PSY 3341 EXAM STUDY GUIDE ON Perception across the
lifespan 2022/2023 update GRADED A+
Sensation: Detection of physical energy from the environment by sensory receptors. Includes changing,
encoding that energy into neural signals. [Transduction: changing energy from one form into another. ]
Sensation = Bottom-up processing (job of the receptor):
- Starts at entry level
- Based on properties of stimulus
- Signals coming up to the brain
- Properties of the stimulus + transduction by receptors
Perception: What the brain does to incoming sensory information. Selecting, organizing and
interpreting sensory information.
Perception = Top-down processing
- Cognitive influences on perception
- Rules the brain uses to interpret sensory
input What are the 3 jobs of perception?
1. distinguish one object from another
2. Locate objects in space
3. interpret
Define: ‘Gestalt’: the ‘percept’ a unified whole
- Based on ‘higher level’ information (prior knowledge or experience)
Assessing Infant Perception
Habituation
- Decreased response to a stimuli
- Learning to be bored, losing interest
- Stimulus discrimination
Preferential looking
- Two objects are presented simultaneously
- Longer looking time at one indicates a preference
- Also indicates they can tell the difference
- The object registered in the pupil is the one being looked at
(In cross-modal matching, looking at the one they have already experienced in another modality.)
,PSY 3341 EXAM STUDY GUIDE ON Perception across the
lifespan 2022/2023 update GRADED A+
Vision
Acuity: ‘sharpness’ of vision. Ability to distinguish 2 points close to each other. Cones provide sharp
vision
At birth:
- Can perceive different colors (blue, green, red)
- But not shades of the same color (light blue, blue-green)
- At birth, acuity is poor – cones work, but not mature
1 month:
2-3 months:
- Cones mature at 2-3 months
o Can tell diff between light green/dark green
Define accommodation: the ability to change the shape of the lens to focus to bring objects into focus.
Provides sharp vision
- At birth:
o No lens accommodation
o Objects are in focus only @ 8-12 inches from face
o Accommodation matures 6 months to 1 year
When does it mature?
Matures 6 months to 1
year
Infant Perception
Figure-ground perception
Looks for Contours & Object boundaries
- Light/dark edges
- Prefers bold patterns w/ sharp contrast
Infant visual preferences
moderate Complexity
Most-----------------------------------------------------Least
- Faces: preference – normal faces; things with contour, movement, and top heavy design
,PSY 3341 EXAM STUDY GUIDE ON Perception across the
lifespan 2022/2023 update GRADED A+
The Fantz perception box.
Early:
-follows outer contours
-where figure starts and stops
-boundaries
2-3 month Milestones
-explore interior of figure
-Better at disengaging attention, shifting focus
-detects 5% change @ 2 months
-color (cones) mature, now perceives shades of colors
-now explores interiors of figures
4 months: Common motion (See the Dalmatian dog video): a cue to the ‘wholeness’ of the object
- All parts of an object should move in the same direction
- Can use common motion to
o Perceive contours and object edges
o To depth detect
6 months
- Can now determine edges of stationary objects
Depth perception
The visual cliff :
- Campos perceives a difference, interest, @ 2 month
- Gibson and Walk – fear of drop off at 6-7 months
Monocular cues to depth
Change in the size of the image on the retina is a cue to depth
Larger size > takes up more space on retina = near
Size Constancy
Perceiving the object as the same size
When the size of the image on the retina changes
Hearing
Can hear before birth
, PSY 3341 EXAM STUDY GUIDE ON Perception across the
lifespan 2022/2023 update GRADED A+
Orient to soft sounds (trapezoid body); startle and retreat from loud
ones§ Recognize/prefer voice
Taste & Smell
Has taste capabilities at birth (sweet, sour, bitter,
etc.) Preference for .
Responsive to early experience.
Breast fed babies recognize mother by smell at week.
Smell preference:
Tactile senses
Touch, Heat & Cold, Pain§Sense of touch (& motion) before birth
What is Cross-modal matching ?
nd
Recognize through a 2 sense, what is first learned through another sense.
§Oral to visual @ months
§Others @ months
Meltzof & Borton –the Pacifier experiment
Development of Attention
Newborn: captured by movement and
sound 2-3yrs: average 18 minutes
4 yrs: can ignore intermittent but not constant
distraction 6yrs> 1_ hr, More systematic
Adolescents: 3-4 hrs, can filter and ‘multitask’
Adult
AdultSensory Thresholds increase
Visual Changes
Lens changes: Presbyopia
§Cataracts (Changes in lens
proteins)
Presbyopia- problems with near vision due to stiffness of lens. Loss of ‘accommodation’
Need corrective lenses
lifespan 2022/2023 update GRADED A+
Sensation: Detection of physical energy from the environment by sensory receptors. Includes changing,
encoding that energy into neural signals. [Transduction: changing energy from one form into another. ]
Sensation = Bottom-up processing (job of the receptor):
- Starts at entry level
- Based on properties of stimulus
- Signals coming up to the brain
- Properties of the stimulus + transduction by receptors
Perception: What the brain does to incoming sensory information. Selecting, organizing and
interpreting sensory information.
