Psychology Paper 1 Flashcards
(86 cards)
Sensations
Processed by sense receptors which allow us to experience the world around us
Perception
Organization and interpretation of sensory information
Ponzo illusion
Horizontal line higher up appears longer.
than horizontal line in bottom
However both lines are actually the same size.
Müller–Lyer illusion
Two separate vertical lines of the same length, side by side, one with ingoing fins and the other with outgoing fins.
People perceive the vertical line with outgoing fins as longer than the vertical line with ingoing fins.
Rubin’s vase
Image of two faces and a vase in the same picture.
Both are correct so your brain can’t decide which one it is.
Ames Room
When two people stand on either side on the wall, one appears to be much bigger than the other even though they are both the same size.
Visual cues
Features of our environment that give up information about movement and distance.
Monocular depth cues
Allow us to judge depth with 1 eye
Examples of Monocular depth cues
Height in plane- Objects that are higher up in the visual field appear further away.
Relative size- smaller objects in the visual field appear further away.
Occlusion- Objects that are in front of others appear closer to us whilst objects behind other objects seem further away.
Linear perspective- When parallel lines converge in the distance, the point at which they come together is perceived to be further away.
Binocular depth cues
Allow us to judge depth with 2 eyes.
Examples of Binocular depth cues
Retinal disparity- each eye sees a slightly different image. They put these 2 images together and the difference between the 2 images help us judge depth. Difference(disparity)
Convergence- when our eyes follow an object coming towards us this causes our eyes to get closer together. Our eye muscles detect this change and send information to our brain.
Ambiguity
The brain cannot decide which one to choose, e.g. the Necker cube and Rubin’s vase.
Misinterpreted depth cues
If something is the same size but further away, our brain will tell us its bigger, e.g. Muller-lyer illusion, Ponzo.
Fiction
This is where a person perceives something in the illusion that is not there, e.g. Kanizsa triangle.
Size constancy
When objects appear to get smaller the further they are away and larger the closer they get, e.g. Ponzo, muller Lyer illusion
Describe Gibsons direct theory of perception
-No clear difference between sensation and perception
-The image that reaches the eye contains all the information needed to understand what we are looking at.
- Our eyes detect fine changes in light, texture, movement and depth so we can understand distance and depth
-We don’t need past experience.
- Optic flow patterns let our brain know we are moving.
Binocular and monocular depth cues are a vital part of perception as they enable us to judge depth and distance accurately.
-We do not need to learn to perceive the world around us as it’s innate.
Evaluate Gibson’s theory
A strength of Gibson’s 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 explain how we perceive the world on a daily basis.
A weakness of Gibson’s theory is that it struggles to explain visual illusions.
Gibson proposed that we will always perceive accurately whereas illusions trick the brain into misperception.
This suggests there is more to perception than his theory suggested.
A strength of Gibson’s theory comes from Gibson and Walk’s study.
They found that very few infants would crawl off a ‘visual cliff’.
This suggests that infants are born with an ability to perceive depth, which shows that some perception is innate.
Gibson’s theory provides a good explanation for how we are usually able to perceive quickly and
accurately in everyday life using information from the optic array.
Gibson’s theory has helped us to understand the richness of the optical information our eyes receive,
such as texture and colour gradient.
Evidence shows that factors such as expectation and culture affect perception. This challenges
Gibson’s theory and suggests that nurture (knowledge and past experience) also play an important role in perception.
Gregory’s constructivist theory of perception
-There is a clear difference between perception and sensation.
-Perception is a process of construction.
-We use past experience to make sense of the world around us, and fills gaps
-When making inferences, features of the environment (visual cues) give the brain information about depth, distance, etc.
- visual illusions occur because of misinterpreted visual cues ( brain makes wrong conclusions from visual cues )
-The more we interact with the world, the more sophisticated our perception becomes.
Evaluate Gregory’s theory
One strength is that Gregory’s theory has good support from studies that show cultural differences in perception.
Research in different parts of the world has found that people interpret visual cues differently (e.g. Hudson’s study).
This means that their different experiences have affected their perception.
One weakness relates to Gregory’s use of visual illusions to support his theory.
They are artificial two-dimensional (2D) images that are deliberately 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 Gregory’s theory cannot explain how perception gets started in the first place.
Research has shown that babies have some perceptual abilities at birth, such as they prefer human faces to random patterns (Fantz).
This suggests not all perception is the result of our experience.
Factors affecting perception- Motivation
Aim- Gilchrist and Nesberg aimed to find out if food deprivation affects the perception of pictures of food.
Method- Two groups of students: one group deprived of food for 20 hours and a control group (not hungry). Students were shown four slides, each one showing a meal. The slide was displayed for 15 seconds. The picture was shown again, but dimmer, and participants had to adjust the lighting to make it look the same as it did before.
Results- Participants perceived the food as brighter the longer they were deprived of food. The control group (who were not deprived of food) didn’t perceive the food as brighter.
Conclusion- Being deprived of food increased perceptual sensitivity. This shows that hunger is a motivating factor that affects the way food-related pictures are perceived.
Evaluate Motivation study
One strength is that similar studies have found similar results. Sanford deprived participants of food and showed them ambiguous pictures. The longer they were deprived of food the more likely they were to see food. This increases the validity of the Gilchrist and Nesberg results.
A problem with studies in this area is that they are unethical. This is because depriving participants of food and water could cause them to feel uncomfortable. This is an issue as you should not do this in psychological research.
A problem with the study is that it was not like everyday life. Participants were asked to judge pictures of food rather than real food. This makes it harder to apply the results to situations in the real world.
Factors affecting perception- Expectations
Aim- Bruner and Minturn aimed to find out whether an ambiguous figure was seen differently if the context of the figure was changed.
24 participants took part in an experiment on recognising numbers and letters using an independent groups design.
• Half of the participants were shown a series of letters with an ambiguous figure in the middle. The other half were shown a series of numbers with the same ambiguous figure in the middle.
• The ambiguous figure was a broken ‘B’ that could be seen as either the letter B or the number 13.
• Most of the participants who had been shown numbers drew a ‘13’. Most of the participants who were
shown letters drew a ‘B’.
• The researchers concluded that the participants’ expectations had directly affected how they
interpreted the ambiguous figure.
• This shows that expectation affects perception.
Evaluation of Expectation study
This is a laboratory-based study, so people were perceiving figures under highly controlled conditions.
• This is useful for the researcher who has eliminated many extraneous variables so can be sure the IV
has affected the DV if the results show an effect.
• Procedures are standardised so the study can be replicated.
• Laboratory-based studies are often carried out in artificial settings. This means there is a lack of ecological validity.
• Laboratory-based study often use artificial tasks (such as interpreting ambiguous images). Because people do not normally have to do these, this can reduce the validity of the results.
• High control can decrease the validity of the results because it increases the artificiality of the
performance of the participants. This means it is difficult to generalise research findings to predict behaviour in a more normal setting.
One strength of this study is that it has real-life application. It can explain errors that people make as the results suggest that expectations can influence perception. This helps to explain why people make sometimes serious mistakes on tasks in the real world.
Memory
Encoding: means to change information into a form so it can be stored in the brain.
Storage: the information is then kept in your memory store for a period of time - possibly a lifetime.
Retrieval: the information has to be located and brought back out of your brain.
This can be done through recognition (e.g. multiple choice identifying through options) , cued recall (given a clue to remember something you are close to remembering) or free recall (without cues).