PERCEPTION
• How do we explain that individuals may look at the same
thing, yet perceive it differently?
• Response to a stimulus- sensation
• What our minds make of that stimulus—perception
• Perception is a constructive process by which we go
beyond the stimuli that are presented to us and attempt to
construct a meaningful situation
• It is a synthetic process where different physiological and
psychological processes are involved. For example, the
accuracy of sense organs, clarity of sensations, mental
set of an individual, etc.
Form Perception
The recognition of visual elements of objects, specifically
those to do with shapes, patterns and outlines
Form Perception
The recognition of visual elements of objects, specifically
those to do with shapes, patterns and outlines
Figure and ground
• Figure-ground perception refers to the tendency of the
visual system to simplify a scene into the main object we
are looking at (the figure) and everything else that forms
the background (or ground).
• Depending on whether you see the black or the white as
the figure, you may see either two faces in profile
(meaning you perceive the dark color as the figure) or a
vase in the center (indicating you see the white color as
the figure).
Principles of Perceptual Organization
• During the 1920s, a number of German psychologists
began studying different principles of perception that
govern how people make sense of an often disorderly
world. Their work led to what is known as the Gestalt
principles of perceptual organization
• They believed that the brain creates a coherent
perceptual experience by perceiving a stimulus as a
whole than perceiving discrete entities.
Principles of Perceptual Organization
• During the 1920s, a number of German psychologists began
studying different principles of perception that govern how
people make sense of an often disorderly world. Their work led
to what is known as the Gestalt principles of perceptual
organization
• They believed that the brain creates a coherent perceptual
experience by perceiving a stimulus as a whole than
perceiving discrete entities.
• The objects can be perceived meaningfully when they are
grouped together
• Organization is an essential feature of all mental activity: We
understand the elements of the visual input as linked to each
other in a certain way, and the identity of these elements
depends on the linkage.
1. Proximity
• Proximity means nearness. The objects which are nearer
to each other can be perceived meaningfully by grouping
them
2. Closure
• We usually group elements to form enclosed or complete
figures rather than open ones.
• When a stimulus is presented with gaps, the human
tendency is to perceive that figure as a complete one by
filling the gaps
3. Similarity
• Elements that are similar in appearance we perceive as
grouped together
4. Simplicity
• When we observe a pattern, we perceive it in the most
basic, straightforward manner that we can
[Link]
• Any stimulus which extends in the same direction or
shape will be perceived as a whole
Depth perception
• The ability to view the world in three dimensions and to
perceive distance
Cues
• Depth perception is possible due to certain cues. These
cues help us to understand the distance between one
person and the other person or object.
• These are of two types
• 1. Binocular
• 2. Monocular
Monocular cues
• These are the cues that provide depth information when
only one eye is looking
1. Motion parallax —which involves images of objects at
different distances moving across the retina at different
rates.
For example, suppose you are a passenger in a moving car, and you
focus your eye on a stable object such as a tree. Objects will appear
to move backward, and the nearer the object is, the more quickly it
will appear to move. In contrast, objects beyond the tree will seem to
move at a slower speed. Your brain is able to use these cues to
calculate the relative distances of the tree and other objects
2. Linear perspective- distant objects appear to be closer
together than are nearer ones
• 3. Texture gradient- provides information about distance
because the details of things that are far away are less
distinct
• 4. Relative size- When two objects are the same size, the
one that makes a smaller image on the retina is farther
away than is the one that provides a larger image
Binocular cues
• Visual cues that help us perceive depth and distance
because our eyes are spaced apart. These cues include
things like comparing slightly different images from each
eye and noticing the subtle differences in what each eye
sees.
• 1. Disparity- The difference in the images seen by the left
eye and the right eye is known as binocular disparity
Binocular cues
• 1. Disparity- The difference in the images seen by the left
eye and the right eye is known as binocular disparity
• 2. Convergence- the inward turning of our eyes that is
required to focus on objects that are less than about 50
feet away from us.
Perceptual constancy
• A phenomenon in which physical objects are perceived as
unvarying and consistent despite changes in their
appearance or in the physical environment.
Perception of movement
Movement or Motion is perceived by following the
progressive change of an object’s position in space with
time. It has two types
• Real Movement:
• Apparent Movement:
1. Real movement
• When objects or stimuli actually change their position over
time, it is known as a real movement, whether this
movement can be registered or not.
• The movements of humans, animals and other vehicles
are easily observed, but a bullet fired from a firearm is not
and the movement of the clock hands can be easily
observed.
2. Apparent Movement
• When the stimulus does not change its position with the
passage of time but seems to move.
• Phi Phenomena- An apparent motion that is observed if
two nearby optical stimuli are presented in alternation with
a relatively high frequency.
Extrasensory perception (ESP)
Perception that occurs independently of the known sensory
processes. Usually included in this category of phenomena
are telepathy, or thought transference between
persons; clairvoyance, or supernormal awareness of
objects or events not necessarily known to others;
and precognition, or knowledge of the future.
• The general population believes it exists, but most
psychologists reject the existence of ESP
Perceptual Illusions (The Deceptions of
Perceptions)
• Something that looks or seems different from what it is
• Illusions are special perceptual experiences in which
information arising from “real” external stimuli leads to an
incorrect perception or false impression, of the object or
event from which the stimulation comes.
• Mirage: the deceptive appearance of a distant object or
objects caused by the bending of light rays (refraction) in
layers of air of varying density.
• Muller-Lyer Illusion- An optical illusion where two lines of
the same length appear to be of different lengths.
Auditory Perception
• It refers to the brain’s ability to interpret and create a clear
impression of sounds.
• Frequency- is measured in cycles per second, or hertz
(Hz)
• Humans can hear sounds ranging from a low of 20 Hz up
to a high of about 20,000 Hz
• Pitch- How high or low a sound seems to a listener is
its pitch. Pitch, in turn, depends on the frequency of sound
waves.
• Timbre- defined as the quality of a sound which is used
for differentiating two sounds when they are in the same
frequency.
Theories of Hearing
1. Place Theory Of Hearing
• It states that different areas of the basilar membrane
respond to different frequencies
• The part of the basilar membrane nearest to the oval
window is most sensitive to high-frequency sounds, and
the part nearest to the cochlea’s inner end is most
sensitive to low-frequency sounds.
2. Frequency Theory Of Hearing
It suggests that the entire basilar membrane acts like a
microphone, vibrating as a whole in response to a sound
A particular sound frequency, say 3000 Hz, causes the
basilar membrane to vibrate at a corresponding rate of 3000
times per second. The brain detects the frequency of a tone
by the rate at which the auditory nerve fibers fire.
Components of Auditory Perception
• Detection
• Discrimination(Auditory figure and Background)
• Identification
• Comprehension