Perception 1

• What is perception?


  The process of learning knowledge about environmental objects or events through the senses
• What is sensation?


  the process of transforming physical stimuli to electrical signals
• Explain the perceptual process

  1. energy from the physical stimuli in the environment, stimulates sensory receptors

  2. these are converted to neural impulses sent to the brain
• what is a distal stimulus?


  A stimulus that exists out their in the world, as its source
• What did Aristotle argue?

  animals must have perception if they are to live
• what is proprioception?


  The sense of body position & movement
• What is Nociception?


  Pain
• What is thermoception?


  temperature
• What is evolutionary utility?

  perception's role in survival & reproduction
• what are illusions?


  situations where perception differs from reality
• what are ambiguous figures?

  images which can produce multiple distinct perceptions?
• what are bistable images?

  figures that produce alternating perceptions over time
• what are impossible objects?

  objects that are interpreted as physically impossible by the brain
• What is bottom up processing?

  takes information from the senses & makes judgements about the nature of the world solely based on this definition
• what is top-down processing?

  use of context and prior knowledge in perception
• what does Helmholtz (1821-1894) argue?


  the inadequate information provided by the senses is augmented by unconscious inference
• what does Gregory (constructivist) argue?

  perception as a search for best interpretation
• Gibson's theory?


  the constructivist approach could underestimate the richness of the sensory evidence we receive
• Lilac Chaser


  failure to perceive objects
• Hermann grid


  perception of objects in the absence of a stimulus
• Muller-Lyer Illusion


  perceptual distortions
• Necker's Cube/Rubin's vase


  multiple perceptions of the same stimulus
• Penrose Triangle


  Perceptions that are physically impossible