AP Psychology AMSCO Guided Notes
2.1: Perception
AP Psychology Guided Notes
AMSCO 2.1 - Perception
Essential Questions
- How do internal and external factors influence perception?
A. Perceptual Systems
1. What is perception and why is it necessary for processing sensory information?
2. How do perceptual systems reduce the massive amount of sensory input into manageable information?
B. Processing Incoming Information
1. Bottom-Up Processing
1. What is bottom-up processing and how does it differ from top-down processing?
2. How does inductive reasoning relate to bottom-up processing?
2. Top-Down Processing
1. What is top-down processing and what role do prior experiences play in it?
2. How does deductive reasoning relate to top-down processing?
3. What does the case of John with prosopagnosia reveal about how bottom-up and top-down processing work together?
C. How We Perceive the World
1. Schemas
1. What are schemas and how do they influence perception?
2. How do schemas develop and change as we gain new experiences?
3. How can cultural differences in schemas lead to misunderstandings?
2. Perceptual Set
1. What is perceptual set and how does it influence what we perceive?
2. How can perceptual set cause us to mishear or misinterpret sensory information?
D. Context, Expectations, and Cultural Effects
1. How do emotions and mood affect perception through top-down processing?
2. How do expectations influence what we perceive in our environment?
3. What role does culture play in shaping perception and attention?
E. Gestalt Psychology
1. What is Gestalt psychology and what is its main focus?
1. Figure and Ground
1. What is figure-and-ground perception and how does it organize visual information?
2. What does ambiguous figure-and-ground demonstrate about how our brains perceive visual information?
2. Grouping
1. What is grouping and what are the three main types of grouping patterns?
2. What is closure and how does it demonstrate that our brains create perceptions that don't exist in reality?
F. Attention
1. What is attention and why is it necessary for making sense of our world?
2. What is divided attention and when can we successfully perform multiple tasks simultaneously?
3. How much information can our brains consciously process compared to the total sensory input we receive?
1. Selective Attention
1. What is selective attention and how does it allow us to focus on one stimulus while filtering others?
2. What is the cocktail party effect and what does it reveal about selective attention?
3. What does the Stroop effect demonstrate about how automatic processes interfere with selective attention?
2. Inattentional Blindness
1. What is inattentional blindness and what does the gorilla study demonstrate about it?
2. How do magicians use inattentional blindness to perform their tricks?
3. Change Blindness
1. What is change blindness and how does it differ from inattentional blindness?
G. Visual Perceptual Processes
1. What factors work together to shape our visual perceptions?
1. Depth Perception
1. What is depth perception and what did the visual cliff experiment reveal about its development?
2. Binocular Depth Cues
1. What are binocular depth cues and what are the two main types?
2. How do retinal disparity and convergence help us judge depth and distance?
3. Monocular Depth Cues
1. What are monocular depth cues and why are they important if someone loses the use of one eye?
2. How do linear perspective, interposition, and relative size help us perceive depth?
3. How do relative clarity and texture gradient contribute to depth perception?
H. Visual Perceptual Constancies
1. What is perceptual constancy and why is it important for making sense of our world?
2. How do color constancy and size constancy allow us to perceive objects as unchanged despite changes in viewing conditions?
3. What are shape constancy and lightness constancy and how do they work?
I. Apparent Movement
1. What is apparent movement and how does it differ from actual movement?
2. What is stroboscopic movement and how does it apply to motion pictures and digital film?
3. What is the phi phenomenon and how does it create the illusion of movement?
Key Terms
apparent movement
attention
binocular depth cues
bottom-up processing
change blindness
closure
cocktail party effect
cognition
context
convergence
cultural expectations
depth perception
expectations
external sensory information
figure-and-ground perception
Gestalt psychology
grouping
inattentional blindness
internal prior expectations
interposition
linear perspective
monocular depth cues
perception
perceptual constancy
perceptual set
proximity
relative clarity
relative size
retinal disparity
schema
selective attention
selective inattention
similarity
texture gradient
top-down processing
visual perceptual processes