PROCESSING PATHWAY
This type of processing begins with raw sensory data and builds upward.
What is bottom-up processing?
This principle explains why you see a full circle even when the outline is broken.
What is closure?
This process allows individuals to prioritize one input from the environment while filtering out competing stimuli, but increases the risk of inattentional blindness.
What is selective attention?
Two slightly different images hitting your retinas help the brain calculate depth using this cue.
What is retinal disparity?
A person walking away does NOT shrink because your brain uses this constancy.
What is size constancy?
This type of processing relies on expectations and prior experience to interpret information.
What is top-down processing?
This principle explains why you read black text as the “figure” against a white page.
What is figure-ground?
Hearing your name across a loud cafeteria demonstrates this effect.
What is the cocktail party effect?
When parallel lines appear to converge at the horizon, you're seeing this monocular cue.
What is linear perspective?
A door looks rectangular whether it’s open or shut because of this.
What is shape constancy?
Seeing the word “STOP” on a red octagon even when it’s misspelled demonstrates this specific bias.
What is perceptual set?
Seeing columns rather than mixed shapes when similar objects are grouped reflects this principle.
What is similarity?
Failing to notice a major difference between two images in a “spot the difference” game.
What is change blindness?
This cue explains why distant mountains look hazier than nearby ones.
What is relative clarity?
You recognize your friend’s red hoodie indoors and outdoors because of this constancy.
What is color/brightness constancy?
When poor handwriting becomes readable only after seeing the rest of the sentence, this has occurred.
What is top-down processing overriding bottom-up?
This Gestalt principle explains why you see “teams” of dots when they are placed close together.
What is proximity?
While watching a magician’s right hand, the audience fails to see the real action happening in the left hand. This illustrates what attention failure?
What is inattentional blindness?
This cue explains why an object blocking another must be closer.
What is interposition?
A string of Christmas lights appears to have lights “running” along the roofline, even though each bulb only turns on and off. What perceptual phenomenon creates this illusion of motion?
What is the phi phenomenon?