Key words

• Sensations 


  Physical stimulation of sense receptors by the environment
• Perception


  Organisation and interpretation of sensory information by the brain in order to understand the world around us
• Sensation = Feeling
• Perception = Thinking
• Binocular depth cues


  Cues that are only detected when both eyes are used
• Visual cues


  Visual information from the environment
• Depth cues


  Cues that allow us to judge how far away things are at any one point
• Monocular cues


  Perceptual cues that can be detected with one eye
• Height in plane


  Objects higher up the visual field appear further away
• Relative size


  Smaller objects in the visual field appear further away
• Occlusion 


  Objects that obscure the view of others or are in front of other appear closer
• Linear perspective


  When parallel lines converge in a way that suggests distance
• Binocular depth cues


  Cues that are only detected when both eyes are used
• Retinal Disparity


  The way that the left and right eye view slightly difference images
• Convergence 


  How hard the eye muscles work to view objects. The closer the object is the harder the eye muscles have to work. When the object is far away the eye muscles are relaxed and looking straight ahead.
• Ambiguity 


  When one image can be viewed/interpreted in tow different ways to give two separate meanings
• Fiction 


  A term used to describe visual illusions that lead to the perception of a figure that is not actually present in the image as it has been drawn
• Misinterpreted depth cues


  When something is viewed from further away it appears to be smaller then its actual size
• Size constancy 


  The human brain knows that the object/people far away in the visual field are not as small as they appear
• Emotion 


  A strong feeling deriving from ones circumstances, mood or relationship with others
• Visual constancies 


  Perceptions that do not change even through our viewpoint
• Motion parallax


  Monocular depth cue - provides the brain with important information to do with movement. Objects that are far away appear to move slowly whilst objects close by fly past
• Nature

  Our genetics: natural hair colour, height
• Constructivist theory


  Assumes that perception is the product of learning and experience
• Inference


  Forming conclusions which have been reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning
• Nurture


  The influence of environmental factors on behaviour/cognition e.g. culture, learning, experience
• Cues


  Any stimuli in the environment that affects behaviour/cognition
• Culture


  The products of socialisation within a specific society which may be centred around national, ethic, religious, geographical characteristics
• Motivation


  The forces that drive our behaviour. Motives can be both physical and social