PSYCH207 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Gestalt Psychology, Parsing, Retina

• School: University of Waterloo
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYCH207
• Professor: Jonathan Fugelsang

Document Summary

Perception- taken sensory input and interpreted it meaningfully. Classic approach distal stimulus (book) -> proximal stimulus reception of info and registration by sense organ make up (retinal image of book) -> percept (recognition of object as book) Size constancy- size of hand as you draw it closer and away from face doesn"t change. Pattern recognition- recognize object as ebelonging to a class of objects, events etc. Gestalt school of psychology perception involves segmentation or parsing of visual stimuli into objects. Jj gibson direct perception claims perceivers do little processing of info either bottom up or top down. Form perception segregate whole display into objects (also called figure) and the background (aka ground) is an important process. Gestalt we recognize objects by identifying whole objects =/= not the sum of parts. Minimal model theory- formalizes gestalt law of pragnanz. Con: how principles are translated into cognitive/physiological processes. Segregation of figure from ground has consequences- shaped may seem more memorable than shapeless.