KMY4013 Sensory &

Perception
Dr Kartini Abd Ghani
December 2020
Perceptual Constancy
- The ability to see an object as maintaining its shape, color, or size without having to
reinterpret it each time a change occurs (top-down process)
- The impression tends to conform to the object as it is or is assumed to be, rather than to the
actual stimulus.
- responsible for the ability to identify objects under various conditions, which seem to be
“taken into account” during a process of mental reconstitution of the known image. For
example, snow appears white in the low illumination of moonlight, as well as in sunlight
800,000 times as bright.
- reduced by limited experience with the object and by decreasing the number of environmental
cues that aid in identification of the object.
Perceptual Constancy
- Objects change in our retina constantly as we or they move… but we are able to maintain
content perception
Examples of perceptual constancy
● brightness constancy
● color constancy
● shape constancy, and
● size constancy.
Perceptual Constancy
Shape Constancy - the tendency to see an object as keeping its form despite changes in
orientation.

● Door became more trapezoidal, but we still perceived as a rectangle

Perceptual Constancy
Shape Constancy Illusion- sometimes we perceive the shape of something to change with the
angle of our view
Perceptual Constancy
Size Constancy - the tendency to view an object as constant in size despite changes in the size of
the retinal image.

● Someone moving towards you is not ACTUALLY growing!

● Car 200 feet away vs. 20 feet away ...
Perceptual Constancy
Size Constancy Illusion - sometimes we perceive objects as having a changing size because of
the interplay between perceived size and distance.

● Moon illusion
● Ponzo illusion.
Perceptual Constancy
Size Distance Relationship

- The top bar appear bigger because of distance cues.

- Experience tells us that a more distant object can create the same -size image as a nearer one
only if it is actually larger
Perceptual Constancy
Size Distance Relationship

- Context cues (trees/houses/people/etc.) make the

“horizon” moon appear LARGER than the moon
high in the night sky
- Night moon is surrounded by large expanses of
empty sky, which makes it appear much smaller
- Relative Size Theory: perceived size of an object
depends not only on its retinal sze, but also on the
size of objects in its immediate visual
environment
Ames Room
Both girls in the room are of similar height, But we perceive them as having
differing height as they stand in the corner of the room.
 Perceptual Constancy

Colour Constancy -perceiving familiar objects as having consistent color even if the lighting
conditions change

● Our experience of colour depends on an object’s context

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHJrFPECwrA
 Perceptual Constancy

Colour Constancy -depends on what we’re comparing it to …

- Surrounding context - perceived colour is influenced by its surrounding context

- Surrounding objects - perceived colour is influenced by its surrounding objects

Example: colour of these blue circles are identical. Because the brain computes the colour of an
object relative to its context, the perceived color changes.

Apple in a bowl of fruit appears to be red even if the light changes because the brain perceived
(expects) it to be red.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHJrFPECwrA
 Perceptual Constancy

Brightness Constancy -object has constant lightness/brightness even while illumination varies

- Look at balck & white paper inside and outside: illumination changed but they still look black
or white to us
Perceptual Constancy

- The brightness of a stimulus depends not only on its own luminance but also on that of the
surrounding stimulation (context).
- The same gray square look whiter against a dark background and blacker when placed in a
bright surround.
Take a break!
Perceive Distance - Depth Perception
Depth perception - allows us to perceive the world around us in 3-D and gauge
the distance of objects from ourselves and from other objects.

You can contrast monocular cues with binocular cues, which are those that
require the use of both eyes.
Depth Perception
An example of depth perception in normal life would be if someone is walking
towards you, a person with accurate depth perception is able to tell when the
person is about five feet away from them.

However, someone who is lacking depth perception is not able to accurately

perceive how far away the person is
Depth Perception
Visual Cliff Experiment - Eleanor Gibson

- Crawling experience helps with depth perception

- Depth perception is partially innate

See Depth by using two cues

- Monocular Cues
- Binocular Cues

https://www.simplypsychology.org/visual-cliff-experiment.html https://youtu.be/3WvtEFJGp-8
Binocular Cues
Depth cues that depend on the use of two eyes.

Used to judge distance of object up close.

Examples:

Retinal disparity - as an object comes closer to us, the differences in images

between our eyes becomes greater - 3D Movies - simulate retinal disparity

Convergence - as an object comes closer, our eyes have to come together to keep
focused on the object.
Binocular Cues
Monocular Cues
Depth cues used with one eye

Used to judge distance of object far away from you

Examples:

Linear perspective , Interposition

Relative size , Relative height

Texture gradient, shadowing

Interposition
Closer objects cut off the view of part or all of a more distant one
Relative Size
The smaller of two objects is perceived as father away
Relative Height
Objects higher in our field of vision

furthest away
Linear Perspective
Provides a cue to distance when parallel lines seem to converge in the distance
Relative Motion
Objects beyond the fixation point appear to move with you, objects in front of the
fixation point appear to move backward
Light and Shadow
Brighter ones seems closer and dimmer one seems further away
Texture Gradient
Closer objects have a more distinct texture and farther away objects appear more
densely packed and smooth