PECCEPTION TOP DOWN THEORIES

-set of processes by which we recognize, organize and make  Constructive approach or Intelligent Perception
sense of the sensation we receive from environmental stimuli.  the perceiver build (constructs), a cognitive understanding
(perception) of a stimulus
Approaches to Perception: How Do We Make Sense of What We  the perceiver uses sensory information as the foundation for
See? structure but also uses other sources of information to build
the perception.
BOTTOM-UP THEORIES TOP-DOWN THEORIES  the percepts is bases on three things:
Describes approaches where According to which the 1. what we sense (the sensory data) what we know
perception starts with the perception is driven by high- 2. (knowledge stored in memory) and
stimuli whose appearance you level cognitive processes s, 3. what we can infer (using high levels of cognitive
take in through your eye. You existing knowledge, and the processes.
look out onto the cityscape, prior expectations that
and perception happens when influence perception. Three theories under Top-down Theories
the light information is 1. Configural Seperiority Effect
transported to your brain  objects presented in certain configuration are easier to
therefore, they are data driven recognize than the objects presented in isolation, even
(I.e, stimulus-driven) theories. if the objects in the configuration are more complex
than those in isolation
BOTTOM-UP THEORIES 2. Object-superiority effect
1. Direct Perception  a target line that forms a part of a drawing of a 3-D
2. Template Theories object is identified more accurately than a target that
3. Feature Theories forms a part of a disconnected 2-D pattern
4. Recognition by Components Theories 3. Word-superiority effect
 when people are.presented with strings of letters, it is
Direct Perception by (James J. Gibson) easier for them to identify a single letter if the string
 the information in our sensory receptors, including the make sense and forms a word instead of being just a
sensory context is all we need to perceive anything. nonsense sequel of letters
 as the environment supplies us with all the information we
need for perception, this view is sometimes called the PERCEPTION OF OBJECTS AND FORMS
ecological perception. 1. viewer-centered representation
 we used the contextual information directly.  the individual stores the way the object looks to him or
her. Thus, what matters is the appearance of the object
Template Theories to the viewer
 stored in our minds myriad types of Templates 2. object-centered representation
 Templates are highly detailed models for patterns we  Th individual stores a representation of the object,
potentially might recognize independent of its appearance to the viewer
 we recognize a pattern by comparing it with our set of 3. Landmark-centered information
templates. We the choose the exact templates that perfectly  Is characterized by its relation to w well-known or
matches what we observe prominent item.

Feature Matching Theories Recognizing Patterns and Faces

 we attempt to match features of a pattern to feature stored in
memory, rather than to match a whole pattern to a template
or a prototype
 The Pandemonium model
A. image demons receives a retinal image and pass it
on to
B. Feature demons calls out when there are matches
between the stimulus and the given feature, these
matches are yelled out at demons at the next level of the
hierarchy
C. Cognitive demons shout out possible patterns stored
in memory that conform to one or more of the features
niticed by the feature demon.
D. Decision demons listens to the pandemonium of the
cognitive demons. It decides on what has been seen,
based on which cognitive demons is shouting the most
frequently.
Recognition-by-Components theory
 our ability to perceive 3-D objects with the help of simple
geometric shapes. -Recognition-by-Components Theory
(Irving Biderman)
 Geons of geometrical ions *bricks, cylinders, wedges, cones
and their curved axis counterparts.
 we quickly recognize the object by observing the edges of
them and then decomposing the objects into geons.
1. feature analysis system
 specializes in recognition of parts of objects and in
assembling those parts into distinctive wholes
2. Configurational system
 specializes in recognizing larger configurations.
Prosopagnosia – the inability to recognize faces.
 Somebody with prosopagnosia can see the face of person
and even recognize if that person is sad, happy or angry But
what he fails to recognize is whether that person being
observed is a stranger, as friend, or his own mother
PERCEPTUAL CONSTANCIES
Perceptual Constancies
 occurs when our perception of an object remains the same
even when our proximal sensation of the distal object
changes.
 Size Constancy
 Is the tendency to perceive an object as being the same
size regardless of whether it is close or far-away.
 Shape Constancy
 Is the tendency to perceive an object as having the
same shape regardless of its orientation or the angle
from which we view it.
ATTENTION
Attention
 cognitive process of concentrating on one aspect of the
environment while ignoring other things
 how we actively process specific information present in
our environment selectively Attention
 attention span
 the amount of time that a person can concentrate
on a task without becoming distracted.
Focused attention
 the ability to respond discretely to specific visual,
auditory or tactile stimuli.
Sustained attention
 the ability to maintain a consistent behavioral response
during continuous and repetitive activity.
Alternating attention
 the capacity for mental flexibility that allows individuals
to shift their focus of attention and move between tasks
having different cognitive requirements.
DIFFERENT ASPECTS OF ATTENTION
1. selective attention
2. divided attention
3. automaticity
Selective Attention
 involves focusing on a specific aspect of a scene while
ignoring other aspects.
 can be conscious
 as when one chooses to attend to an interesting
object, like a tv, instead of a less interesting one,
like a coffee table
 can be unconscious
 as in a scene of a green field with a single red tulip
the tulip will receive attention initially
Selective Attention (Visual)
Stroop Test
 slower to name color when word says a different color
than to name the color of the word
 why does this happen?
 reading is an automatic process
 color naming is a controlled process
 automatic process of reading interferes with our
ability to selectively attend to ink color
Selective Attention (Auditory) -
Dichotic Listening
 two different auditory stimuli (usually speech) are
presented to the participant simultaneously, one to each
ear
 what does this tell us?
 theoretically, difficult to attend to two things at once
Theoretical Interpretations of Selective Attention
 Basic Filter Model (Broadbent)
 early selection model
 filter out extraneous or irrelevant information, only
letting information relevant to the current task get
processed (all or nothing)
 Selective Filter Model (Moray)
 blocks out most information at the sensory level,
but some highly salient messages are so powerful
that they burst through the filtering mechanism (e.g.
one's name)
 Attenuation theory (Triesman)
 a modified version of filter theory
 rather than filtering out extraneous information, the
strength of this information is simply weakened, or
attenuated
 Late-Filter Theory (Deutsch & Deutsch)
 Allows for the possibility that all information get
processed at some basic level but only some of it
breaks through to consciousness
 Attentional Resource Theory
 assumes that "attention" is actually a quantity, or
resource, that people have a limited amount of
 tasks each take a certain amount of attention, and
we can attend to multiple tasks only up to the point
that we have used up all of our attentional resources
Divided Attention
 difficult to attend to more than one thing at the same
time
 trying to attend to two stimuli at once and making
multiple responses rather than making one response to
multiple stimuli (interference)
 eg. using a cellphone while driving
 attentional resources can be allocated to different tasks
depending on the processing needs
 when driving on an icy road, the driver doesn't
read the billboards any more
 tasks demand different amounts of attention - attentional
resources are limited
Theoretical Interpretations of Divided Attention
 Capacity Theory
 limited amount of resources available to conduct
tasks
 only one cognitive process can Occur at a time
Automaticity
 automatic processing
 does not require attention
 controlled processing
 requires attention
 Feature Integration Theory
 people must focus attention on a stimulus before
they can synthesize its features into a pattern
Consciousness
 awareness we have of the outside world and of our
perceptions, images, and feelings