3.2 Principles of Perception
6 min read•december 21, 2022
Dalia Savy
Audrey Damon-Wynne
Haseung Jun
Dalia Savy
Audrey Damon-Wynne
Haseung Jun
What is Perception?
Organizing and interpreting sensory information is all part of . Now, you may ask, what's the main difference between and ? is the actual awareness of our environment through the five senses while is the way we interpret this sensory information to tell us something about our environment, making sense of where we are.
Perceptual Processes
We process information unconsciously as our work together, each performing part of the task. It's important to understand that is majorly influenced by , , , and .
Your is your mental predisposition to perceive one thing but not another. Our can change: what we see, feel, taste, and touch. If someone told you that this new restaurant opened nearby and had really delicious food, you would expect to really enjoy the food, so you go and try it. The smell of juicy steak as you enter the restaurant, along with your expectation of the food tasting well, might influence your taste and possibly make you think the food tastes better than it really does.
Our is determined by our 💾 , which are concepts that organize information in our experiences. Popular examples of are stereotypes and social roles.
The has to do with and the brain going back in time, allowing a later stimulus to determine how we perceive an earlier one.
Attention
Our to our surroundings can change our . is our focus on a particular stimulus among others. One of the most famous examples of is the , where at a party, you can hear one voice among a million others. You are only focused on that one person, so all of your is centered on them, blocking out all of the “noise.”
Our lack of could also lead to blindness: a failure to notice stimuli.
: This occurs when you fail to see visible objects when your is focused elsewhere. 😎
To better understand , and possibly even experience it: click here!
You may have been so focused on the task given to you that you would have never noticed the most obvious stimuli in the midst of all the action!
: The failure to notice significant changes in our environment.
To see this occur to people, watch the following video at 1:41.
Depth Perception
We live in a three-dimensional world. Isn’t it wild that our brain can perceive this and judge the distance of objects? This is called , and cues (monocular and binocular) can guide us when judging distance.
👁 : cues available with only one eye like interposition, relative height, relative motion, linear perspective, relative size, light and shadow
📝 Read: AP Psychology - For more on Monocular Cues
👀 : cues that depend on the use of both eyes. Since your eyes are 2.5 inches apart, they have different views of the world. Combined, a new perspective is created.
The main binocular cue to know is retinal disparity, the difference between the two images. Comparing the images from both eyes, your brain is able to judge distance.
Imagine viewing a car as it approaches you. You know that the car isn’t getting bigger, but it appears like it is, since it's getting closer to you. This is an example of , where you perceive moving objects as unchanging.
Something really interesting and fun has to do with our perceptual organization, in which our vision always wins when it competes with our other senses (). The McGurk Effect is one of the most common examples of ; watch the video linked below! Even though the sound doesn't change and consistently says “Bill,” you can hear other things because of what you are seeing. Your eyesight dominates over your hearing, making you hear what you see.
Perceived Motion
Our brain is able to detect how fast what we see is moving and figure out our own movement of the body. But a cool thing about our brain is that even if we see something that isn't moving, we'll still think it's moving! This cool effect, called the , is actually what allows us to watch animated movies. Technically (I'm sorry to break this to you 😥), characters in animated movies aren't actually moving 🤯. Instead, what you're seeing is a series of images presented at a high speed, making your brain think that the characters are. I know, I always thought Mickey Mouse 🐭 actually moved, too.
Another phenomenon is the . When you look at holiday lights, your brain will think it's one moving light if the series of lightbulbs are turned on and off at a particular rate. Our brain likes to make stuff up, I guess 🤷♀️.
