Gestalt means to be an organized whole.

This helps explain how humans organize perceptions because perception

is built off of many sensations we receive and when those sensations are received, they tend to be gestalt and
helps us perceive things.

When simply looking at the Necker Cube with our sensation, we are able to depict circles with
white lines on them. However, when we organize what it is we are seeing and put them
together, our perception is able to see more details and the “bigger picture” which is that the
lines form a cube.
 It means that our brain is more than our eyes taking in light and sending signals to our brain to process
an image. Our brain filters incoming information and determines how it is we perceive things.

Example from the text is that at a party, the voice we tune into is the person we see and they become the figure.
The people around us become the ground. When I take a math test, the words and questions on the paper
become the figure and the paper and the desk become the ground.

Proximity: grouping of nearby figures. Ex. Being around my friends makes one
group us ogether as a group if they are near us.

Continuity: perceiving things that appear smooth and continuous as opposed to things that are
discontinuous. Ex. We assume and want to believe that our freidsnw ill remain the same as in
personality, appearance, etc. but these tend to change rather than stay the same or
continuous.

Closure: We fill in gaps to create a complete and whole object. An example of this is when I fill
in blanks of my mom’s conversation on the phone even when I cannot hear everything that is
being said.

Depth perception gives us an idea of distance and how far or close things are from
us. It allows us to estimate the distance of an incoming car or a house.

Humans tend to have depth perception because it most likely developed when they
were infants and as infants, learn to fear certain things such as the edge of a cliff or
heights. This varies in various animal species because some of the animals we see
have depth perception as soon as they are born.

Our biology makes us cautious about height and things that come off as dangerous,
and nurture makes us fear it based off of our experiences.
Retinal disparity occurs because our eyes are at a 2 inch distance apart from each other and
so each eye receives a different image or one that is slightly off than the other. It helps us
perceive depth of objects in our environment because the difference between those two
images determine how close they are

Monocular cues differ from binocular cues because it is dependent on one eye
and binocular cues are dependent on both eyes. Monecular cues also give us
linear perspective and interposition). We might use monocular cues rather than
binocular cues when we are trying to determine objects from a far distance
because binocular cues are useful when we are determining closer objects.

Phi phenomenon creates perception of motion because it creates an illusion

that movement occurs when two or more adjacent lights blink at the same time
or blink off at the same time. An example of this are the construction signs with
the blinking arrows that guide us into specific traffic.

house will appear to move

if someone sitting on a bus
looks out the window and
sees it passing by
We assume objects are similar in size smaller
and so people who see something is
smaller assumes that it is farther away.

If an object partially blocks our view

of another, we perceive the object
blocking to be closer.

shading provides us with a sense of

depth and the assumption that light is
coming from above.
 It is referred to as a top-down process because we are looking for objects
regardless of the color, shape, and size changes.

Te
xt

We perceive the color of objects as constant colors even if changing illumination

alters the wavelengths reflected by the object.

We perceive brightness of an object to be in relation with the objects around it to the

point where comparison determines/governs our perception of brightness.

We perceive the size of familiar objects to be the same even if our distance to or from
them change.

Perceptual constancies illuminate how we organize our visual experiences and how our sensory input
allows us to see the world we see. Our perceptual constancies help us perceive color, brightness, shape
and size, and without them, the way we perceive the world would be different since these constancies
would no longer be constant. Size, color, shape etc. changes constantly without these perceptual
constancies.

Research has shown that experience is what allows us to develop perceptual

constancies and allow us to develop our perceptions. Experiments/research on
people who were born blind but later gained the ability to see due to surgery.
However, they lakced the ability to recognize shapes and forms like perceptual
constancies because they lacked experience.

Critical period refers to the time for sensory and perceptual development. Research on
sensory restriction stress its importance because it emphasizes how inhibiting one
from developing visual processes can inhibit their ability to distinguish shapes, sizes,
and forms from each other because they were not able to develop and have the
experience during critical period.
 It informs us that humans have the ability to adapt to sensations that
have been altered in their environment. An example is George Stratton
and his ability to adapt to the world upside down within a couple of days.

The distortion goggles George Stratton used is an example of how we can adapt
to new ways of interacting with the world when sensory is altered.

This is interposition because the circle is the object that blocks the
square. This makes us perceive that the circle is closer.

Relative size: We assume that the two

cups are the same size, but the one that
casts a small retinal image (B) is
perceived as farther away than cup A.

Relative height: Cup A appears to be

closer to use based off of how “closer/
lower” the lines on the table appear.
 At Point B, Maria is farther away from her
friend. If she is at point A, she is closer to
her friend. This is because of linear
perspective.

Target your classmate as a figure by scanning the room for anyone with a
red sweatshirt and form of your classmate while ignoring everyone else in
the room that does not meet her description.

Listening to crying noises is the figure and every other noise is the ground.

Look for specific colors, shapes, patterns, and details that can help you differentiate the leaf from others.

His face becomes the figure and everyone else in the hallway is the ground.