MODULE-I

ATTENTION AND PERCEPTUAL PROCESSES

STRUCTURE
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Attention
1.2.1 Types of Attention
1.2.2 Models of Attention
1.2.3 Theories of Attention
1.3 Perception Process
1.3.1 Gestalt laws of perceptual organisation
1.3.2 Principles of perceptual organisation
1.3.3 Depth perception- Monocular and Binocular for depth perception
1.3.4 Constancy- Size constancy, Brightness constancy
1.3.5 Movement perception- Real and Apparent motion
1.3.6 Visual Illusion
1.3.7 Extra sensory perception
1.4 Summary
1.5 Suggested Questions

OBJECTIVES

 To understand the concept of attention and its types

 To know the perceptual process of perception and its importance.

1.1 INTRODUCTION

Consider the task of driving a car. Besides involving many physical skills – such as steering,
braking, and, if you‘re driving a car with a manual transmission, shift – driving also involves
many cognitive processes. Perception is obviously one of them: you need to quickly
recognize relevant objects, such as top signs, pedestrians, and oncoming cars. Driving also
requires mental effort or concentration – what cognitive psychologists call attention. The
amount of attention required at any given time depends partly on the complexity of the
situation around you: driving on wide side streets with no traffic is usually easier than driving
during rush hour on crowded freeways. Your level of concentration also depends on your
level of expertise at driving.

Cognitive psychologists studying attention are considered primarily with cognitive primarily
with cognitive resources and their limitations. At any given time, they believe, people have
only a certain amount of mental energy to devote to all the possible tasks and all the incoming
information confronting them. If people devote some position of those resources to one task,
less available for others. The more complex and unfamiliar the task, the more mental
resources must be allocated to that task to perform it successfully.

Like many topics in psychology, attention captured the interest of William James in the late
1800s. James anticipated the recent writings of investigators studying attention when we
argued that only one system or process of conception can go on at a time very easily; to do
two or more tasks at once, he believed, required that the processes be habitual. James‘s
description of attention, as clear today as it was a hundred years ago, ably sums up the
phenomenon psychologists‘ study when they investigate attention.

1.2 ATTENTION

Attention is a concept studied in cognitive psychology that refers to how we actively process
specific information in our environment. As you are reading this, there are numerous sights,
sounds, and sensations going on around you the pressure of your feet against the floor, the
sight of the street out of a nearby window, the soft warmth of your shirt, the memory of a
conversation you had earlier with a friend.
All these sights, sounds, and sensations vie for our attention, but it turns out that our
attentional resources are not limitless. How do we manage to experience all of these
sensations and still focus on just one element of our environment? How do we effectively
manage the resources we have available in order to make sense of the world around us?
Think of attention as a highlighter. As you read through a section of text in a book, the
highlighted section stands out, causing you to focus your interest in that area. But attention is
not just about centering your focus on one particular thing; it also involves ignoring a great
deal of competing for information and stimuli. Attention allows you to "tune out"
information, sensations, and perceptions that are not relevant at the moment and instead focus
your energy on the information that's important.

Not only does our attentional system allow us to focus on something specific in our
environment while tuning out irrelevant details, but it also affects our perception of the
stimuli surrounding us. In some cases, our attention might be focused on a particular thing,
causing us to ignore other things. In some instances, focusing our attention on a primary
target might result in not perceiving the second target at all.

In other words, by focusing our attention on something in the environment, we sometimes

miss other things that are right in front of us. You can probably immediately think of a
situation where you were so focused on a task that you neglected to notice someone walking
in the room or talking to you. Since your attentional resources were so focused on one thing,
you neglected something else.

Key points of attention

In order to understand how attention works and how it affects your perception and experience
of the world, it's essential to remember a few important points about how attention works,
including:
1. Attention is limited. There has been a tremendous amount of research looking at exactly
how many things we can attend to and for how long. Key variables that impact our ability
to stay on task include how interested we are in the stimulus and how many distractors we
experience, and attention is limited in terms of both capacity and duration. The illusion
that attention is limitless has led many people to practice multitasking. Research
published in 2018 has pointed out how multitasking seldom works well because our
attention is limited.
2. Attention is selective. Since attention is a limited resource, we must be selective about
what we decide to focus on. Not only must we focus our attention on a specific item in
our environment, but we must also filter out an enormous number of other items. We
must be selective in what we attend to, a process that often occurs so quickly that we don't
even notice that we have ignored certain stimuli in favour of others.
3. Attention is a basic part of the cognitive system. Attention is a basic component of our
biology, present even at birth. Our orienting reflexes help us determine which events in
our environment need to be attended to, a process that aids in our ability to survive. New-
borns attend to environmental stimuli such as loud noises. A touch against the cheek
triggers the rooting reflex, causing the infant to turn his or her head to nurse and receive
nourishment. These orienting reflexes continue to benefit us throughout life. The honk of
a horn might alert us about an oncoming car. The blaring noise of a smoke alarm might
warn you that the casserole you put in the oven is burning. All of these stimuli grab our
attention and inspire us to respond to our environment.

Definition of Attention

Attention is the term used or given to the perceptual processes that select certain inputs for
inclusion in our conscious experience, or awareness at any given time. It is the process
involving the act of listening, and concentrating on a topic, object or event for the attainment
of desired ends.
―Attention is the concentration of consciousness upon one object other than upon another‖—
Dumville.
―Attention is the process of getting an object or thought clearly before the mind‖—Ross.
―Attention is being keenly alive to some specific factors in our environment. It is a preptory
adjustment for response‖—Morgan.
Thus, attention is essentially process and not a product. It helps in our awareness or
consciousness of our environment, which is of selective kind, because in a given time, we can
concentrate or focus our consciousness on a particular object only.
The concentration provided by the process of attention helps us in the clarity of the
perception of the perceived object or phenomenon. Thus, attention is not merely a cognitive
factor but is essentially determined by emotions, interest, attitude and memory.

Attention is a process which is carried out through cognitive abilities and helped by emotional
and behavioural factors to select something out of the various stimuli present in one‘s
environment and bring it in the centre of one‘s consciousness in order to perceive it clearly
for deriving the desired end. In this unit, we‘ll understand various factors that affect attention.

Factors influencing attention

Factors influencing Attention: Two types.

