Factors Influencing Perception
This is the process by which the brain organizes and interprets sensory information into meaningful objects and events.
Perception
This Gestalt principle says we perceive figures separately from their background.
figure-ground
These depth cues can be perceived using only one eye.
Monocular cue
This illusion makes a still image appear to move because of tiny involuntary eye movements called microsaccades.
autokinetic image/effect
This Gestalt principle groups objects together if they look alike.
similarity
This type of processing moves from “details to the big picture.”
bottom-up processing
We group objects together if they are physically close to each other.
proximity
This monocular cue says that hazier/blurrier objects look farther away.
relative clarity
This illusion makes two identical lines look different because of arrow-like fins pointing inward or outward.
Müller-Lyer illusion
This depth cue states that textures appear finer and less detailed as they get farther away.
texture gradient
The tendency to focus on certain information while ignoring other stimuli.
selective attention
Your brain completes missing parts of an incomplete picture to form a whole.
closure
This cue explains why parallel lines appear to meet in the distance.
linear perspective
When two or more stationary lights flash in rapid sequence, it creates the illusion of movement.
phi phenomenon
The tendency to perceive two events that happen close in time as cause-and-effect is known as this.
contiguity
Failing to notice a major difference in the environment because your attention is elsewhere is known as this.
Change blindness
This principle states we prefer smooth, continuous lines over abrupt or jagged ones.
continuity
When one object blocks another, we perceive the blocking object as closer.
interposition
This illusion occurs when rapidly flashing still images simulate smooth motion—commonly used in animation.
stroboscopic motion
This concept describes how we still see an object as the same shape even if we view it from a different angle.
shape constancy
Mental frameworks that help us organize and interpret information in the world around us.
Schemas
The rule that we naturally perceive the simplest, most stable form possible.
Law of Simplicity (Prägnanz)
This binocular cue comes from the slight difference between what each eye sees.
retinal disparity
In this illusion, background depth cues like converging lines make two identical lines appear different lengths.
Ponzo illusion
When attention is focused elsewhere and you fail to notice something unexpected in your visual field, this occurs.
inattentional blindness