Image Courtesy of Indy's Child
Last is the . When you stare at a spot of light projected on the wall for a long time, your brain will make you think that the spot of light is actually moving 🏃♂️. Crazy, right? 😏
Constancy
Everything we see is constantly changing (angle of vision, variation in lighting). So how does our brain manage that? Well our ability to maintain constant is called . There are multiple types of .
| Size | Objects closer to us are supposed to be bigger, but we take distance into account when making size estimations. Cool right? If we already know the size of the object, we know it suddenly won't change, so our brain takes that into account. |
| Shape | Object viewed from different angles have a different shape. Our brain, again, takes all of this into account knowing that an object won't suddenly change shape. |
| Brightness | Light reflections constantly change depending on where the light source is at which angle. Our brain, which is smart enough, will know that an object won't suddenly change color. For example, you know the grass is going to stay green, even if the sunlight makes it appear as thought it's changing color. |
Culture
One factor that may come to surprise is . The truth is, our beliefs, , and behavior can deeply affect your of anything. And plays a huge role in this.
Image Courtesy of How Emotions Are Made
Cross-cultural studies showed that some people perceived things differently. For example, if you look at the above, you might think the second segment of line looks longer. Those who come from noncarpentered cultures (cultures that don't use right angles and corners when building architecture) are usually not fooled by the illusion. This shows that plays a huge role in !
Gestalt Principles
There are many principles of that help explain key ideas of .
Image Courtesy of People@UTM
Principle of closure states that we tend to fill in gaps in patterns
Principle of similarity states that similar objects tend to be grouped together
Principle of continuity states that even if an object is intersected, we still tend to consider it as one whole uninterrupted object
states that close objects tend to be grouped together
Principle of good figure states that we tend to see grouped objects as one whole object
Principle of symmetry states that objects are perceived to be symmetric if the object is formed around its center
🎥Watch: AP Psychology - Principles of Sensation and Perception
Key Terms to Review (32)
Attention
: Attention is the cognitive process of selectively focusing on one aspect of your environment while ignoring other things. It's a mental spotlight that enhances the efficiency of our perception and supports higher cognitive functions such as learning and reasoning.Autokinetic Effect
: The autokinetic effect is a phenomenon of visual perception in which a stationary, small point of light in an otherwise dark or featureless environment appears to move.Binocular Cues
: Binocular cues refer to the depth cues that depend on the use of both eyes. One key binocular cue is retinal disparity.Change Blindness
: Change blindness is a surprising perceptual phenomenon that occurs when a change in visual stimulus goes unnoticed by the observer.Cocktail Party Effect
: The cocktail party effect is the ability to focus one's auditory attention on a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli, much like when a person can focus on a single conversation in a noisy room.Constancy
: Constancy refers to the tendency of our perception to remain unchanged even when the stimuli changes. Size constancy is perceiving objects as having a constant size, even while our distance from them varies. Shape constancy is understanding that an object's shape remains the same despite changes in its perceived shape due to rotation or other factors. Brightness constancy means we perceive an object as having a constant brightness even if its illumination changes.Context
: Context refers to the circumstances or setting in which an event occurs that can influence perception and behavior.Context Effect
: The context effect refers to how the context (or environment) in which something is experienced can impact perception and recall of the event or information.Culture
: Culture refers to shared beliefs, values, behavior patterns and artifacts that characterize a group of people.Depth Perception
: Depth perception involves our ability to perceive spatial relationships, specifically how far away objects are from us and each other.Emotions
: Emotions are complex psychological states that involve three distinct components: a subjective experience, a physiological response, and a behavioral or expressive response.Expectations
: Expectations refer to beliefs about what will happen in the future based on past experiences, assumptions, and cultural norms.Gestalt Principles
: The Gestalt principles are rules that describe how the human eye perceives visual elements. These principles aim to explain how we group similar elements, recognize patterns and simplify complex images when we perceive objects.Inattentional Blindness
: Inattentional blindness is a psychological lack of attention and is not associated with any vision defects or deficits. It may be further defined as the event in which an individual fails to recognize an unexpected stimulus that is in plain sight.McGurk Effect
: The McGurk effect is a perceptual phenomenon that demonstrates an interaction between hearing and vision in speech perception. It suggests that what we see can influence what we hear.Monocular Cues