1. External factors or condition
2. Internal factors

1. External Factors: These conditions are generally those characteristics of outside situation
or stimuli which make the strongest aid for capturing our attention.
These can be classified as:
1. Nature of the stimulus:
All types of stimuli are not able to bring the same degree of attention. A picture attracts
attention more readily than words. Among the pictures, the pictures of human beings invite
more attention and those of human beings related to beautiful women or handsome men, who
attract more attention. In this way an effective stimulus should always be chosen for
capturing maximum attention.
2. Intensity and size of the stimulus:
In comparison with the weak stimulus, the immense stimulus attracts more attention of an
individual. Our attention become easily directed towards a loud sound, a bright light or a
strong smell, and also a large building will be more readily attended to, than a small one.

3. Contrast, change and variety:

Change and variety strike attention more easily than sameness and absence of change, e.g. we
do not notice the ticking sound of a clock put on the wall until it stops ticking, that is any
change in the attention to which you have been attracted immediately capture your attention.
The factor, contact or change is highly responsible for capturing attention of the organism and
contributes more than the intensity, size or nature of the stimulus.

4. Repetition of stimulus:
Repetition is the factor of great importance in securing attention. Because one may ignore a
stimulus at first instance, but if it is repeated for several times it captures our attention, e.g. a
miss-spelled word is more likely to be noticed, if it occurs twice in the same paragraph than,
if it occurs only once. While giving lecture the important aspects of the speech are often
repeated so that the attention of the audience can be easily directed to the valuable points.

5. Movement of the stimulus:

The moving stimulus catches our attention more quickly than a stimulus that does not move.
We are more sensitive to objects that move in our field of vision, e.g. advertisers make use of
this fact and try to catch the attention of people through moving electric lights.

II. Internal or Subjective Factors:

These factors predispose the individual to respond to objective factors, to attend to those
activities that fulfil his desires and motives and suit his interest and attitude. It is the mental
state of the perceiver.

Some of the internal factors are:

1. Interest:
Interest is said to be the mother of attention. We attend to objects in which we have interest.
We would like to watch a movie or a serial in TV because we are interested in the subject
around which the movie or serial revolves. In any get-together if any subject of our interest is
discussed that attracts our attention easily and makes us to participate in the discussion. In our
day-to-day life we pay attention to the stimulus we are interested in.

2. Motives:
Our basic needs and motives to a great extent, determine our attention, thirst, hunger, sex,
curiosity, fear are some of the important motives that influence attention, e.g. small children
get attracted towards eatables.

3. Mind set:
Person‘s readiness to respond determines his attention. If we are expecting a stimulus,
occurrence of that stimulus along with many other stimuli may not come in the way of
attending to that particular stimulus. At a time when students are expecting the examination
time table by the end of the semester the time table put out on the notice board along with
other notices would attract their attention easily.
4. Moods and attitudes:
What we attend to is influenced by the moods and attitudes. When we are disturbed or in
angry mood, we notice the smallest mistake of others very easily. Likewise, our favourable
and unfavourable attitudes also determine our attention. After discussing subjective and
objective factors, we realize that these factors are interrelated. How much or in what way we
attend to a stimulus depends on subjective as well as objective factors.

Attention is your brain function that allocates cognitive processing resources to focus on
information or stimuli. It deals with how you mentally process specific information present in
your environment that you are experiencing through your five senses.

Your attention span is your ability to keep your mind focused on something through careful
observing or listening. It can be just momentarily such as turning around after hearing a loud
noise, or it may be for a sustained period of time such as playing a video game.
Attention is often the beginning to other cognitive functions. You must pay attention to
something before you can process it for meaning and understanding.

1.2.1 TYPES OF ATTENTION

Selective attention is the process of focusing on a particular object in the environment for a
certain period of time. Attention is a limited resource, so selective attention allows us to tune
out unimportant details and focus on what matters. This differs from inattentional blindness,
which is when you focus hard on one thing and fail to notice unexpected things entering your
visual field.

Divided attention could be defined as our brain's ability to attend to two different stimuli at
the same time and respond to the multiple demands of your surroundings. Divided attention
is a type of simultaneous attention that allows us to process different information sources and
successfully carry out multiple tasks at a time. This cognitive skill is very important, as it
allows us to be more efficient in our day-to-day lives.

Selective attention
We are constantly bombarded by an endless array of internal and external stimuli, thoughts,
and emotions. Given this abundance of available data, it is amazing that we make sense of
anything! In varying degrees of efficiency, we have developed the ability to focus on what is
important while blocking out the rest.

Selective attention is the process of directing our awareness to relevant stimuli while ignoring
irrelevant stimuli in the environment.
This is an important process as there is a limit to how much information can be processed at a
given time, and selective attention allows us to tune out insignificant details and focus on
what is important.

This limited capacity for paying attention has been conceptualized as a bottleneck, which
restricts the flow of information. The narrower the bottleneck, the lower the rate of flow.
One of the examples of selective attention is Dichotic Listening Task.
The dichotic listening tasks involves simultaneously sending one message (a 3-digit number)
to a person's right ear and a different message (a different 3-digit number) to their left ear.
Participants were asked to listen to both messages at the same time and repeat what they
heard. This is known as a 'dichotic listening task'.
Broadbent was interested in how these would be repeated back. Would the participant repeat
the digits back in the order that they were heard (order of presentation) or repeat back what
was heard in one ear followed by the other ear (ear-by-ear).
He found that people made fewer mistakes repeating back ear by ear and would usually
repeat back this way.

The logic of this experimental setup is as follows: the person must concentrate on the
message to be shadowed. Because of the rate of presentation of information is so fast, the
shadowing task is difficult and requires great deal of mental resources. Therefore, fewer
resources are available to process information from the non-shadowed, non-attended
message.

At any given moment, we are subjected to a constant barrage of sensory information. The
blare of a car horn from the street outside, the chatter of your friends, the click of the keys as
you type a paper for school, the hum of the heater as it keeps your room warm on a brisk
autumn day. But in most cases, we don't pay attention to each and every one of these sensory
experiences. Instead, we centre our attention on certain important elements of our
environment while other things blend into the background or pass us by completely
unnoticed.

So how exactly do we decide what to pay attention to and what to ignore?

Imagine that you are at a party for a friend hosted at a bustling restaurant. Multiple
conversations, the clinking of plates and forks, and many other sounds compete for your
attention. Out of all these noises, you find yourself able to tune out the irrelevant sounds and
focus on the amusing story that your dinner partner shares.

How do you manage to ignore certain stimuli and concentrate on just one aspect of your
environment? This is an example of selective attention. Because our ability to attend to the
things around us is limited in terms of both capacity and duration, we have to be picky about
the things we pay attention to. Attention acts somewhat like a spotlight, highlighting the
details that we need to focus on and casting irrelevant information to the side-lines of our
perception.

