PSY 260 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Ames Room, Categorical Perception, Optical Illusion

• School: Stony Brook University
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSY 260
• Professor: Nancy Franklin

Document Summary

Categorical perception (even if stimulus is continuous) Word boundaries in native vs. foreign language. Size constancy - taking both retinal size and distance cues into account. Whole is different from sum of its parts. Explains how small elements get grouped together in perception. In the face of ambiguity, perceive the simplest possibility (most parsimonious). Good continuation - follow the smoothest path. Proximity - group things near each other. Common fate - group things moving in same direction. Seen as being in front of the ground. Illusions stem from helpful perceptual biases (e. g. , constancy, depth cues, & gestalt principles) All of the following (shape, color, size) are perceptual constancies, except motion. Many perceptual feats are easy for humans. But humans (and not computers) experience illusions because of these same biases. Object recognition involves analyzing & interpreting, not just reproducing a picture in the head.