Perception = Top-down processing
- Cognitive influences on perception
- Rules the brain uses to interpret sensory
input What are the 3 jobs of perception?
1. distinguish one object from another
2. Locate objects in space
3. interpret
Define: ‘Gestalt’: the ‘percept’ a unified whole
- Based on ‘higher level’ information (prior knowledge or experience)
Assessing Infant Perception
Habituation
- Decreased response to a stimuli
- Learning to be bored, losing interest
- Stimulus discrimination
Preferential looking
- Two objects are presented simultaneously
- Longer looking time at one indicates a preference
- Also indicates they can tell the difference
- The object registered in the pupil is the one being looked at
(In cross-modal matching, looking at the one they have already experienced in another modality.)
,PSY 3341 EXAM STUDY GUIDE ON Perception across the
lifespan 2022/2023 update GRADED A+
Vision
Acuity: ‘sharpness’ of vision. Ability to distinguish 2 points close to each other. Cones provide sharp
vision
At birth:
- Can perceive different colors (blue, green, red)
- But not shades of the same color (light blue, blue-green)
- At birth, acuity is poor – cones work, but not mature
1 month:
2-3 months:
- Cones mature at 2-3 months
o Can tell diff between light green/dark green
Define accommodation: the ability to change the shape of the lens to focus to bring objects into focus.
Provides sharp vision
- At birth:
o No lens accommodation
o Objects are in focus only @ 8-12 inches from face
o Accommodation matures 6 months to 1 year
When does it mature?
Matures 6 months to 1
year
Infant Perception
Figure-ground perception
Looks for Contours & Object boundaries
- Light/dark edges
- Prefers bold patterns w/ sharp contrast
Infant visual preferences
moderate Complexity
Most-----------------------------------------------------Least
- Faces: preference – normal faces; things with contour, movement, and top heavy design
,PSY 3341 EXAM STUDY GUIDE ON Perception across the
lifespan 2022/2023 update GRADED A+
The Fantz perception box.
Early:
-follows outer contours
-where figure starts and stops
-boundaries
2-3 month Milestones
-explore interior of figure
-Better at disengaging attention, shifting focus
-detects 5% change @ 2 months
-color (cones) mature, now perceives shades of colors
-now explores interiors of figures
4 months: Common motion (See the Dalmatian dog video): a cue to the ‘wholeness’ of the object
- All parts of an object should move in the same direction
- Can use common motion to
o Perceive contours and object edges
o To depth detect
6 months
- Can now determine edges of stationary objects
Depth perception
The visual cliff :
- Campos perceives a difference, interest, @ 2 month
- Gibson and Walk – fear of drop off at 6-7 months
Monocular cues to depth
Change in the size of the image on the retina is a cue to depth
Larger size > takes up more space on retina = near
Size Constancy
Perceiving the object as the same size
When the size of the image on the retina changes
Hearing
Can hear before birth
, PSY 3341 EXAM STUDY GUIDE ON Perception across the
lifespan 2022/2023 update GRADED A+
Orient to soft sounds (trapezoid body); startle and retreat from loud
ones§ Recognize/prefer voice
Taste & Smell
Has taste capabilities at birth (sweet, sour, bitter,
etc.) Preference for .
Responsive to early experience.
Breast fed babies recognize mother by smell at week.
Smell preference:
Tactile senses
Touch, Heat & Cold, Pain§Sense of touch (& motion) before birth
What is Cross-modal matching ?
nd
Recognize through a 2 sense, what is first learned through another sense.
§Oral to visual @ months
§Others @ months
Meltzof & Borton –the Pacifier experiment
Development of Attention
Newborn: captured by movement and
sound 2-3yrs: average 18 minutes
4 yrs: can ignore intermittent but not constant
distraction 6yrs> 1_ hr, More systematic
Adolescents: 3-4 hrs, can filter and ‘multitask’
Adult
AdultSensory Thresholds increase
Visual Changes
Lens changes: Presbyopia
§Cataracts (Changes in lens
proteins)
Presbyopia- problems with near vision due to stiffness of lens. Loss of ‘accommodation’
Need corrective lenses