Some of the best-known experiments on auditory attention are those performed by

psychologist Colin Cherry. Cherry investigated how people are able to track certain
conversations while tuning others out, a phenomenon he referred to as the "cocktail party"
effect.

In these experiments, two auditory messages were presented simultaneously with one
presented to each ear. Cherry then asked participants to pay attention to a particular message,
and then repeat back what they had heard. He discovered that the participants were able to
easily pay attention to one message and repeat it, but when they were asked about the
contents of the other message, they were unable to say anything about it. Cherry found that
when contents of the unattended message were suddenly switched (such as changing from
English to German mid-message or suddenly playing backward) very few of the participants
even noticed.

Interestingly, if the speaker of the unattended message switched from male to female (or vice
versa) or if the message was swapped with a 400-Hz tone, the participants always noticed the
change.
Cherry's findings have been demonstrated in additional experiments. Other researchers have
obtained similar results with messages including lists of words and musical melodies.

Bottleneck Theories:To explain these findings, Broadbent proposed a filter theory of

attention, which states that there are limits on how much information a person can attend to at
any give time. Therefore, if the amount of information available at any given time exceeds
the capacity, the person uses an attentional filter to let some information through and block
the rest. The filter is based on some physical aspect of attended message: the location of its
source or its typical pitch or loudness, for instance. Only material that gets past the filter can
be analyzed later for meanings.

This theory explains why so little of the meaning of the unattended message can be recalled:
the meaning from an unattended message is simply not processed. Put another way,
Broadbent‘s filter theory maintains that the attentional filter is set to select which message to
process early in the processing, typically before the meaning of the message is identified.
Some meaningful units tend to be processed easily. Words that have subjective importance or
that signal danger (―Fire!‖ ―Watch Out‖) have permanently lowered thresholds; that is, they
are recognizable even at low volumes. Only a few words have permanently lowered
thresholds. However, the context of a word in a message can temporarily lower its threshold.
If a person hears ―The dog chased the,‖ the word cat is primed that is, especially ready to be
recognized. It requires little effort to hear the word and process it. Hearing the previous words
in a sentence primed the participants to detect and recognize the words that followed, even
when those words occurred in the unattended message.

Divided attention
Divided attention is synonymous with multi-tasking. When teaching this skill, the objective is
to improve the learner‘s ability to attend to two or more things at the same time. For example,
to proofread this chapter, it was necessary to attend to the meaning of sentences while also
noticing grammatical errors, misspelled words, and formatting. This is not an easy thing to do
but being able to attend to multiple things at once will improve the learner‘s ability to notice
and respond to multiple cues in his environment, thereby improving his adaptive, academic,
and social functioning.

To teach this skill, start by presenting two stimuli at once and asking the learner to recall what
was presented. For example, present a sound of a dog barking while also holding up a picture
of a fire truck. Then ask the learner to identify what he saw and heard. No time delay is
necessary, as this is not a memory task. Rather, it‘s meant to teach the learner to attend to
more than one thing simultaneously. As you present stimuli simultaneously, make sure to
touch upon the various senses by presenting stimuli or tasks that require the learner to see,
hear, feel, smell, and/or a combination of these.

Once the learner can notice two things simultaneously, begin tasks that require him to attend
to two or more things. For example, the learner should be able to hold a conversation while
also exhibiting pedestrian safety or talk on the phone while writing directions down. These
are examples of practical and functional tasks you can present that the learner actually has to
carry out in his everyday life. However, for the sake of practice and exposure to multiple
examples and teaching opportunities, you can also do fewer practical examples, such as
having the learner rehearse spelling words while cleaning his room. Once the learner is able
to do this with novel stimuli relevant to his daily life without errors or prompting, consider
this skill mastered.
Dual task performance: Spelke, Hirst and Neisser examined this question in a clever and
demanding laboratory study. Two Cornell University students were recruited as participants.
five days a week, for 17 weeks, working in 1-hour sessions, these students learned to write
words dictated while they read short stories. Their reading comprehension was periodically
tested. After 6 weeks of practice, their reading rates approached their normal speeds. Also, by
the end of 6 weeks, their scores on the reading comprehension tests were comparable whether
they were only reading stories or reading stories while writing down dictated words. Further
investigation revealed that participants could categorise the dictated words by meaning and
could discover relations among the words without sacrificing read speed or comprehension.
Many psychologists were surprised that the participants in the study could process
information about meaning without conscious attention.

1.2.2 MODELS OF ATTENTION: INFORMATION PROCESSING MODEL AND

FILTER MODEL

Information processing model

At the very heart of cognitive psychology is the idea of information processing.
Cognitive psychology sees the individual as a processor of information, in much the same
way that a computer takes in information and follows a program to produce an output.

Basic Assumptions
The information processing approach is based on a number of assumptions, including:
(1) information made available by the environment is processed by a series of processing
systems (e.g. attention, perception, short-term memory);
(2) these processing systems transform or alter the information in systematic ways;
(3) the aim of research is to specify the processes and structures that underlie cognitive
performance;
(4) information processing in humans resembles that in computers.

Information Processing & Attention

When we are selectively attending to one activity, we tend to ignore other stimulation,
although our attention can be distracted by something else, like the telephone ringing or
someone using our name.
Psychologists are interested in what makes us attend to one thing rather than another
(selective attention); why we sometimes switch our attention to something that was
previously unattended (e.g. Cocktail Party Syndrome), and how many things we can attend to
at the same time (attentional capacity).

One way of conceptualizing attention is to think of humans as information processors who

can only process a limited amount of information at a time without becoming overloaded.
Broadbent and others in the 1950's adopted a model of the brain as a limited capacity
information processing system, through which external input is transmitted.
Information processing models consist of a series of stages, or boxes, which represent stages
of processing. Arrows indicate the flow of information from one stage to the next.
• Input processes are concerned with the analysis of the stimuli.
• Storage processes cover everything that happens to stimuli internally in the brain and can
include coding and manipulation of the stimuli.
• Output processes are responsible for preparing an appropriate response to a stimulus.
Filter model

Donald Broadbent developed the filter model as an extension of William James‘ multi-
storage paradigm. Broadbent proposed the notion that a filter acts as a buffer on incoming
sensory information to select what information gains conscious awareness. The attended
information will pass through the filter, while unattended information will be completely
blocked and ignored. The filter acts on stimuli solely on their physical characteristics, such as
location, loudness, and pitch.

