What's covered
Key facts
Perceptual set: Gilchrist & Nesberg, Bruner & Minturn
Bruner & Minturn (1955) concluded that expectation creates a perceptual set that influences how an ambiguous stimulus is interpreted.
Sensation vs perception and depth cues
Binocular depth cues require both eyes working together.
Theories of perception: Gibson and Gregory
Gibson said objects offer 'affordances': the action possibilities they provide (a chair affords sitting, a door affords opening), perceived directly without inference.
Visual illusions and why they occur
Ambiguity means an image can be interpreted in two equally plausible ways.
Perceptual set: Gilchrist & Nesberg, Bruner & Minturn
In Bruner and Minturn's study, participants shown letters first tended to perceive the ambiguous B/13 figure as a B; those shown numbers first tended to perceive it as 13.
Sensation vs perception and depth cues
Convergence: the brain uses how much the eye muscles turn the eyes inward to judge how near an object is.
Theories of perception: Gibson and Gregory
A strength of Gibson's theory is its real-world application: it has informed pilot/aircraft-landing training and human-computer interaction design, giving it ecological validity.
Visual illusions and why they occur
The Ames Room illusion is explained by size constancy.
Perceptual set: Gilchrist & Nesberg, Bruner & Minturn
In Bruner & Minturn (1955) the perceptual set was created by first showing participants a sequence of either letters or numbers (a priming context) before the ambiguous figure.
Sensation vs perception and depth cues
Height in plane: objects higher up in the visual field appear further away.
Practice questions with answers
A taste of the 60 questions in this topic, answers marked. Sign up to practise the full set with spaced repetition.
Which definition best describes perceptual set?
- •A permanent inability to see certain colours or shapes
- ✓A tendency to perceive some features and ignore others
- •The point at which a stimulus first becomes detectable
- •The raw sensory data sent from the eye to the brain
What is perception in psychology?
- •Converting detected stimuli into electrical signals for the brain
- ✓The brain organising and interpreting sensory information to make sense of it
- •The detection of stimuli by the sensory organs before any processing
- •Using both eyes together to judge the distance of an object
In Gibson's theory, perception is direct because the information needed is found where?
- •In hypotheses built by the brain
- •In learned cultural expectations
- ✓In the environment (the optic array)
- •Only in stored memories of past events
What is a visual illusion?
- •When an object is too far to see
- ✓When perception differs from physical reality
- •When the eyes are physically damaged
- •When two people see the same image
Which of these is NOT one of the four factors affecting perception in the AQA spec?
- •Culture
- •Expectation
- ✓Memory span
- •Motivation
Which depth cue means objects higher up in the visual field appear further away?
- •Convergence
- ✓Height in plane
- •Linear perspective
- •Relative size
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