Chapter 4 - part 3: The Visual System: Perceptual Processes

Which of the following concepts helps to explain why three people could look at the same sketch and report
seeing three different things?

What do we mean when we say that perception is influenced by a perceptual set?

Mike and Sandy were walking down the street, and Mike was telling Sandy a story about a party he went to. As
they were walking, a car full of clowns drove past and waved at them. Sandy waved back. Later, Mike reported
truthfully that he had never seen the clowns and did not notice that Sandy waved at them. Which of the following
could explain this apparent lapse in perception?

Feature analysis assumes that we progress from individual elements to the whole in the formation of our
perceptions. Which of the following processes describes feature analysis?

Vanessa describes a new melody that she heard at a concert by telling you each of the individual notes in the
order that they were played. In providing this type of description, which type of processing does Vanessa appear
to use?

Sima was listening to a tape recording of a famous speech that was being played backward. She just heard
gibberish until a classmate told her that the phrase “meet me in St. Louis” was clearly spoken. The tape was
rewound and as Sima listened she clearly heard the phrase this time. Which of the following models of perception
is illustrated by Sima’s ability to detect the phrase the second time through the tape?

Which type of processing is most important for the ability to rapidly process words that you are reading?

Tracy has terrible handwriting, and many of her individual characters are tough to tell apart, but her roommate is
able to read her notes just fine. Which of the following types of processing allows Tracy’s roommate to read the
notes?

Which of the following is an example of the phi phenomenon?

The lights around the movie marquee flashed on and off in succession. However, Jerome did not perceive them
as separate lights flashing, but instead saw a continuous band of light moving around the edge of the marquee.
What is this type of perception known as?

Shelby created an animated scene using her computer. She drew a frog as he started to jump, and then drew the
frog landing. The computer created 10 pictures between these two points, each of which adjusted the frog’s
position very slightly. When the entire sequence of 12 pictures is displayed in rapid succession, the frog appears
to hop smoothly. Which of the following leads to this perception of animation?

Why is it difficult to see a chameleon that has blended in with its background?

Zachary is looking at a reversible figure that first appears to be a vase and then appears to be two faces. His
perception of the figure keeps switching between these two interpretations. What causes the switch in
perception?

What becomes inverted in paintings or drawings that lead to ambiguous interpretations?

What does the Gestalt principle of proximity state?

Natalie looked out her apartment window at the traffic jam below. There was very little space between the front
of one car and the rear of the next, but there were wide spaces between the side of one car and the side of
another car. Which of the following Gestalt principles explains why Natalie saw several rows of cars, rather than
a cluster of cars?

During the halftime show of the football game, the cheerleaders did a routine where they used red and blue
pompoms. At one point, they held all of their pompoms in a pattern so that the blue ones formed the shape of the
team’s logo. Which Gestalt principle is illustrated in this example?

Because of which Gestalt principle do we often perceive a series of dots on a printed form as a “solid” line?

When Justin looked up at the night sky, he perceived the three stars that make up the belt in the constellation
Orion as a line, rather than as individual stars. Which Gestalt principle does Justin’s perception of the night sky
illustrate?

Christina was skiing down a hill when the trail broke into two separate trails. One trail turned off at sharp angle
and looked to Christina like a new trail; the second trail appeared to be the same trail that she had been on.
Which Gestalt principle is illustrated by this example?

You are looking at a book. What type of stimulus is the book, from a perceptual perspective?

You interpret a trapezoid shape projected on your retina as a rectangular book. What have you just formulated?

The disparity between the images on the left and right retinas is used for depth perception. If there is greater
disparity for the left and right images of your coffee cup, and less disparity for the left and right images of your
pen, then which of the following is true?

Stacia has lost all of her vision in her left eye. What will happen to Stacia’s perceptual abilities?

Which depth cue relies on information about the position of your eyes?

What increases as you keep focusing on your finger as it moves closer to your face?

As Briana drove down the highway, the pickets of the fences moved past her in a blur, but the mountains in the
distance didn’t appear to move at all. What was Briana experiencing?

Tran was painting a picture of a jet on a runway; however, in his painting, the sides of the runway are parallel to
each other. His picture seems to lack depth. Which monocular depth cue has Tran failed to make use of?

The sand at Zane’s feet appeared coarse, and he could see the individual grains of sand. However, the sand
down the beach appeared to blur together. Which depth cue is most prominent in this example?

What is interposition?

Gabriella was looking for shelter from the sudden cloudburst, and at first she had difficulty judging whether the
old barn or the farmhouse was closer. When she noticed that the barn partially obscured the corner of the house,
she headed for the barn. Which depth cue did Gabriella use?

Images that occupy more space on your retina are seen as nearer, relative to images that occupy less space.
What is this depth cue called?

Ashley is trying to create a small model village on the mantle of her fireplace. She bought three-inch-high figures
to put at the front of the mantle and smaller figures to put near the back that will appear to be very far away.
What depth cue is Ashley using?

Which of the following is implied by the phenomenon of perceptual constancy?

As I walk closer to my friend, she perceives that I am the same person even though the image on her retina
changes as I move. Which of the following terms is used for this perceptual ability?

Three-year-old Keeghan was flying in a plane for the first time. As the plane descended for its landing, Keeghan
became very excited because he saw all the buildings and cars get bigger and bigger. He asked his father how
big the houses would grow. Which aspect of perception FAILED in this example?

Which visual illusion accounts for the fact that the corner of a building thrust toward the viewer looks shorter than
an inside corner thrust away from the viewer?

In the Ames room, people are seen to get smaller or larger as they move about. What does this demonstrate
about our perception?

What is the moon illusion?

Which of the following is true of optical illusions?