What is the binocular depth cue that informs the brain about the distance of a stimulus

Key Terms

*Selective Attention - the focusing of conscious awareness on a particular stimulus, as in the cocktail party effect.

Visual Capture - the tendency for vision to dominate the other senses.

*Gestalt - an organized whole - psychologists emphasized our tendency to integrate pieces of info into meaningful wholes.

Figure ground - the organization of the visual field into objects (the figures) that stand out from their surroundings (the ground).

*Grouping - the perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into coherent groups.

*Proximity - a Gestalt principle of organization holding that (other things being equal) objects or events that are near to one another (in space or time) are perceived as belonging together as a unit.

*Similarity - a Getalt principle of organization holding that (other things being equal) parts of a stimulus field that are similar to each other tend to be perceived as belonging together as a unit.

Continuity - Gestalt psychology principle which states that the observer tends to see a line or shape as continuing in a particular direction rather than making a turn.

Closure - a Gestalt principle of organization holding that there is an innate tendency to perceive incomplete objects as complete and to close or fill gaps and to perceive asymmetric stimuli as symmetric.

Connectedness - a Gestalt grouping principle; elements that are connected to each other group together.

Depth Perception - the ability to see objects in three dimensions although the images that strike the retina are two-dimensional; allows us to judge distance.

Visual Cliff - a laboratory device for testing depth perception in infants and young animals.

Binocular Cues - depth cues, such as retinal disparity and convergence, that depend on the use of two eyes.

Monocular Cues - depth cues, such as interposition and linear perspective, available to either eye alone.

Retinal Disparity - a binocular cue for perceiving depth; by comparing images from the two eyeballs, the brain computes distance - the greater the disparity (difference) between the two images, the close the object.

Convergence - a binocular cue for perceiving depth; the extent to which the eyes converge inward when looking at an object.

Relative Size - two objects are similar in size, we percieve the one that casts the smaller retinal image as farther away.

Texture Gradient - a graduated change in the texture, or grain, of the visual field, whereby objects with finer, less detailed textures are perceived as more distant.

Relative Height - we perceive objects higher in our field of vision as farther away.

Relative Motion - The perception of an observer that, as the observer moves forward, the objects that appear to him/her to move backwards faster are closer than apparently slower-moving objects; a monocular cue.

Linear Perspective - Where converging lines meet at a vanishing point; creates a feeling of vast space.

Relative Brightness - a monocular cue, objects up close appear brighter than objects farther away.

*Phi Phenomenon - an illusion of movement created when two or more adjacent lights blink on and off in quick succession.

Perceptual Constancy - perceiving objects as unchanging (having consistent lightness, color, shape, and size) even as illumination and retinal images change.

Perceptual Adaptation - in vision, the ability to adjust to an artificially displaced or even inverted visual field.

Perceptual Set - a mental predisposition to perceive one thing and not another.

Extrasensory Perception - the controversial claim that perception can occur apart from sensory input. Said to include telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition.

Parapsychology - the study of paranormal phenomena, including ESP and psychokinesis.

*Interposition - monocular visual cue in which two objects are in the same line of vision and one partially conceals the other, indicating that the first object concealed is further away.

Relative Clarity - a monocular cue for perceiving depth; hazy objects are farther away than sharp, clear objects.

Videos to Watch

Psych Sim 5 Activities

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