Influence of Expectations on Perception Discussion

Influence of Expectations on Perception Discussion

It’s sometimes hard to believe that people will really respond to the perceptual illusions that we’ve been discussing. For this discussion, you will be collecting some information from friends or family members and using that information as part of your discussion.

By completing this discussion, you will demonstrate that you are able to:

• Define and explain visual perceptual processes, such as “top-down” and “bottom up” processing, Gestalt principles of form perception, figure-ground, binocular and monocular cues to depth, color vision, and the “what-where” paths role in object recognition
• Explain how experience, expectation, context, and emotions can influence perception
• Organize and accurately present material, and
• Apply APA formatting within the text and for end-of-text references, when appropriate

Instructions:

Before your initial posting, do the following:

• Find six (6) participants for your study. These could be friends, family members, or fellow students. You might tell them you need their help for a small study for your psychology class. You will be working with each of your participants individually; you do not want to try this study with a group of participants!
• Read through the two stories you will be using for this experiment. Read three (3) of your participants Story 1 and three (3) of your participants Story 2.
• After reading Story 1 or Story 2, show your participants the image. Allow your subject to look at the image for 5-10 seconds. Remove the image from sight.
• Ask them the following questions and tally the answers.
  • Did you see a woman?
  • Did you see a seal?
  • Did you see a hat?
  • Did you see a whip?
  • Did you see a car?
  • Did you see a fish?
  • Did you see a ball?
  • Did you see a child?

In your initial posting, answer the following questions:

• What is the most commonly reported item seen? The least reported?
• Are there differences in answers based on which story the participants read?
• How would you explain the results based on what you have learned about events that alter our perceptual experiences? Be sure to discuss, where appropriate, concepts such as top-down processing, bottom up processing, Gestalt principles of form perception, figure-ground, binocular and monocular cues to depth, and the “what-where” paths role in object recognition. You might also consider how experience, expectation, context, and emotions can influence perception.