During World War II the rapid development of machinery did not arise without
complications. It was common for radar operators to have difficulties communicating with
several pilots at once, as all of their voices were broadcast over one loud speaker. This
overloading of perceptual input fueled Broadbent's curiosity of how stimuli capture our
attentional resources.

In the filter model, initial processing of stimuli occurs pre-attentively on the basis of their
physical features and is housed in a temporary sensory store. Unlike the physical properties,
Broadbent believed semantic features, due to their complexity, would impose a limited
capacity on the temporary storehouse of incoming stimuli. For this reason, he postulated a
filter then acts on the stimuli, to determine what will be processed further and filter out
irrelevant stimuli. Information selected to pass through the filter is then available for short-
term memory and manipulation of the selected information, prior to storage in long-term
memory.

The development of the filter model was the first theoretical account relating psychological
phenomena to information processing concepts of mathematics and computer science. As so,
Broadbent provided a computer metaphor in which information-processing at the micro level
acted in series, while at the macro level it operated in a parallel fashion. As attention can be
directed by physical properties or by an organism's drives, this reveals a parallel
processing manner at the macro level, while still processing information semantically at
a micro level.

Further, goal-directed behaviour requires attention to be controlled; hence a high degree of

selectivity is put forth in the information-processing stream. When developing his model,
Broadbent emphasized the splitting of incoming stimuli to attended or unattended channels.
Channel selection is guided through attention. If one is attempting to attend to a stimulus
based on their current goals, they will employ voluntary attention; whereas if a sensory event
catches one's attention, reflexive attention will be employed. During his experimentation,
Broadbent made use of the dichotic listening test.

This task has been used extensively to test numerous psychological phenomena such as
response times of specific auditory information, as well as testing for attended and unattended
information presented to a participant. It is widely used as it is a non-invasive method of
testing cerebral dominance. In a typical dichotic listening task, the participant is wearing a
headphone, which will have differing stimuli presented in each ear piece. The participant is
instructed to attend (attended channel) the information coming from one of the ear pieces and
neglect (unattended channel) the information presented from the other.

Following the listening period, the participants are tested on whether they recall any
information presented in the unattended channel. Early research using dichotic listening tasks
provided empirical evidence of participants‘ ability to correctly recall information to the
attended channel, and poor recalling in the unattended channel. Caution must be taken when
considering the results of dichotomous listening tests as the majority of people have a right
ear advantage for verbal stimuli. This means that information presented to the right ear has a
better chance of gaining conscious awareness than information presented to the left ear.

1.2.3 THEORIES OF ATTENTION

Theories of selective attention: Broadbent‟s model & Triesmann‟s model

Attention is a major topic of study in psychology and is closely related to the subject of
consciousness which was the principal focus of the early psychologists such as Wilhelm
Wundt and William James.
In 1958, Broadbent proposed his filter theory which specified that we could only attend to
one input at a time. The theory suggested that stimuli can be filtered based upon physical
attributes, prior to full processing by the perceptual system. Filter theory proposed that
attention was a limited capacity channel that determined the serial processing of the
perceptual system.

Theories of Selective Attention

Theories of selective attention tend to focus on when stimulus information is attended to,
either early in the process or late.
1. Broadbent‟s filter model - Broadbent (1958) proposed that physical characteristics of
messages are used to select one message for further processing and that all others are lost
Information from all the stimuli presented at any given time enters an unlimited capacity
sensory buffer. One of the inputs is then selected on the basis of its physical
characteristics for further processing by being allowed to pass through a filter. Because
we have only a limited capacity to process information, this filter is designed to prevent
the information-processing system from becoming overloaded. According to Broadbent
the meaning of any of the messages is not taken into account at all by the filter. All
semantic processing is carried out after the filter has selected the message to pay attention
to. So whichever message(s) restricted by the bottle neck (i.e. not selective) is not
understood.

2. Triesman‟s Attenuation Model: Treisman (1964) aggress with Boradbent‘s theory of an

early bottleneck filter. However, the difference is that Treisman's filter attenuates rather
than eliminates the unattended material. Attenuation is like turning down the volume so
that if you have 4 sources of sound in one room (TV, radio, people talking, baby crying)
you can turn down or attenuate 3 in order to attend to the fourth. This means that people
can still process the meaning of attended message(s). In her experiments, Treisman
demonstrated that participants were still able to identify the contents of an unattended
message, indicating that they were able to process the meaning of both the attended and
unattended messages. Treisman carried out dichotic listening tasks using the speech
shadowing method.

Typically, in this method participants are asked to simultaneously repeat aloud speech played
into one ear (called the attended ear) whilst another message is spoken to the other ear. For
example, participants asked to shadow "I saw the girl furniture over" and ignore "me that bird
green jumping fee", reported hearing "I saw the girl jumping over".
Clearly, then, the unattended message was being processed for meaning and Broadbent's
Filter Model, where the filter extracted on the basis of physical characteristics only, could not
explain these findings. The evidence suggests that Broadbent's Filter Model is not adequate,
it does not allow for meaning being taken into account.

In an attempt to accommodate the evidence against filter theory, Treisman (1960; 1964d)
proposed a modification of that theory which Broadbent (Broadbent & Gregory, 1964)
subsequently accepted. The modification was simply that filtering is not all-or-none: the
rejected message is merely attenuated, not eradicated. According to Treisman (1960), a
sensory message activates hypothetical "dictionary units" in memory. Each unit has a
threshold which must be exceeded for perception to, occur. The thresholds for highly
significant stimuli, such as one's name, are permanently lowered. The threshold for a word
which the context makes probable is lowered temporarily. Because of these variations of
thresholds, a word of high significance or high probability which is presented in an irrelevant
channel can be perceived in spite of attenuati

Theories of Divided Attention

Kahneman‘s Model: Daniel Kahneman took a different approach to describing attention, by

describing attention, by describing its division, rather than selection mechanisms. He
describes attention as a resource in which energy or mental effort is required. Mental effort
nused while engaging in performing any mental task, and the greater the effort needed to
solve a task. Kahneman believes there are three basic conditions which needed to be met for
proper completion of a task. By combining total attentional capacity, momentary mental
effort and appropriate allocation policy of attentional capacity, momentary mental effort and
appropriate allocation policy of the attentional capacity, a person will exert mental effort to
overcome mental tasks. The key component is allocating enough attention, as a resource, to
the task at hand. Kahneman also noted that arousal influences the total attentional capacity in
any given situation. In addition, his model incorporates the ideas of voluntary and reflexive
attention, which affect allocation policy. In order to direct attention appropriately, one must
attend to relevant information, while neglecting irrelevant information to prevent becoming
distracted. This mental effort proposed by Kahneman provides an overview of the influences
and interdependencies of attention allocation which is meant to supplement attention
selection.