: Monocular cues are depth cues that can be perceived by one eye alone. They include interposition, relative height, relative motion, linear perspective, relative size, and light and shadow.Motivations
: Motivations refer to internal processes that activate, guide and maintain behavior over time. They drive us towards certain goals because we expect that achieving those goals will fulfill some sort of need or desire.Muller-Lyer Illusion
: The Muller-Lyer illusion is a visual illusion where two lines of the same length appear to be of different lengths because of the orientation of arrow-like ends attached to them.Neuron Systems
: Neuron systems are networks of nerve cells, or neurons, that work together to transmit information throughout the body. They form the basic units of the nervous system.Perceived Motion
: Perceived motion refers to the psychological phenomenon where stationary objects appear moving due to certain visual effects or stimuli.Perception
: Perception is the process by which our brain interprets sensory information, giving us an understanding of our environment.Perceptual Constancy
: Perceptual constancy is the tendency to perceive an object as remaining stable and unchanging despite changes in sensory input, such as alterations in its distance or in the light it reflects.Perceptual Processes
: These are mental procedures that handle incoming stimuli, transforming them into information we can understand and use.Perceptual Set
: Perceptual set is a psychological term that describes our tendency to perceive some aspects of sensory data and ignore others. It's influenced by our expectations, emotions, and cultural upbringing.Phi Phenomenon
: The phi phenomenon is an optical illusion in which stationary objects shown in rapid succession appear to be moving.Principle of Proximity
: The Principle of Proximity suggests that objects near each other tend to be grouped together.Schemas
: Schemas are mental frameworks that help us organize and interpret information. They are essentially cognitive structures that provide a blueprint for processing similar future events.Selective Attention
: Selective attention is our ability to focus on one particular task or stimulus among many competing stimuli.Sensation
: Sensation is the process by which our sensory receptors receive stimuli from our environment.Stroboscopic Effect
: The stroboscopic effect is a visual phenomenon where continuous motion is represented by a series of short or instantaneous samples. It's like when you see a series of still images presented in rapid succession, creating the illusion of movement.Top-down Processing
: Top-down processing is an approach to perception that involves higher-level cognitive processes such as memory and expectation to influence how we perceive sensory information.Visual Capture
: Visual capture refers to the dominance of vision over other sense modalities in creating a perception.3.2 Principles of Perception
6 min read•december 21, 2022
Dalia Savy
Audrey Damon-Wynne
Haseung Jun
Dalia Savy
Audrey Damon-Wynne
Haseung Jun
What is Perception?
Organizing and interpreting sensory information is all part of . Now, you may ask, what's the main difference between and ? is the actual awareness of our environment through the five senses while is the way we interpret this sensory information to tell us something about our environment, making sense of where we are.
Perceptual Processes
We process information unconsciously as our work together, each performing part of the task. It's important to understand that is majorly influenced by , , , and .
Your is your mental predisposition to perceive one thing but not another. Our can change: what we see, feel, taste, and touch. If someone told you that this new restaurant opened nearby and had really delicious food, you would expect to really enjoy the food, so you go and try it. The smell of juicy steak as you enter the restaurant, along with your expectation of the food tasting well, might influence your taste and possibly make you think the food tastes better than it really does.
Our is determined by our 💾 , which are concepts that organize information in our experiences. Popular examples of are stereotypes and social roles.
The has to do with and the brain going back in time, allowing a later stimulus to determine how we perceive an earlier one.
Attention
Our to our surroundings can change our . is our focus on a particular stimulus among others. One of the most famous examples of is the , where at a party, you can hear one voice among a million others. You are only focused on that one person, so all of your is centered on them, blocking out all of the “noise.”
Our lack of could also lead to blindness: a failure to notice stimuli.
: This occurs when you fail to see visible objects when your is focused elsewhere. 😎
To better understand , and possibly even experience it: click here!
You may have been so focused on the task given to you that you would have never noticed the most obvious stimuli in the midst of all the action!
: The failure to notice significant changes in our environment.
To see this occur to people, watch the following video at 1:41.
Depth Perception
We live in a three-dimensional world. Isn’t it wild that our brain can perceive this and judge the distance of objects? This is called , and cues (monocular and binocular) can guide us when judging distance.
