Chapter 6 Psych Vocab Myers

Front 1

inattentional blindness

Back 1

failing to see visible objects when our attention is directed elsewhere.

Front 2

visual capture:

Back 2

the tendency for vision to dominate the other senses.

Front 3

gestalt:

Back 3

an organized whole. Gestalt psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of information into meaningful wholes.

Front 4

figure-ground:

Back 4

the organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground).

Front 5

grouping:

Back 5

the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups.

Front 6

depth perception:

Back 6

the ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance.

Front 7

visual cliff:

Back 7

a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals.

Front 8

binocular cues:

Back 8

depth cues, such as retinal disparity and convergence, that depend on the use of two eyes.

Front 9

retinal disparity:

Back 9

a binocular cue for perceiving depth: By comparing images from the two eyeballs, the brain computes distance—the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the closer the object.

Front 10

convergence:

Back 10

a binocular cue for perceiving depth; the extent to which the eyes converge inward when looking at an object. The greater the inward strain, the closer the object.

Front 11

phi phenomenon:

Back 11

an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession.

Front 12

perceptual constancy:

Back 12

perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent lightness, color, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change.

Front 13

perceptual adaptation:

Back 13

in vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field.

Front 14

perceptual set:

Back 14

a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.

Front 15

human factors psychology:

Back 15

a branch of psychology that explores how people and machines interact and how machines and physical environments can be made safe and easy to use.

Front 16

extrasensory perception:

Back 16

the controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input. Said to include telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition.

Front 17

parapsychology:

Back 17

the study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis.

Front 18

selective attention:

Back 18

the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus, as in the cocktail party effect.

Front 19

monocular cues:

Back 19

depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either eye alone.