1.3 PERCEPTION PROCESSES

Look across the room right now and notice the objects you see. If you are looking out a
window, maybe you see some trees or bushes, perhaps a bicycle or car, a person walking or a
group of children playing.
What you‘ve just done, cognitively speaking, is an amazing achievement. You‘ve taken
sensory input and interpreted it meaningfully, in a process known as perception. In other
words, you have perceived patterns, objects, people, and possibly events in your world. The
central problem of perception is explaining how we attach meaning to the sensory
information we receive. In the example just given, you received and somehow interpreted a
great deal of sensory information: you ―saw‖ certain objects as trees, people, and so forth.
You recognised certain objects that is, saw them as things seen before.

Out in the real world are objects and events things to be perceived such as this book or, as in
my earlier, trees and shrubs. Although researchers studying perception disagree about much,
they agree that percept‘s are not the same things as proximal stimuli. Consider a simple
demonstration of size constancy. Extend your arm away from your body and look at the back
of your inches, then away from you. Does your hand seem to be changing size as it moves?
Probably not, although the size of the hand in the retinal image is most certainly changing.
Related to perception is a process called pattern recognition. This is the recognition of a
particular object, event and so on, as belonging to a class of objects, events, and so on.

Look across the room right now and notice the objects you see. If you are looking out a
window, maybe you see some trees or bushes, perhaps a bicycle or car, a person walking or a
group of children playing.
What you‘ve just done, cognitively speaking, is an amazing achievement. You‘ve taken
sensory input and interpreted it meaningfully, in a process known as perception. In other
words, you have perceived patterns, objects, people, and possibly events in your world. The
central problem of perception is explaining how we attach meaning to the sensory
information we receive. In the example just given, you received and somehow interpreted a
great deal of sensory information: you ―saw‖ certain objects as trees, people, and so forth.
You recognised certain objects that is, saw them as things seen before.
Out in the real world are objects and events things to be perceived such as this book or, as in
my earlier, trees and shrubs. Although researchers studying perception disagree about much,
they agree that percept‘s are not the same things as proximal stimuli. Consider a simple
demonstration of size constancy. Extend your arm away from your body and look at the back
of your inches, then away from you. Does your hand seem to be changing size as it moves?
Probably not, although the size of the hand in the retinal image is most certainly changing.

Related to perception is a process called pattern recognition. This is the recognition of a

particular object, event and so on, as belonging to a class of objects, events, and so on.

Meaning of perception
Perception is our sensory experience of the world around us and involves both recognizing
environmental stimuli and actions in response to these stimuli. Through the perceptual
process, we gain information about the properties and elements of the environment that are
critical to our survival. Perception not only creates our experience of the world around us; it
allows Perception includes the five senses; touch, sight, sound, smell, and taste. It also
includes what is known as proprioception, a set of senses involving the ability to detect
changes in body positions and movements. It also involves the cognitive processes required
to process information, such as recognizing the face of a friend or detecting a familiar scent.
While our sensory receptors are constantly collecting information from the environment, it is
ultimately how we interpret that information that affects how we interact with the world.

Perception refers to the way sensory information is organized, interpreted, and consciously
experienced. Perception involves both bottom-up and top-down processing. Bottom-up
processing refers to the fact that perceptions are built from sensory input. On the other hand,
how we interpret those sensations is influenced by our available knowledge, our experiences,
and our thoughts. This is called top-down processing.

One way to think of this concept is that sensation is a physical process, whereas perception is
psychological. For example, upon walking into a kitchen and smelling the scent of baking
cinnamon rolls, the sensation is the scent receptors detecting the odor of cinnamon, but
the perception may be ―Mmm, this smells like the bread Grandma used to bake when the
family gathered for holidays.‖
Although our perceptions are built from sensations, not all sensations result in perception. In
fact, we often don‘t perceive stimuli that remain relatively constant over prolonged periods of
time. This is known as sensory adaptation. Imagine entering a classroom with an old analog
clock. Upon first entering the room, you can hear the ticking of the clock; as you begin to
engage in conversation with classmates or listen to your professor greet the class, you are no
longer aware of the ticking. The clock is still ticking, and that information is still affecting
sensory receptors of the auditory system. The fact that you no longer perceive the sound
demonstrates sensory adaptation and shows that while closely associated, sensation and
perception are different.

There is another factor that affects sensation and perception: attention. Attention plays a
significant role in determining what is sensed versus what is perceived. Imagine you are at a
party full of music, chatter, and laughter. You get involved in an interesting conversation with
a friend, and you tune out all the background noise. If someone interrupted you to ask what
song had just finished playing, you would probably be unable to answer that question.

There are various definitions of perception:

 The act or the effect of perceiving
 Insight or intuition gained by perceiving
 the ability or capacity to perceive
 way of perceiving; awareness or consciousness; view advertising affects the customer's
perception of a product
 the process by which an organism detects and interprets information from the external
world by means of the sensory receptors
 law the collection, receipt, or taking into possession of rents, crops, etc

1.3.1 GESTALT LAWS OF PERCEPTUAL ORGANISATION

When stimuli occur close to one another in space and in time, they may group perceptually
into coherent, salient patterns or wholes. Such Gestalt, as they are called abound in our
perceptual world, as when leaves and branches cluster into trees, and when trees merge into
forests; when eyes, ears, noses and mouths configure into faces; when musical notes coalesce
into chords and melodies; and when countless dots or pixels blend into a photograph.

Figure and ground

Figure and Ground Imagine, if figure-ground segregation was not there how confusing the
world would have been for us. Perhaps, perceptual organization would not be possible.
Another example, whatever is written on the black-board by your teacher becomes ―figure‖
and the black board becomes a ―ground‖. You cannot read anything on the blackboard until
and unless the figure (words) is segregated from the back ground (black-board). In our visual
field (whatever we look out in the environment around us) some area is segregated to form
figures and the rest is relegated to the background (that part which is not important for us)
against which the figures are perceived. Figure-ground segregation is essential for the
perception of shape.

