Perceptual Errors in Cognitive Interpretation

Perceptual Errors

• Perceptual errors occur when our perception does not match reality due to various factors such as cognitive processes, environmental conditions, and individual differences.

Types of Perceptual Errors

• Illusions: visual deceptions caused by the interaction between physical stimuli and the brain's interpretation of those stimuli.
  • Examples: Müller-Lyer illusion, Kanizsa triangle, and Ponzo illusion.
• Misperceptions: incorrectly attributing properties or characteristics to objects or situations based on existing knowledge and beliefs.
  • Examples: thinking someone is winking when they are just blinking, or assuming a person is angry when they are simply tired.
• Attentional Blindness: failing to notice obvious events occurring right in front of them because of focused attention elsewhere.
  • Famous example: the video showing two basketball teams playing, and most people fail to notice the gorilla entering the scene.
• Change Blindness: inability to detect changes in visual scenes, especially when there are similarities between the original and altered images.
  • Example: failing to notice the difference between two similar cars.

Causes of Perceptual Errors

• Physical Factors:
  • Poor lighting, distance, angle of view, and size can influence perception.
  • Example: an object may look smaller from a distance.
• Psychological Factors:
  • Past experiences, expectations, emotions, and cognitive biases can lead to perceptual errors.
  • Example: perceiving food differently based on past experiences.
• Brain Processes:
  • Attention allocation, memory retrieval, and mental imagery can contribute to perceptual errors.
  • Example: overlooking details when focusing on one aspect of a situation.