Psychology / Unit 3: Sensation and Perception
3.5 Perceptual Organization
Notes
The brain organizes sensations using patterns.
- Gestalt principles: the whole is more than the sum of its parts. Figure-ground (object vs background), proximity (near items grouped), similarity (alike items grouped), continuity (smooth lines), closure (filling gaps).
- Depth cues: binocular cues need two eyes (retinal disparity, convergence). Monocular cues work with one eye (relative size, interposition/overlap, linear perspective, texture gradient).
- Perceptual constancy: objects seem to stay the same size, shape and color despite changes in the image (a door looks rectangular even when opened).
- Perceptual set: a mental predisposition to see things one way.
Practice
Dots on a page are arranged in rows, so you see rows instead of columns. This is the principle of:
Items that are close together are grouped.
Which depth cue requires both eyes?
Retinal disparity is the slight difference between the two eyes' images.
A friend walks away and appears smaller, but you still believe she is the same size. This is:
Size constancy is a kind of perceptual constancy.
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