Perception and Processing
The process by which we organize and interpret sensory information.
What is perception?
Focusing on one specific stimulus while filtering out others.
What is selective attention?
This Gestalt principle allows you to see an image as a distinct object against its background.
What is figure–ground?
A mental framework used to organize and interpret information.
What is a schema?
A thinking shortcut that helps us make decisions quickly but can lead to mistakes.
What is a heuristic?
This type of processing is driven by prior experiences and expectations.
What is top-down processing?
Hearing your name in a crowded cafeteria is an example of this effect.
What is the cocktail party effect?
We tend to group objects that are close together.
What is proximity?
Incorporating new information into existing schemas.
What is assimilation?
Judging the likelihood of events based on how easily examples come to mind.
What is the availability heuristic?
When you recognize a song by hearing each individual note for the first time, you’re using this type of processing.
What is bottom-up processing?
Missing an obvious event because your attention is directed elsewhere.
What is inattentional blindness?
The principle that makes you see an incomplete shape as a whole.
What is closure?
Changing existing schemas to adapt to new information.
What is accommodation?
Judging something based on how well it matches your mental prototype.
What is the representativeness heuristic?
Interpreting a vague stimulus as a ghost because you expect to see one is an example of what concept?
What is a perceptual set?
When small changes go unnoticed because attention shifts during a visual disruption.
What is change blindness?
Two lines that appear to meet in the distance create a sense of depth through this cue.
What is linear perspective?
A step-by-step process that guarantees a solution.
What is an algorithm?
Believing you “knew it all along” after an event occurs.
What is hindsight bias?
Perceiving an object as the same color or size even when light or distance changes is known as what?
What is perceptual constancy?
Why do complex tasks become more difficult when we divide our attention?
Because attention is limited, and divided attention reduces processing accuracy.
The slight difference between the images seen by each eye that helps us perceive depth.
What is retinal disparity?
The tendency to see objects as having only one function, such as using a shoe only for wearing.
What is functional fixedness?
Deciding differently when information is presented as a gain (“95% success”) versus a loss (“5% failure”).
What is framing?