins and one with ingoing fins. vertical lines with outgoing fins is perceived as longer than the vertical lines with ingoing fins.

outgoing fins are shaped like the inside corner of a room stretching away from us.
ingoing fins are shaped like the outside of a building projecting out.
we mentally scale up the line that appears closer so it appears longer

Question 6

what is rubins vase illusion

Answer 6

an ambigious figure. images of two faces and a vase in the same picture. both are correct so the brain cannot decide which image is shown.

Question 7

what is ames room

Answer 7

misinterpreted depth cue
room looks normal but is actually trapezoid shape. when two people stand on either side of the back wall, one appears to be much bigger than the other even though their both the same size.

Question 8

what is the necker cube

Answer 8

the same image of a cube can be percieved as either pointing upwards to the right or downwards to the left

Question 9

what is size constancy

Answer 9

the brain perceives familiar objects as a constant size despite the size of the image they produce on the retina changing with distance

Question 10

what are misinterpreted depth cues

Answer 10

objects in the distance that appear smaller are scaled up by our brain so they look normal size. sometimes the brain sees distance when there isnt any which creates a visual illusion

Question 11

whats an ambiguous figure

Answer 11

a type of visual illusion where there are two possible interpretations of the same image and the brain cannot decide which one to choose

Question 12

what is fiction

Answer 12

a type of visual illusion that causes the brain to see something that isnt there

Question 13

what is the kanizsa triangle

Answer 13

illusory contours to create the impression that a second triangle is overlapping the first one

Question 14

what are visual cues

Answer 14

features of the environment that give us information about movement and distance

Question 15

what are visual constancies

Answer 15

objects look the same despite seeing them from different angles and distances

Question 16

what is retinal disparity

Answer 16

a binocular depth cue. each eye sees things differently as they are about 6cm apart on the face. retinal disparity is the difference between the left and the right eyes view. the brain uses this information to work out depth and distance

Question 17

what is convergence

Answer 17

a binocular depth cue. the eyes become closer together (converge) when objects are closer to us. muscles in the eye work harder when objects are close. this information is sent to the brain to give information about depth and distance.

Question 18

what is height in plane

Answer 18

objects that are higher up in the visual field appear further away

Question 19

relative size

Answer 19

smaller objects in the visual field appear further away

Question 20

occlusion

Answer 20

objects that are in front of others appear closer to us whilst objects behind seem further away

Question 21

linear perspective

Answer 21

when parallel lines converge in the distance the point at which they come together is perceived to be further away

Question 22

Describe Gibson’s theory of perception

Answer 22

Direct perception: sensation and perception are the same thing. the eyes detect everything we need to judge depth, distance and movement. we dont need past experience.

Optic flow patterns: when moving, the point we are moving towards is stationary, and everything else rushes away from it. this monocular depth cue is detected by our eyes which tells the brain we are moving, so we know the speed and direction we are moving in.

Motion parallax: this is another monocular depth cue which tells the brain the speed we are moving at. objects closer in the visual field move faster than objects further away.

the influence of nature: gibsons view is that the ability to perceive is inborn - we dont learn it. the eyes detect fine changes in light, texture, movement and depth so we can understand distance and depth.

Question 23

evaluate gibsons theory of perception:

Answer 23

one strength of gibsons theory is that it has real world meaning. research was based on the experience of pilots from the second world war. this makes it more relevant to explaining how we perceive the world on a daily basis.

a weakness of gibsons theory is that it struggles to explain visual illusions. gibson proposed that we will always perceive accurately where as visual illusions tricks the brain into misperception. this suggests that there is more to perception than his theory proposed.

another strength comes from gibsons and walks study. very few infants would crawl off a visual cliff. this suggests that infants have an ability to percieve depth, which shows that some perception in innate.

Question 24

Describe Gregorys theory of perception

Answer 24

the brain uses incoming sensory information plus information that we already know about the world. perception is therefore a construction.

inference: the brain uses sensory information that is available and then fills in the gaps. past experience means we infer what should be there and draw a conclusion.

visual cues: when making inferences, features of the environment (visual cues) give the brain information about depth, distance etc. visual illusions occur because the brain has drawn the wrong conclusion from the cues.

past experience: gregory proposes that perception depends on experience - learning. for example learning to see a chair as a chair. the more we interact with the world, the more sophisticated our perception becomes.

Question 25

evaluate gregorys theory

Answer 25

one strength is that gregorys theory has support from studies of cultural differences in perception. for example, hudsons study showed that experience affects how visual cues are interpreted. this means that their difference experiences have affected their perception. one weakness relates to gregorys use of visual illusions to support his theory. they are artifical two dimensional images that are designed to fool us. as a consequence, his theory may not tell us much about how perception works in the real world. another weakness is that gregorys theory cannot explain how perception started. research has shown that babies have some perceptual abilities at birth. therefore not all perception is a result of past experience.

