perception - psychology

PERCEPTION

PERCEPTION

• Refers to the way in which inputs from the sense organs are organized, analyzed and interpreted in a meaningful way.• It is a way in which we assign meaning to our

experiences

FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE PERCEPTION1.The nature of the stimulus being perceived

-Intensity

2.The one perceiving-Internal characteristicssuch as attitudes, beliefs, interest, past experiences, culture and motives

ORGANIZATION IN PERCEPTION“HOW CAN WE MAKE SENSE OF THE WORLD”GESTALT LAWS OF ORGANIZATION

-Human mind has innate tendencies to impose order and structure on the physical world to perceive sensory patterns as well as organize wholes rather than as separate parts.

Gestalt principles describe the brain’s organization of sensory building blocks into meaningful units and patterns.

PRINCIPLES OF ORGANIZATION• Proximity• Seeing 3 pair of lines in A.

• Similarity• Seeing columns of orange and red

dots in B.• Continuity• Seeing lines that connect 1 to 2

and 3 to 4 in C.• Closure• Seeing a horse in D.

PROXIMITY

CONTINUITYSIMILARITY

CLOSURE

FIGURE AND GROUND: “WHAT STANDS OUT?”

•We tend to see things in a figure and ground• FIGURE: refers to the object being perceived• GROUND: refers to the background

PERCEPTUAL CONSTANCY• The tendency to perceive things as relatively constant despite the

changes in the sensory input in the sense receptors.• SIZE CONSTANCY- the tendency to perceive things as having the same

size despite the changes in the retinal images• SHAPE CONSTANCY- the tendency to perceive no changes in the

shape of an object• COLOR CONSTANCY – the tendency to see color as the same even

though the amount of light changes

PERCEPTION OF DEPTH• Depth perception allows us to accurately estimate distancesFACTORS THAT ALLOW US TO SEE DEPTH:

1. Monocular Cues• Linear perspective• light and shadow• interposition• texture gradient• relative motion

• 2. BINOCULAR CUES- Visual cues to depth or distance that require the use of both eyes.

• Convergence: Turning inward of the eyes, which occurs when they focus on a nearby object.

• Retinal Disparity: The slight difference in lateral separation between two objects as seen by the left eye and the right eye.

PERCEPTION OF MOVEMENT• Visual perception of motion is based on change of position relative to

other objects

• Illusions of movement• Apparent motion- a condition in which our senses get

tricked by the nature of stimuli presented• Stroboscopic motion- animated film; the drawing themselves are

stationary but because of rapid presentation of one drawing after another, the drawings appear to be moving.

ILLUSIONS AND HALLUCINATIONS• Illusions are valuable in understanding perception because they are

systematic errors.• Illusions provide hints about perceptual strategies.

• In the Muller-Lyer illusion, we tend to perceive the line on the right as slightly longer than the one on the left.

EXTRASENSORY PERCEPTION - ESP

• Perception independent of sensation• The ability to perceive something without ordinary sensory information• This has not been scientifically demonstrated

• Perception through means other than sensory organs• Precognition• Psychokinesis• Telepathy• Clairvoyance