Sensation And Perception Ch.5

Front 1

Accidental property

Back 1

A property of objects that only occurs when viewing the object from a specific, rarely encountered, viewpoint. For example, although three sides of a solid cube are visible from most viewpoints, an accidental property occurs when the cube is viewed end-on, so only one side is visible.

Front 2

Algorithm

Back 2

A procedure that is guaranteed to result in the solution to a problem. For example, the procedures we learn for addition, subtraction, and long division are algorithms.

Front 3

Apparent movement (or stroboscopic movement)

Back 3

An illusion of movement that occurs between two objects separated in space when the objects are flashed rapidly on and off, one after another, separated by a brief time interval.

Front 4

Border ownership

Back 4

When two areas share a border, as occurs in figure–ground displays, the border is usually perceived as belonging to the figure.

Front 5

Common fate, law of

Back 5

A Gestalt law of perceptual organization that states that things that are moving in the same direction appear to be grouped together.

Front 6

Common region, principle of

Back 6

A modern Gestalt principle that states that elements that are within the same region of space appear to be grouped together.

Front 7

Componential recovery, principle of

Back 7

A principle of the recognition-by-components model that states that we can rapidly and correctly identify an object if we can perceive its individual geons.

Front 8

Contextual modulation

Back 8

When the neural response to a stimulus is influenced by the context within which the stimulus occurs. This term has been used to refer to the situation in which a neuron’s response is influenced by stimulation of an area outside its receptive field.

Front 9

Delayed-matching-to-sample procedure

Back 9

A procedure in which a sample stimulus is presented, followed by a delay period, followed by a test period. During the test period, the same stimulus or a different one is presented. The task is to indicate whether the test stimulus is the same as or different from the sample stimulus.

Front 10

Discriminability

Back 10

Generally, the ability to distinguish between one stimulus and another. In the recognition-by-components theory of object perception, discriminability is a property of geons, which indicates that each geon can be distinguished from other geons from almost all viewpoints.

Front 11

Familiarity, law of

Back 11

A Gestalt law of perceptual organization that states that things are more likely to form groups when the groups appear familiar or meaningful.

Front 12

Feedback (nervous system)

Back 12

When signals are transmitted “backward” from “higher” areas, such as the temporal or parietal lobe, to “earlier” areas such as the primary visual receiving area in the occipital lobe.

Front 13

Figure

Back 13

When an object is seen as separate from the background (the “ground”), it is called a figure. See also Figure-ground segregation.

Front 14

Figure–ground segregation

Back 14

The perceptual separation of an object from its background.

Front 15

Geon

Back 15

The volumetric features of Biederman’s recognition-by-components theory of object perception.

Front 16

Gestalt psychology

Back 16

An approach to psychology that focuses on developing principles of perceptual organization, proposing that “the whole differs from the sum of its parts.”

Front 17

Good continuation, law of

Back 17

A Gestalt law of perceptual organization that states that points that, when connected, result in straight or smoothly curving lines are seen as belonging together, and lines tend to be seen in such a way as to follow the smoothest path.

Front 18

Good figure, law of

Back 18

See Pragnanz, law of.

Front 19

Ground

Back 19

In object perception, the background is called the ground. See also Figure.

Front 20

Heuristic

Back 20

In perception, a rule of thumb that provides a “best guess” estimate of the identity of a particular stimulus.

Front 21

Illusory contour

Back 21

Contour that is perceived even though they are not present in the physical stimulus.

Front 22

Image-description model

Back 22

-ability to recognize objects from different viewpoints is based on

stored two-dimensional views

of the object as it would appear from different viewpoints.

Front 23

Inverse projection problem

Back 23

The idea that a particular image on the retina could have been caused by an infinite number of different objects. Thus, the retinal image does not unambiguously specify a stimulus.

Front 24

Laws of perceptual organization

Back 24

See Perceptual organization, laws of.

Front 25

Light-from-above heuristic

Back 25

The assumption that light is usually coming from above, which influences our perception of form in some situations.

Front 26

Likelihood principle

Back 26

The idea proposed by Helmholtz that we perceive the object that is most likely to have caused the pattern of stimuli we have received.

Front 27

Masking stimulus

Back 27

A visual pattern that, when presented immediately after a visual stimulus decreases a person’s ability to perceive the stimulus. This stops the persistence of vision and therefore limits the effective duration of the stimulus.

