GCSE PsychologyUnit 1: Perception

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Teacher: Mrs Masters

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Lesson 1: What are Sensation and Perception?Sensation

Perception

Lesson 2: How Do We Perceive?The image our eyes receive is 2D but we need to change it onto a 3D picture. We use visual depth cues to do this. A depth cue is a feature of an image which indicates distance. We are also aware of visual constancies from our experience - we have an ability to see an object as the same even if the image received by our eyes has changed, e.g. if we move closer to it or light levels change.

How do I know this represents a 3D image?

Monocular Depth Cues:

Word DefinitionA way of detecting depth or distance which will work with just one eye

How high the object appears in the image

How large an object looks in an image

When one part of an object appears to cover part of another object

When straight lines are angled so that they would come together at a point on the horizon

Binocular Depth Cues

Word DefinitionA way of detecting depth or distance which requires two eyes in order to work

A form of depth perception which uses how eye muscles focus on images

A form of depth perception which compares the images from two eyes side by side

Convergence:

We move our eye muscles in different ways if we look at something close up or further away. The close the object the more the eye muscles have to move the eye balls in their sockets. This muscle movement provides the brain with depth information

Retinal Disparity:

The two eyes send different impulses to the brain – your brain receives two different images. The further away something is, the more similar these two images are. The closer the image is, the more different the two images are

Lesson 3: Visual IllusionsVisual illusions happen when out visual perception is tricked into seeing something inaccurately. This can happen for 4 main reasons:

Misinterpreted depth cues

Ambiguity

Fiction

Size Constancy

Use page 34/35 to explain how each of these visual illusions works:

The Ponzo Illusion

The Müller-Lyer Illusion

This illusion only works on people with experience of built up environments! Psychologists call this the “carpentered world hypothesis”

Rubin’s Vase Illusion

The Ames Room

The Kanizsa Triangle

The Necker Cube

Theories of Perception:

Lesson 4: Gibson’s Theory of Direct PerceptionGibson thought

1) Our perception only required information from the environment; texture and colour gradients and speed (motion parallax) are used to judge distance.

2) We do not need to make inferences (conclusions reached on the basis of past knowledge) about what we are seeing.

3) Our perception of objects includes possible uses for that object (their affordances), e.g. when we see a tree stump we can also perceive it as affording us somewhere to sit. We do not need to have had prior experience of sitting on a tree stump.

4) Some perceptual abilities are innate – due to nature

Motion Parallax:

Texture and Colour Gradients:

Evidence - Visual Cliff Experiment:

Evidence – Face Shapes (Fantz 1961):

Use page 32 to evaluation Gibson’s Theory of Direct Perception

Arguments to support Gibson’s Theory Arguments against Gibson’s Theory

Lesson 5: Gregory’s Theory of Constructive Perception

Richard Gregory said:

Past knowledge and experience is the most important thing in making sense of what is around us. Our perception works because our brain makes reasonable guesses about what we see on the basis

of what it is most likely to be – these are known as perceptual hypotheses. Visual illusions provide evidence to support this theory

Use page 36/7 to evaluation Gregory’s Theory of Constructive Perception

Arguments to support Gregory’s Theory Arguments against Gregory’s Theory

Lesson 6: What Factors Affect Our Perception?

PERCEPTUAL SET: A state of readiness to perceive certain

kinds of stimuli rather than others

Culture

Motivation

Emotion

Expectation

“The Cat Sat on the Map and Licked its Whiskers”

Key Study: Gilchrist and Nerbserg’s “Need and Perceptual Change” Study (1952)

Key Research StudyName & Date

Aim

Study Design

Method

Results

Conclusion

Support for findings

Evaluation – Positives Evaluation – Limitations

Key Study: Bruner and Minturn’s “Perceptual Set” Study (1955)

Key Research StudyName & Date

Aim

Study Design

Method

Results

Conclusion

Support for findings

Evaluation – Positives Evaluation – Limitations