BU432 Lecture Notes - Lecture 11: Gestalt Psychology
BU432 Lecture 11
Perception
2. Attention
• The allocation of processing capacity to incoming stimuli
o Selective attention
• Factors that affect selectivity
o Personal factors
▪ E.g., needs, involvement, attitudes, adaptation
o Stimulus factors
▪ E.g., size, colour, position, contrast, novelty
Stimulus Factors
• Unusually large displays
• Contrast – size or colour
• Novelty – unusual forms of marketing
3. Interpretation
• Giving meaning to the income stimuli
o Based on beliefs, motives, expectations, context, etc.
• Stimulus organization (Gestalt principles)
o Process things as a whole – interpret missing parts
o
▪ Closure has you fill in the gaps – process in more depth, fulfill need for closure
▪ Group them in terms of physical characteristics –established associations
▪ Process the foreground/main and foreground/background afterward – makes
you pay attention because it plays with your eyes
Takeaways
• Exposure, attention and interpretation
o Each stage is subject to voluntary control
• Sensation involves both absolute and relative thresholds
• Attention can be characterized by its limited capacity and its selectivity
• Stimulus organization principles
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Document Summary
Perception: the allocation of processing capacity to incoming stimuli, selective attention, factors that affect selectivity, personal factors, e. g. , needs, involvement, attitudes, adaptation, stimulus factors, e. g. , size, colour, position, contrast, novelty. Takeaways: exposure, attention and interpretation, each stage is subject to voluntary control, sensation involves both absolute and relative thresholds, attention can be characterized by its limited capacity and its selectivity, stimulus organization principles. Two sources of sensory input: bottom-up processes, processing of stimuli driven by the senses (data-driven, top-down processes, processing of stimuli driven by background knowledge, learning, and expectations (schema-driven, context-driven, context-driven: surroundings can change interpretation. Selective interpretation: perceptions are seldom objective, but are biased or distorted due to prior beliefs or expectations (top-down processes, happens a lot, but not all the time. Cross-modal sensory influences: euphony vs. cacophony, we attribute language with product attributes. Visual -> taste: visual input affecting taste perceptions.
