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Mod 19 Reading Assignment

Gestalt psychology focuses on how humans organize perceptions into a coherent whole. Depth perception allows us to perceive the three-dimensional structure of the environment. Binocular cues like retinal disparity use both eyes to judge depth, while monocular cues like linear perspective can provide depth cues from a single eye. Experiments on the visual cliff and sensory restriction demonstrate the importance of early visual experience for normal perceptual development. Perceptual constancy allows us to perceive objects as having consistent properties despite changes in lighting, distance, or perspective.

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72 views

Mod 19 Reading Assignment

Gestalt psychology focuses on how humans organize perceptions into a coherent whole. Depth perception allows us to perceive the three-dimensional structure of the environment. Binocular cues like retinal disparity use both eyes to judge depth, while monocular cues like linear perspective can provide depth cues from a single eye. Experiments on the visual cliff and sensory restriction demonstrate the importance of early visual experience for normal perceptual development. Perceptual constancy allows us to perceive objects as having consistent properties despite changes in lighting, distance, or perspective.

Uploaded by

Dana M.
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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AP Psychology Reading Assignment: ​Module 19 – Visual

Organization and Interpretation

Directions - Complete the following assignment on a separate sheet of paper.

Part 1​: Define the following terms.

Gestalt -
School of psychology that emerged in Austria and Germany in the early twentieth century based on work by
Max Wertheimer, Wolfgang Köhler, and Kurt Koffka.
Figure-Ground -
Perception refers to the tendency of the visual system to simplify a scene into the main object that we are
looking at (the figure) and everything else that forms the background (or ground).
Grouping -
​A set of people acting together with a common interest or purpose, especially within a larger organization.
Depth Perception -
The visual ability to perceive the world in three dimensions and the distance of an object.
Visual Cliff -
An apparatus created by psychologists Eleanor J. Gibson and Richard D. Walk at Cornell University to
investigate depth perception in human and animal species.
Binocular Cues -
Defined as the ability of both of our eyes to perceive an object in three-dimensional space.
Retinal Disparity -
Refers to the small difference between the images projected on the two retinas when looking at an object or
scene.
Monocular Cues -
​Are the information in the retinal image that gives us information about depth and distance but can be inferred
from just a single retina (or eye).
Phi Phenomenon -
​An illusion of movement that arises when stationary objects—light bulbs, for example—are placed side by side
and illuminated rapidly one after another. The effect is frequently used on theatre marquees to give the
impression of moving lights.
Perceptual Constancy -
​Also called object constancy, or constancy phenomenon, the tendency of animals and humans to see familiar
objects as having standard shape, size, colour, or location regardless of changes in the angle of perspective,
distance, or lighting.
Color Constancy -
​ The ability to perceive colors of objects, invariant to the color of the light source.
Perceptual Adaptation -
The temporary change in sensitivity or perception when exposed to a new or intense stimulus, and the lingering
afterimage that may result when the stimulus is removed.

Part 2​: Answer the following questions.

1. How does the German word gestalt help explain how humans organize their perceptions?
Various perceptions work together to construct a whole perception that is symmetrical, meaningful and as clear
as possible.
2. How does the illustration of the Necker Cube in figure 19.1 illustrate the difference between sensation and
perception?
Parts of blue circles are the only parts we see, however we interpret it to be a square, and the image sensation is
several distinct circles with various marks in them when you perceive a box as a whole image.
3. Give an example from the text ​and ​from your own life of figure and ground.
The one you are listening to is the figure of the voice you hear at a party, all the others are different from the
ground.
4. Describe how depth-perception helps us organize sensory input.
Deep vision helps one to measure the distance of an object from us.
5. What insight can visual cliff study give us regarding the nature-nurture debate?
Despite coaxing their mothers, their failure to sense depth prevented them from crawling farther off the cliff.
Biology tends to predispose one to be afraid of heights and knowledge that amplifies anxiety.
6. Explain how monocular cues differ from binocular cues. When might we use monocular cues rather than
binocular cues?
Binocular: Deep signs that depend on the use of 2 eyes, such as retinal disparity. Judges the distance of artifacts
nearby
Monocular: Profound signs available to any eye alone, such as introspection & linear perspective (used for
objects far away)
7. How does the phi phenomenon create the perception of motion? Give an example of this phenomenon.
An illusion of motion created in a rapid succession when 2 or more adjacent lights blink on & off.
An example is when one is driving and it appears like we see gas or water it is called highway mirage.
8. Why is perceptual constancy referred to as a top-down process?
It focuses on mental processes first, and refers to perceiving objects as unchanging even as illumination &
retinal images change.
9. Explain how research on restored vision and sensory restriction helps us understand the importance of
experience on perception.
Patients could differentiate figure from ground during cataract surgery and could detect colours, showing that
these vision aspects are intrinsic, but they could not distinguish between a square and a sphere even though they
could interact because they had not learned to interpret the visual shape.
10. What is meant by “critical period,” and how does the research on sensory restriction stress its importance?
For normal sensory/perceptual development, there is a vital period. The brain's neuronal organization would not
mature naturally without early stimulation.

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