👁 : cues available with only one eye like interposition, relative height, relative motion, linear perspective, relative size, light and shadow
📝 Read: AP Psychology - For more on Monocular Cues
👀 : cues that depend on the use of both eyes. Since your eyes are 2.5 inches apart, they have different views of the world. Combined, a new perspective is created.
The main binocular cue to know is retinal disparity, the difference between the two images. Comparing the images from both eyes, your brain is able to judge distance.
Imagine viewing a car as it approaches you. You know that the car isn’t getting bigger, but it appears like it is, since it's getting closer to you. This is an example of , where you perceive moving objects as unchanging.
Something really interesting and fun has to do with our perceptual organization, in which our vision always wins when it competes with our other senses (). The McGurk Effect is one of the most common examples of ; watch the video linked below! Even though the sound doesn't change and consistently says “Bill,” you can hear other things because of what you are seeing. Your eyesight dominates over your hearing, making you hear what you see.
Perceived Motion
Our brain is able to detect how fast what we see is moving and figure out our own movement of the body. But a cool thing about our brain is that even if we see something that isn't moving, we'll still think it's moving! This cool effect, called the , is actually what allows us to watch animated movies. Technically (I'm sorry to break this to you 😥), characters in animated movies aren't actually moving 🤯. Instead, what you're seeing is a series of images presented at a high speed, making your brain think that the characters are. I know, I always thought Mickey Mouse 🐭 actually moved, too.
Another phenomenon is the . When you look at holiday lights, your brain will think it's one moving light if the series of lightbulbs are turned on and off at a particular rate. Our brain likes to make stuff up, I guess 🤷♀️.
Image Courtesy of Indy's Child
Last is the . When you stare at a spot of light projected on the wall for a long time, your brain will make you think that the spot of light is actually moving 🏃♂️. Crazy, right? 😏
Constancy
Everything we see is constantly changing (angle of vision, variation in lighting). So how does our brain manage that? Well our ability to maintain constant is called . There are multiple types of .
| Size | Objects closer to us are supposed to be bigger, but we take distance into account when making size estimations. Cool right? If we already know the size of the object, we know it suddenly won't change, so our brain takes that into account. |
| Shape | Object viewed from different angles have a different shape. Our brain, again, takes all of this into account knowing that an object won't suddenly change shape. |
| Brightness | Light reflections constantly change depending on where the light source is at which angle. Our brain, which is smart enough, will know that an object won't suddenly change color. For example, you know the grass is going to stay green, even if the sunlight makes it appear as thought it's changing color. |
Culture
One factor that may come to surprise is . The truth is, our beliefs, , and behavior can deeply affect your of anything. And plays a huge role in this.
Image Courtesy of How Emotions Are Made
Cross-cultural studies showed that some people perceived things differently. For example, if you look at the above, you might think the second segment of line looks longer. Those who come from noncarpentered cultures (cultures that don't use right angles and corners when building architecture) are usually not fooled by the illusion. This shows that plays a huge role in !
Gestalt Principles
There are many principles of that help explain key ideas of .