Question 26

what is perceptual set

Answer 26

tendancy for our brain to notice some aspects of the environment more than others

Question 27

what is culture

Answer 27

the social world that surrounds you

Question 28

describe the study of culture affecting perception

Answer 28

aim: hudson aimed to find out whether people from different cultural/educational backgrounds percieved depth cues in 2D images differently method: south africans were shown 2D drawings - native black people (schooled and unschooled) and europeans ( schooled or unschooled) participants had to say which man the animal was trying to spear. depth cues (height in visual field and relative size) suggest that the spear was being aimed at the antelope not the elephant. results: many believed the spear was being aimed at the elephant. schooled participants were more likely to percieve depth than unschooled participants. white schooled participants were more likely to percieve depth than black schooled participants conclusion: people from different cultural/ educational backgrounds use depth cues differently and have a different perceptual set. this supports gregorys theory as it shows that depth cues are learned

Question 29

evaluate the study of culture affecting perception

Answer 29

one weakness is that the instructions may lack sense. the language barrier means that translations may have been unclear. this therefore lowers the validity of the results another weakness is that some of the participants may have been confused seeing the drawings on paper. when more familiar materials such as cloth were used they gave different answers. this shows representation affects the results.

Question 30

what is perceptual set and emotion

Answer 30

the tendency for our brain to notice things that are exciting, interesting or unusual. but block things that make us anxious or we find threatening

Question 31

describe the study that emotion affects perception

Answer 31

aim: McGinnies wanted to see whether things that cause anxiety are less likely to be noticed than things that are emotionally neutral method: 8 male and 8 female students were shown some neutral and some offensive / taboo words that flashed on a screen. participants had to say each word out loud. the amount of emotional arousal was measured through their galvanic skin response (GSR) results: participants took longer to say offensive words than neutral ones. taboo words produced bigger changes in the GSR than neutral words conclusion: this shows that emotion affects perceptual set. perceptual defense is used by the brain when dealing with words that cause offence or anxiety

Question 32

evaluate the study of emotion affecting perception

Answer 32

a strength of the study is that it used an objective measurement of emotion. a scientific method was used - the galvanic skin response - to test biological anxiety responses. this produces results that are less biased than for example rating scales. a weakness of rhe study is that delayed recognition may be due to embarrassment. participants may have hesitated in giving their response as they were uncomfortable repeating words in the study. this suggests awkwardness may have been an extraneous variable. another weakness of the study is that the results are contradictory. sometimes perceptual defence occurs but sometimes it doesnt. but we do not know why. this makes it difficult to draw firm conclusions

Question 33

describe the study of motivation affecting perception

Answer 33

aim: gilchrist and nesburg aimed to find out if food deprivation affects the perception of food pictures. method: two groups of students : one deprived of food for twenty hours, and one not hungry (control group) students were shown four slides of meals. the slide was shown for 15 seconds. the picture was then shown again, but the participants had to adjust the lighting to what it was before- as the picture was shown to be dimmer. results: participants perceived the food as brighter if they were deprived of food. the control group did not perceive the images of food to be brighter conclusion: being deprived of food increased perceptual sensitivity. this shows that hunger is a motivating factor annd affects the way food is percieved

Question 34

evaluate the study of motivation affecting perception

Answer 34

a strength of the study is that similar studies have found similar results. sanford deprived participants of food and showed them ambigious pictures. the longer the food deprivation, the more likely they were ro see food. this incrases the validity of gilchrist and nesburgs results. a weakness of the study is that it is unethical. this is because depriving participants of food and water could lead them to feel uncomfortable. this is an issue as you should not do this in psychological research. another weakness of the study is that it does not relate to everyday life. participants were asked to judge pictures of food rather rhan real food. rhis makes the results harder to apply to the real world.

Question 35

describe the study of expectation affecting perception

Answer 35

aim: bruner and minturn aimed to find out whether an ambigious figure was seen differently if the context of the figure was changed method: an independent groups design was used where participants were either presented with a sequence of letters or a sequence of numbers with the same ambigious figure in the middle. the ambigious figure could either be seen as the number 13 or the letter B results: those who saw a sequence of letters were more likely to report the figure as being the letter B. if shown numbers they were more likely to see the number 13. conclusion: this shows that expectation of what the figure represented was affected by the context the figure was presented in

Question 36

describe the relationship between perceptual set and motivation

Answer 36

the force which drives your behaviour (motivation) can affect how you perceive things. wanting something can increase its attractiveness

Question 37

evaluate the study of expectation affecting perception

Answer 37

one weakness of the study is that it used an artificial task. an ambiguous figure is designed to trick perception. this means the results lack validity. another weakness relates to the fact there may have been individual differences in participants within the groups. this is because an independent groups design was used. this is an issue as differences in participant variables may have caused differences in perception rather than expectation- which is an extraneous variable.