Front 28

Morphing

Back 28

A computerized method of combining two stimuli which involves locating corresponding points on two “prototype” stimuli and combining the features that exist at these points in different amounts.

Front 29

Nearness, law of

Back 29

See Proximity, law of.

Front 30

Oblique effect

Back 30

Enhanced sensitivity to vertically and horizontally oriented visual stimuli. This effect has been demonstrated by measuring both perception and neural responding.

Front 31

Perceptual organization

Back 31

The process by which small elements become perceptually grouped into larger objects.

Front 32

Perceptual organization, laws of

Back 32

"laws" of Gestalt psychology that specify how we organize small parts into wholes.

laws:
-common fate
-familiarity
-good continuation
-good figure
-nearness
-similarity

modern researchers have proposed some additional laws.

Front 33

Perceptual segregation

Back 33

Perceptual organization in which one object is seen as separate from other objects.

Front 34

Persistence of vision

Back 34

A phenomenon in which perception of any stimulus persists for about 250 ms after the stimulus is physically terminated.

Front 35

Pragnanz, law of

Back 35

A Gestalt law of perceptual organization that states that every stimulus pattern is seen in such a way that the resulting structure is as simple as possible. Also called the law of good figure or the law of simplicity.

Front 36

Principle of componential recovery

Back 36

See Componential recovery, principle of.

Front 37

Proximity, law of

Back 37

A Gestalt law of perceptual organization that states that things that are near to each other appear to be grouped together. Also called the law of nearness.

Front 38

Recognition-by-components (RBC) theory

Back 38

A theory of object perception proposed by Biederman, which proposes that we recognize objects by decomposing them into volumetric features called geons. See also Structural-description models.

Front 39

Region-of-interest (ROI) approach

Back 39

A procedure used in brain imaging in which subjects are pretested on the stimuli to be studied. This enables researchers to establish the precise location in the brain that they will be studying for each individual person.

Front 40

Regularities in the environment

Back 40

Characteristics of the environment that occur regularly and in many different situations.

Front 41

Reversible figure–ground

Back 41

A figure–ground pattern that perceptually reverses as it is viewed, so that the figure becomes the ground and the ground becomes the figure. The most well-known reversible figure–ground pattern is Rubin’s vase–face pattern.

Front 42

Sensations

Back 42

Elementary elements that according to the structuralists, combine to create perceptions.

Front 43

Similarity, law of

Back 43

A Gestalt law stating that similar things appear to be grouped together.

Front 44

Simplicity, law of

Back 44

See Pragnanz, law of.

Front 45

Stroboscopic movement

Back 45

See Apparent movement.

Front 46

Structural-description model

Back 46

An approach to object perception that states that our ability to recognize three-dimensional objects is based on three-dimensional volumes that can be combined to create the overall shape of the object. This approach is associated with Biederman’s recognition-by-components theory of object perception. For another approach, see Image-description models.

Front 47

Structuralism

Back 47

The approach to psychology, prominent in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, that postulated that perceptions result from the summation of many elementary sensations. The Gestalt approach to perception was, in part, a reaction to structuralism.

Front 48

Synchrony, principle of

Back 48

A modern principle of perceptual organization that states that visual events that occur at the same time will be perceived as belonging together.

Front 49

Theory of unconscious inference

Back 49

The idea proposed by Helmholtz that some of our perceptions are the result of unconscious assumptions that we make about the environment. See also Likelihood principle.

Front 50

Trichromat

Back 50

A person with normal color vision. Trichromats can match any wavelength in the spectrum by mixing three other wavelengths in various proportions.

Front 51

Uniform connectedness, principle of

Back 51

A modern Gestalt principle that states that connected regions of a visual stimulus are perceived as a single unit.

Front 52

View-invariant properties

Back 52

Properties of objects that remain visible even when an object is viewed from different angles. For example, a view-invariant property of a rectangular solid is its three parallel edges, which are visible from most viewing angles.

Front 53

Viewpoint invariance

Back 53

Objects that have properties that don’t change when viewed from different angles. The geons in the recognition-by-components theory of object perception are view invariant.

Front 54

Volumetric features

Back 54

Three-dimensional features that can be combined to create objects. The geons of the recognition-by-components theory of recognition are volumetric features.