It is not only the characteristics of visual perception, it is there in all sense modalities. For
example, when you listen to the music, the vocal part of the music (what a singer sings)
becomes figure and the instrumental part is relegated to the background. If the listener is
interested in the instrumental part (―figure‖) of the music, then the vocal part becomes
―ground‖. Let us know how this occurs. The distinction between figure and background is
presented below.
1. The figure has a shape, while the ground is relatively shapeless.
2. The ground seems to extend behind the figure.
3. The figure has some of the characteristics of a thing, whereas the background appears like
unformed material.
4. The figure usually tends to appear in front, the ground behind.
5. The figure is more impressive, meaningful, and better remembered.

1.3.2 PRINCIPLES OF PERCEPTUAL ORGANISATION

William James American psychologist has said if we understand the world as it appears to us,
it will be a big booming- buzzing confusion. Hence, we do not see the things as they appear,
but we see them as we want, i.e. more meaningfully.
In perceptual process we select a particular stimulus with our attention and interpret it. In the
same way whenever it is necessary many discrete stimuli in our visual field are organised into
a form and perceived more meaningfully than they appear.

This phenomenon was well explained by Gestalt psychologists. They believed that the brain
creates a coherent perceptual experience by perceiving a stimulus as a whole than perceiving
discrete entities. This is more meaningfully stated in the gestalt principle as ‗the whole is
better than sum total of its parts‘. This is explained under many sub-principles of perception.

a. Figure-ground Relationship:
According to this principle any figure can be perceived more meaningfully in a background
and that figure cannot be separated from that background. For example, letters written with a
white chalk piece are perceived clearly in the background of a blackboard.

In the above figure, two faces can be seen in the background of a white colour. So also, the
white background can be perceived as a vessel in the background of two faces.

b. Proximity:
Proximity means nearness. The objects which are nearer to each other can be perceived
meaningfully by grouping them. For example, the word ‗Man‘, here though the letters are
discrete, when grouped together gives some meaning. The stars in the Figure below which are
nearer to each other are perceived together as groups/single figure.
c. Similarity:
Stimuli need not be nearer to each other for perception. If there is similarity in these objects,
they are grouped together and perceived, even if they are away. For example, in this Figure
given below grouping will be done according to similarity, i.e. all circles, squares and
triangles are grouped separately.

d. Continuity:
Any stimulus which extends in the same direction or shape will be perceived as a whole in
Figure A and B. For example, (A) in this figure though the curved line is broken, it is
perceived as a continuous line, so also straight line is not seen with semicircles but as a
continuous line (B) the dots are perceived as existing in the same line of direction
continuously.

e. Closure:
When a stimulus is presented with gaps, the human tendency is to perceive that figure as
complete one by filling the gaps psychologically. For example, in the Figure below, the gaps
are filled psychologically and perceived as letters M and A, circle and a rectangle.

f. Symmetry:
Objects which are having symmetrical shape are perceived as groups. For example, the
brackets of different shapes shown in the Figure given below is perceived meaningfully,
because they are grouped together and perceived as brackets.

g. Principle of common fate:

It is difficult to illustrate in a static drawing. The idea is that elements that move together will
be grouped together.
Although there are many good reasons to predict it will take longer with the composite
displays with some specific stimuli the opposite result occurs. That is, perception of the ―odd
stimulus out‖ is faster in the composite display than in the base stimulus display (this is called
a configural superiority effect, or CSE). Promerantz and Potillo believe that CSEs
demonstrate Gestalt grouping principles, but in such a way as to make the strength of
different measurable and comparable.

1.3.3 DEPTH PERCEPTION: MONOCULAR AND BINOCULAR CUES FOR DEPTH

PERCEPTION

How do we perceive images? Are the images we see directly mapped onto our brain like a
projector? In reality, perception and vision are far more complicated than that. Visual stimuli
enter as light through the photoreceptors in the retina, where they are changed into neural
impulses. These impulses travel through the central nervous system, stop at the sensory way-
station of the thalamus, and then are routed to the visual cortex. From the visual cortex, the
information goes to the parietal lobe and the temporal lobe. Approximately one-third of the
cerebral cortex plays a role in processing visual stimuli.

Depth perception
Depth perception is the visual ability to perceive the world in three dimensions, coupled with
the ability to gauge how far away an object is. Depth perception, size, and distance are
ascertained through both monocular (one eye) and binocular (two eyes) cues. Monocular
vision is poor at determining depth. When an image is projected onto a single retina, cues
about the relative size of the object compared to other objects are obtained. In binocular
vision, these relative sizes are compared, since each individual eye is seeing a slightly
different image from a different angle.

Depth perception relies on the convergence of both eyes upon a single object, the relative
differences between the shape and size of the images on each retina, the relative size of
objects in relation to each other, and other cues such as texture and constancy. For example,
shape constancy allows the individual to see an object as a constant shape from different
angles, so that each eye is recognizing a single shape and not two distinct images. When the
input from both eyes is compared, stereopsis, or the impression of depth, occurs.

Depth perception is important to our everyday life in so many ways. It allows us to move
through life without bumping into things. Without it, you wouldn‘t know how far away a wall
was from you or the distance from your car to the car in front of you.
It also lets you determine how fast an object is coming towards you. This skill is important if
you are crossing the street and there are cars coming or if you want to pass a slow car and
have to go into the oncoming traffic lane to do so. Depth perception keeps you safe in these
types of situations.

Binocular cues for depth perception

Binocular Cues Binocular cues, unlike the two cues discussed above, emanate from the
retinal image itself. These cues are:
a. Double images
b. Binocular disparity
a. Double images: You have already learnt that when we fixate our eyes on an object in
space, fusion takes place and we see one object. However, when we fixate on an object, all
other objects nearer or farther than the fixation point fall on the non-corresponding points and
produce double images. You can try this phenomenon. Take two pencils, hold them vertically
in a line in front of your nose, one nearer and the other farther away. Now, fixate your eyes
on the nearer pencil, the image of this pencil falls on the corresponding points (as you
converge your eyes and accommodate) and fusion will take place. You will be able to see the
pencil.

