AP Psychology Chapter 6 Vocab Flashcards

Vision and Perception Vocabulary

• Binocular cues: Depth perception aids from both eyes, including retinal disparity and convergence.

• Convergence: A depth perception cue; eyes turn inward when focusing on near objects; greater inward strain indicates proximity.

• Depth Perception: Ability to perceive three-dimensional objects from two-dimensional retinal images; crucial for judging distances.

• Extrasensory Perception (ESP): Controversial concept suggesting perception without sensory input, encompassing telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition.

• Figure-Ground: Cognitive process of organizing visual fields into focal objects (figures) against a less distinct background (ground).

• Gestalt: Concept of an organized whole; Gestalt psychology emphasizes the integration of sensory input into meaningful patterns.

• Grouping: Perceptual tendency to organize stimuli into cohesive units, enhancing interpretation of visual information.

• Human Factors Psychology: Focuses on the interaction between people and machines; enhancing safety and usability of environments.

• Inattentional Blindness: Phenomenon where visible objects are unnoticed due to focused attention on different stimuli.

• Monocular Cues: Depth cues such as interposition or linear perspective that are perceivable through a single eye.

• Parapsychology: Study dedicated to investigating paranormal activities, including ESP and psychokinesis.

• Perceptual Adaptation: Capacity to adjust vision in response to altered or inverted visual fields.

• Perceptual Constancy: Recognition of objects as consistent regarding lightness, color, shape, and size despite changes in illumination or viewing angles.

• Perceptual Set: Mental predisposition influencing perception, leading individuals to see specific features while ignoring others.

• Phi Phenomenon: Visual illusion of movement created by two or more lights blinking alternately, perceived as one moving light.

• Retinal disparity: Depth cue that compares images from both eyes; greater differences between images indicate closer objects.

• Selective Attention: Focusing conscious awareness on a particular stimulus, exemplified by the cocktail party effect.

• Visual Capture: Dominance of visual information over other sensory inputs, influencing perception significantly.

• Visual Cliff: Experimental setup used to assess depth perception capabilities in infants and young animals.

• Proximity (Gestalt Principle): Grouping of nearby figures perceived as a coherent unit.

• Similarity (Gestalt Principle): Tendency to group similar figures together, facilitating quick interpretation.

• Continuity (Gestalt Principle): Preference for perceiving continuous, smooth patterns rather than discontinuous fragments.

• Connectedness (Gestalt Principle): Grouping of uniform and linked items as a singular perception.

Test your knowledge of key vocabulary terms from Chapter 6 of AP Psychology. This quiz includes important concepts like binocular cues, convergence, and depth perception that are essential for understanding how we perceive depth. Perfect for AP exam preparation!