Perception

Noreen Fatima
Perception:
• The process by which sensory
information is actively organized and
interpreted by the brain
• The Process of selecting, organizing,
and interpreting raw sensory data into
useful mental representations of the
world.
Perceptual processes include:

Selection refers to choosing which of many stimuli

that will be processed.

Organization involves collecting the information into

some pattern.

Interpretation involves understanding the pattern.

 Selecting Stimuli
• Perceptual Process External factors :
Receiving Nature,
Stimuli Location, Size,
(External & Movement, repetition,
similarity
Internal)
Internal factors :
Learning,
needs, age, Interest,

Interpreting Organizing
Attribution ,Stereoty Figure Background ,
ping, Perceptual Grouping
Halo Effect, ( similarity,
Projection proximity,
closure, continuity)

Response
Covert: Attitudes ,
Motivation,
Feeling
Overt: Behavior
FACTOR OF
PERCEPTION:

❖Objective factor
❖Subjective factor
 There are a number of characteristics
of stimuli that influence our
perception.
1.Intensity
2.Size
3.Distinct &
Striking
4.Movement
5.Novelty
6.Duration
7.Repetition
8.Abrupt Change
• Intensity; The louder a sound , the more likely a
person is to perceive it. The brighter a light, the more
likely it is to be in the focus of perception.

• Size; A full page advertisement is more likely to be

noticed than a half- column one.

• Distinct & Striking; distinct and striking things are

perceived sooner than dull and unclear things.

 Movement; When things move suddenly in still and

motionless environment ,it is quickly perceived .e.g.
birds sitting quietly on tree are not quickly perceived
as compared to ones about to fly.
• Novelty; A new and novel thing is perceived
sooner than old and used thing.

• Duration; Television and radio

advertisements of long duration are attended
to more than those of short duration.

• Repetition; Repetition causes us to adapt to

the repeated stimulus .

• Abrupt Change; Any change in stimulus

conditions, such as increase in noise , often
attracts attention.
Sometimes, perception is determined not only
by the physical characteristics of stimuli but
by the characteristics of the perceiver. These
are
1.Motives or needs
2.Interests & values
3.Past experience
4.Age
5.Preparatory set
6.Social & cultural factors
1.Motives or Needs; when people are
motivated ,they tend to see and hear what
they want to hear. In other words, we may
be set to perceive the world in ways that
agree with our motives and match our goals.
2.Interests & Values; we attend to those
aspects of world that relate to our interest.
3.Past Experience; Much of our daily activity
is dependent upon past experience. we have
learned to react to cues & symbols. E.g., on
seeing a moving line on the sky, we guess it
to be an airplane.
• Age; Age brings a change in perception as
well. A child perceives things in different
way as compared to a young person.

• Preparatory Set; This refers to a person’s

readiness to respond to one kind of sensory
input, but not to other kinds.

• Social & Cultural Influences; The normal

perceptual experiences of a culture may lead
its members to develop perceptual biases,
suggestions and prejudices.
 We perceive objects in different manners
as compared to their position in the
environment. Objects may be moving or static,
when we have to perceive motion. We may have
to locate sounds and voices in the space around
us.
1.Form Perception
2.Size Perception
3.Depth Perception
4.Perception of Movement
5.Time Perception
 Gestaltists proposed laws of
•
organization that specify how people
perceive form.
• Figure and ground are basic organizational
themes for perception.

ϒFigure is perceived as distinct from the

background.
ϒFigure is closer to the viewer than the
background.
ϒReversible Figures: Figure and ground
can be switched
{ {
 Laws of Organization
• Formation of a figure: There are some
factors which would bring some order to
perception

1.Proximity: Stimuli that are near to each

other, tend to be grouped together
Proximity
 Laws of Organization
• Formation of a figure: There are some factors
which would bring some order to perception

1.Proximity: Stimuli that are near to each other,

tend to be grouped together

2.Similarity: Stimuli that are similar in size,

shape, color, or form tend to be grouped
together
Law of Similarity
 Laws of Organization
• Formation of a figure: There are some factors
which would bring some order to perception

1.Proximity: Stimuli that are near to each other,

tend to be grouped together

2.Similarity: Stimuli that are similar in size,

shape, color, or form tend to be grouped
together

3.Continuity: Perception tends towards

continuous pattern. .
 Continuity
------- ------ -------
 Laws of Organization
1.Proximity
• : Stimuli that are near to each other,
tend to be grouped together

2.Similarity: Stimuli that are similar in size,

shape, color, or form tend to be grouped
together

3.Continuity: Perception tends towards

simplicity and continuity

4.Closure: refers to the tendency to complete a

figure, so, that it has a consistent overall form.
Closure
• Three types of constancy are
explained briefly here:

1.Size Constancy
2.Shape Constancy
3.Color Constancy
1. Size Constancy:
•
Size constancy is the tendency to perceive
objects in a consistent manner despite the
changing sensations that are received by our
senses. visual constancy plays an important role
in helping us adapt to our environment
successfully.
2.Shape Constancy; When we know that
the object is a certain shape ,we tend to
perceive it as the same shape, regardless
of the viewing angle. We have learned to
make corrections in our perception
dependent on the angle from which we
observe.
3.Color Constancy; Colors of objects tend
to remain constant in perception when we
know their true color. Visual objects also
appear constant in their degree of
whiteness, grayness and blackness.
When you ride in a moving vehicle and
look out the side window, the objects
you see outside appear to be moving
in the opposite direction
• Movement or Motion is perceived by
following the progressive change of an
object’s position in space with time. It
has two types.
• Perception of Movement;

1.Real Movement; The perception of the actual

movement of objects in the world is termed as
“real motion/movement perception”.
2.Apparent Movement; It is movement perceived
in the absence of physical movement of an image
across the retina. This can be produced by a
rapid succession of motionless stimuli that
minimize the changes that occur in real
movement. There are several types of apparent
motion/movement:
Perception of Movement
• Induced Motion: Have you ever
seen the sun go behind a cloud?
• Phi Phenomenon: is the optical
illusion of perceiving a series of still
images, when viewed in rapid
succession, as continuous motion .
• Stroboscopic Motion : Motion Pictures.
• Series of still pictures, each one is slightly
different from the previous one. The
pictures are presented in rapid succession.
• Auto kinetic Motion: Usually a stationary
pinpoint of light used in psychology
experiments in dark rooms. As one stares at a
fixed point of light, one's eye muscles become
fatigued, causing a slight eye movement.
 Depth Perception
• The ability to view the world in
three dimensions and to perceive
distance is known as depth
perception.
“This ability helps to perceive three-
dimensional space and to accurately
judge distance”.
• Monocular Cues- With One Eye
• Binocular Cues- With Two Eye
Monocular Cues
• Motion Parallax: We view objects that are closer to
us as moving faster than objects that are further away
from us.
• Relative Size: It allows you to determine how close
objects are to an object of known size.
• Interposition: One object partially covers another. It
creates the appearance that the object that is being
covered, or overlapped, is the one that is further away.
Linear Perspective
• Lines that recede into the distance appear to get
closer together or converge.
• Clearness: Any familiar object appears closer
when we can perceive clearly the details of the
object.
• Shadows: Photographers often manipulate
shadows to enhance the three dimensional
effect.
• Texture: Objects located on coarser ground
appear closer while those on a finer texture
ground appear further.
• Accommodation: The lens thickens when we
look at objects close to us and tends to thin
when the objects are further away.
Binocular Cues
• Retinal Disparity: It involves the use of
both eyes and refers to the difference
between the view that each eye receives
of a given object or scene.
• Convergence : Refers to the fact that the
closer an object, the more inward our
eyes need to turn in order to focus.
•We perceive time in, seconds, minutes, and hours
which pass into days weeks months and in years and
even in centuries. Time is perceived in terms of Past,
Present, and Future.
• Perception of time is less in children than elders
Several factors influence time perception:
Age, activity, motivation, intelligence
Drugs
 ILLUSION
• An illusion is a distortion of the
senses, which can reveal how the
human brain normally organizes
and interprets sensory stimulation.
Though illusions distort our
perception of reality, they are
generally shared by most people.
 Types of Illusion of
motion:
❖Impossible Figures
❖Reversible Figures
❖The Illusion of Phi-phenomenon.
❖The Illusion of Stroboscope.
❖The Illusion of Auto-Kinetic.
❖he Illusion of Induced movement.
❖The Illusion of egative after image of
movement.
• Impossible Figures: Our brain is able to take
sensation that is two dimensional and produces
perception that is three dimensional.
Reversible figure
• Ambiguous information that can be interpreted in
more than one ways.
Muller – Lyer Illusion
• The orientation of the arrowheads affects one's ability
to accurately perceive the length of the lines.
Ponzo Illusion
• A pair of converging lines distorts the perception of
two identically sized lines.
 If two parallel line are dissected by
another straight line separately, a large
straight line seem cutting the parallel line
instead of two partial line.
Moon Illusion
• Moon to appear larger near the horizon than it does
higher up in the sky.
Causes of Illusion
• Defects in the sense organs
• Limitations of sense organ
• Due to apperception
• Odd arrangement of stimuli
• Psychological and Social factors.