However, the image of the other pencil will be double, as it falls on the non-corresponding
points and fusion will not take place. Similarly, if now you fixate on the farther pencil, the
image of the nearer pencil will be doubled. However, the double images you have just
experienced are not similar in nature. The first will be uncrossed double image and the second
will be crossed. Thus, when we get uncrossed double images, the object is farther than the
fixation point. On the other hand, when we get crossed double images then the object is
nearer than the fixation point.

b. Binocular Disparity: Objects that are nearer and farther than the fixation point project
their retinal images on the non-corresponding or disparate areas of the two retinas. Greater
the distance from the fixation point, greater will be the binocular disparity. That is, disparity
increases as the distance of the object from the fixation point increases. This retinal disparity
is the possible cue about the distance of the object from the fixation point.
 Binocular cues are the information taken in by our 2 eyes and then processed by our brain
in order for us to perceive depth or distance.
 These cues are vitally important to us, as without them we would have no idea how steep
the path is that we‘re climbing, or how far away an incoming ball is.
 Binocular cues allow us to gain a 3-dimensional interpretation of the world and allow us
to navigate through it so effortlessly.

Monocular cues for depth perception

Monocular Cues: Monocular Cues are also called pictorial cues because they include the
kind of depth information found in the photographs and paintings. These cues are extensively
used by the artists in their paintings.
a. Interposition
b. Aerial perspective
c. Linear perspective
d. Lights and Shadows
e. Familiar size
f. Texture-Density Gradient

Let us consider these cues briefly.

1. Interposition: When an object (A) partially blocks another object (B), the object blocked
is perceived farther away than the object blocking it. This cue develops early in the
children.
2. Aerial perspective: When you look at buildings in the city, buildings close by look clearer
and their boundaries (contours) are well defined in comparison to distant ones, which look
gray and hazy. The buildings, trees, and other objects that look hazy are perceived far
away in comparison to those which look clear.
3. Linear Perspective: When parallel lines recede into the distance, as rail road tracks, they
converge towards a point in your retinal image. Further, the farther away two objects are
in the visual field, the closer they will appear to be to each other. On the other hand, the
two objects nearer to us appear further apart from each other. This cue appears much later
in children.
4. Lights and Shadows: We are often aware of the source and direction of light. It is
generally from above, as sunlight. The shadows cast by one object on another can indicate
which object is farther away.
5. Familiar Size: Because you know the height of your friend, you can judge the distance at
which he is standing. This is possible because we always store the memory image of
objects that we see. When we look at an object which is away from us, we can interpret
the distance from the retinal image by taking into account the familiar size. You can do
this activity. Take a playing card and present it to your friend at a distance of 10 ft from
him. Ask him to judge the distance at which the card is placed. He will be quite accurate
in judging the size of the playing card. Because he is familiar with the size of the card,
which is always of the same (standard) size.
6. Texture-Density Gradient: Look at the ploughed field, the nearer surface looks rough and
as we extend our vision farther away the texture gets finer. Similarly, if you look at the
grass nearby, you will be able to see the blades of grass clearly, but as you extend your
vision to a distant point the ground looks as if painted green and the blades of the grass
are no more visible. This texture gradient is a cue to distance. The objects lying on a
surface that look fine and smooth in texture are perceived at greater distance than those
objects on a rough surface.

1.3.4 CONSTANCY: SIZE CONSTANCY, BRIGHTNESS CONSTANCY

Perceptual constancy, also called Object Constancy, or Constancy Phenomenon, the

tendency of animals and humans to see familiar objects as having standard shape, size,
colour, or location regardless of changes in the angle of perspective, distance, or lighting. The
impression tends to conform to the object as it is or is assumed to be, rather than to the actual
stimulus. Perceptual constancy is responsible for the ability to identify objects under various
conditions, which seem to be ―taken into account‖ during a process of mental reconstitution
of the known image. For example, snow appears white in the low illumination of moonlight,
as well as in sunlight 800,000 times as bright. Perceptual constancy is reduced by limited
experience with the object and by decreasing the number of environmental cues that aid in
identification of the object.

There is a tendency to maintain constancy (of size, colour, and shape) in the perception of
stimuli even though the stimuli have changed. For example, you recognize that small
brownish dog in the distance as your neighbour‘s large golden retriever, so you aren't
surprised by the great increase in size (size constancy) or the appearance of the yellow
colour (colour constancy) when he comes bounding up. And in spite of the changes in the
appearance of the dog moving toward you from a distance, you still perceive the shape as that
of a dog (shape constancy) no matter the angle from which it is viewed.

Size constancy
Size constancy is an aspect of perceptual constancy in which an object will appear to be of
the same size to an observer despite of changes in light, rotation, distance, perspective, etc.
this skill is important that it appears in an infant only a couple of weeks old.
Size constancy is the result of cognitive scaling operations that enable us to perceive an
object as having the same size when presented at different viewing distances. In this article,
we review the literature on size and distance perception to form an overarching synthesis of
how the brain might combine retinal images and distance cues of retinal and extra-retinal
origin to produce a perceptual visual experience of a world where objects have a constant
size. A convergence of evidence from visual psychophysics, neurophysiology,
neuropsychology, electrophysiology and neuroimaging highlight the primary visual cortex
(V1) as an important node in mediating size-distance scaling. It is now evident that this brain
area is involved in the integration of multiple signals for the purposes of size perception and
does much more than fulfil the role of an entry position in a series of hierarchical cortical
events.

Brightness constancy
Brightness constancy is our visual ability to perceive objects as having the same level of
brightness even though the level of lighting changes.
For example, something white will appear to be the same shade of white no matter how much
light it is being exposed to - noontime sunlight or a soft lamplight at night. Although the
lighting has changed the shade of white seems to be the same. An object will retain brightness
constancy as long as the object and its surroundings are in light of the same intensity.
Brightness constancy is not maintained when the brightness of the background is different
from the object. An object will appear darker if the background is lighter than the object.

1.3.5 MOVEMENT PERCEPTION: REAL AND APPARENT MOTION

The illustrations that, undoubtedly you have been looking at demonstrate that motion
perception is very complex. Recall that we perceive motion if we hold our heads and eyes
still as a moving object passes in front of us. If we decide to hold our heads still and let
our eyes, follow the object we still see it move. Finally, we could even decide to hold our
eyes steady and move only our head to follow an object. The interesting thing is all three
modes of viewing a moving object result in about the same perception.

So far, we have been concerned with perceiving real movement. By real movement it means
that the physical stimulus is actually moving, and we perceive it as moving. It is possible to
perceive motion when the stimulus is not moving. An example is the motion after effect
(MAE)demonstration that was loaned to me by Dr. Ben Bauer, Trent University.

Here is a demonstration you can observe for yourself. If you have the opportunity to view a
waterfall, (e.g. Niagara Falls) look at the falling water for about a minute and then allow your
gaze to fall on any stationary object. A building would be excellent. If you do this, the texture
of the building, perhaps even the windows will appear to move up. Waterfalls usually are not
readily available. However, you can easily build your own MAE apparatus. Take a round
paper plate. Draw a dozen or so heavy lines radiating out from the middle of the plate. Then
with a pin attach the plate through its center to the eraser end of a pencil. Now spin the plate
at a moderate speed.