Image Courtesy of People@UTM
Principle of closure states that we tend to fill in gaps in patterns
Principle of similarity states that similar objects tend to be grouped together
Principle of continuity states that even if an object is intersected, we still tend to consider it as one whole uninterrupted object
states that close objects tend to be grouped together
Principle of good figure states that we tend to see grouped objects as one whole object
Principle of symmetry states that objects are perceived to be symmetric if the object is formed around its center
🎥Watch: AP Psychology - Principles of Sensation and Perception
Key Terms to Review (32)
Attention
: Attention is the cognitive process of selectively focusing on one aspect of your environment while ignoring other things. It's a mental spotlight that enhances the efficiency of our perception and supports higher cognitive functions such as learning and reasoning.Autokinetic Effect
: The autokinetic effect is a phenomenon of visual perception in which a stationary, small point of light in an otherwise dark or featureless environment appears to move.Binocular Cues
: Binocular cues refer to the depth cues that depend on the use of both eyes. One key binocular cue is retinal disparity.Change Blindness
: Change blindness is a surprising perceptual phenomenon that occurs when a change in visual stimulus goes unnoticed by the observer.Cocktail Party Effect
: The cocktail party effect is the ability to focus one's auditory attention on a particular stimulus while filtering out a range of other stimuli, much like when a person can focus on a single conversation in a noisy room.Constancy
: Constancy refers to the tendency of our perception to remain unchanged even when the stimuli changes. Size constancy is perceiving objects as having a constant size, even while our distance from them varies. Shape constancy is understanding that an object's shape remains the same despite changes in its perceived shape due to rotation or other factors. Brightness constancy means we perceive an object as having a constant brightness even if its illumination changes.Context
: Context refers to the circumstances or setting in which an event occurs that can influence perception and behavior.Context Effect
: The context effect refers to how the context (or environment) in which something is experienced can impact perception and recall of the event or information.Culture
: Culture refers to shared beliefs, values, behavior patterns and artifacts that characterize a group of people.Depth Perception
: Depth perception involves our ability to perceive spatial relationships, specifically how far away objects are from us and each other.Emotions
: Emotions are complex psychological states that involve three distinct components: a subjective experience, a physiological response, and a behavioral or expressive response.Expectations
: Expectations refer to beliefs about what will happen in the future based on past experiences, assumptions, and cultural norms.Gestalt Principles
: The Gestalt principles are rules that describe how the human eye perceives visual elements. These principles aim to explain how we group similar elements, recognize patterns and simplify complex images when we perceive objects.Inattentional Blindness
: Inattentional blindness is a psychological lack of attention and is not associated with any vision defects or deficits. It may be further defined as the event in which an individual fails to recognize an unexpected stimulus that is in plain sight.McGurk Effect
: The McGurk effect is a perceptual phenomenon that demonstrates an interaction between hearing and vision in speech perception. It suggests that what we see can influence what we hear.Monocular Cues
: Monocular cues are depth cues that can be perceived by one eye alone. They include interposition, relative height, relative motion, linear perspective, relative size, and light and shadow.Motivations
: Motivations refer to internal processes that activate, guide and maintain behavior over time. They drive us towards certain goals because we expect that achieving those goals will fulfill some sort of need or desire.Muller-Lyer Illusion
: The Muller-Lyer illusion is a visual illusion where two lines of the same length appear to be of different lengths because of the orientation of arrow-like ends attached to them.Neuron Systems
: Neuron systems are networks of nerve cells, or neurons, that work together to transmit information throughout the body. They form the basic units of the nervous system.Perceived Motion
: Perceived motion refers to the psychological phenomenon where stationary objects appear moving due to certain visual effects or stimuli.Perception
: Perception is the process by which our brain interprets sensory information, giving us an understanding of our environment.Perceptual Constancy
: Perceptual constancy is the tendency to perceive an object as remaining stable and unchanging despite changes in sensory input, such as alterations in its distance or in the light it reflects.Perceptual Processes
: These are mental procedures that handle incoming stimuli, transforming them into information we can understand and use.Perceptual Set
: Perceptual set is a psychological term that describes our tendency to perceive some aspects of sensory data and ignore others. It's influenced by our expectations, emotions, and cultural upbringing.Phi Phenomenon
: The phi phenomenon is an optical illusion in which stationary objects shown in rapid succession appear to be moving.Principle of Proximity
: The Principle of Proximity suggests that objects near each other tend to be grouped together.Schemas
: Schemas are mental frameworks that help us organize and interpret information. They are essentially cognitive structures that provide a blueprint for processing similar future events.Selective Attention
: Selective attention is our ability to focus on one particular task or stimulus among many competing stimuli.Sensation
: Sensation is the process by which our sensory receptors receive stimuli from our environment.Stroboscopic Effect
: The stroboscopic effect is a visual phenomenon where continuous motion is represented by a series of short or instantaneous samples. It's like when you see a series of still images presented in rapid succession, creating the illusion of movement.Top-down Processing
: Top-down processing is an approach to perception that involves higher-level cognitive processes such as memory and expectation to influence how we perceive sensory information.Visual Capture
: Visual capture refers to the dominance of vision over other sense modalities in creating a perception.
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