Don't spin it so fast that the lines become an indistinct blur. After viewing the spinning plate
for about a minute stop it and continue to look at the radiating lines. What do you suppose
you will see? If you see what most people notice the radiating lines, which are actually
stationary, will appear to rotate in the direction opposite to that which you spun the plate
originally. If that is way you saw, you witnessed the MAE.
The phenomenon of Motion After Effects (MAE) has been studied intensively by visual
scientists for many years. One explanation of how the MAE works is the following. The
visual system has motion detectors that, like most neurons, undergo spontaneous activity.
You normally do not see motion when there is none because the spontaneous activity is in
balance. However, when you viewed the downward motion of the black bars you adapted the
motion detectors for motion in the downward direction. When the real motion stopped, the
spontaneous activity was no longer in balance, the upward spontaneous activity being slightly
stronger and thus the black bars appear to drift upward. The adaptation effect lasts for a
short time, the motion detection system quickly becomes balanced again and the apparent
movement stops.

Another example of motion being seen, when there is no physical motion, is the phi
phenomenon. To those unacquainted with the field of vision research this phenomenon is
probably unknown. However, all of you have seen it. The simplest demonstration of the phi
phenomenon is to have two illuminated spots of light about 6 to 8 inches apart. When these
lights alternately go on and off one usually sees a single spot of light moving back and forth.

This principle is used in many movie marquees where one sees a pattern of lights moving
around the display. In fact, there is no physical motion, only a series of lights going on and
off. Then, of course there are the movies. Movies are a series of single frames presented in
rapid succession. No one would doubt the perception of movement seen in the cinema. Yet, if
you analyze the strips of film that yield these images all you would see is a series of frames
each with a slightly different image. When they are rapidly projected on to the viewing screen
motion is seen.

A similar technique is used with cartoons. The illustrator actually draws a series of pictures.
When they are rapidly presented to the viewer motion of the cartoon characters is seen.
There are two other instances when movement is perceived. Have you ever sat in a train or
bus station patiently waiting to get moving? Then all of a sudden, low and behold there you
go. Or are you? You feel no vibration, something feels wrong. Then you notice that it is the
vehicle (train or bus) right next to you that is moving, and it just felt as if you were moving.
This is called induced motion.

Finally, (and this is an experiment you can try at home) view a small very dim light in an
otherwise completely dark room. Make sure that the light is in a fixed position and not
moving. After some time in the dark, the small light will appear to move somewhat
randomly. This is called autokinetic movement.

Here is another little experiment you can try. Look around your surroundings freely moving
your eyes. As you move your eyes around are the stationary objects moving? Probably not.
Now look at some object and with your finger rapidly press against your eyeball by pushing
on your eyelid. (Don't push directly against the white (sclera) area). As you force your eye to
move you will probably notice that whatever you are looking at starts to jump around. So,
you can see that it makes a difference whether you move your eyes normally or cause them to
move in an unusual manner.

Electrophysiologists are scientists who insert tiny electrode into the brain of experimental
subjects. They have discovered that there are cortical neurons which are specialized for
movement. In fact, these neurons often are so specialized that they will respond best when the
motion is in a specific direction. E. Bruce Goldstein presents a neural model in his textbook,
which shows how the early retinal neural processing could occur which results in a signal
being sent to the brain which say that movement has occurred in a specific direction.

Real motion
Motion in the world is created by the continual change in position of an object relative to
some frame of reference. That is, we watch the cat run across the kitchen tiles. We watch the
leaves of the trees bend back and forth in the wind. We watch the ducks swim across the
pond. This is real motion. However, human beings also perceive a number of forms of
illusory motion, that is, situations in which we perceive motion when none actually occurs.
One form of this illusory motion is apparent motion. Apparent motion is the appearance of
real motion from a sequence of still images. Apparent motion occurs whenever stimuli
separated by time and location are actually perceived as a single stimulus moving from one
location to another. Apparent motion is the basis of our sense of motion in watching
videography and animation.

There are different types of apparent motion. Beta motion is also called optimal motion and is
indistinguishable from real motion. Phi motion, or 'objectless motion' is where you gain a
sense of motion, but you know the underlying elements do not move, like a marquee on a
theatre. The major difference in the types of motion is how long there is between the two
images, called the interstimulus interval (ISI). Each type of motion is illustrated below.
Notice how in the beta motion the dot appears to move continuously, while in the phi motion,
there is the perception of motion, but the dot appears to blink out, thus the objectless of
objectless motion.

Apparent motion

Motion-picture film is a strip of discrete, still pictures but produces the visual impression of
continuous movement. Stationary light bulbs coming on one after the other over the theatre
entrance also produce an impression of steady movement. In part, such effects of apparent
movement (called the visual phi phenomenon) depend on persistence of vision: visual
response outlasts a stimulus by a fraction of a second. When the interval between successive
flashes of a stationary light is less than this visual-persistence time, the flicker will appear to
fuse into a continuous light.

The flicker frequency at which this occurs is called the perceiver‘s flicker-fusion
frequency (or critical flicker frequency) and represents the temporal resolving power of his
visual system at the time. Another process on which apparent movement depends is a
tendency (called visual closure or phi) to fill in the spaces between adjacent visual objects.
This means that the movement detectors of the visual system are triggered as effectively by a
closely spaced pair of lights alternately going on and off as by a single light moving back and
forth. It would seem that two aspects of visual function (flicker fusion and phi) make the
motion-picture industry possible.

1.3.6 VISUAL ILLUSIONS: MULLER-LYER ILLUSION, MOON ILLUSION.

Illusions are misperceptions resulting from misinterpretation of sensory information. Illusions

are also known as false perceptions. For example, if there is a thick rope lying on one side in
the dark, it could be perceived as a snake. Illusion is a normal phenomenon which is
perceived by all human beings and animals. You must have experienced moon illusion. The
moon in the horizon looks far bigger in size than moon in the zenith. We know, that the
retinal image of the moon at the horizon or zenith is the same (moon being at the same
distance from the earth), however, its perceived size differs a lot. One explanation takes into
account the size distance relationship. Helmholtz long back suggested that judgement of size
is related to the judgement of distance. For example, retinal angle being constant, if the
judged distance of an object is more than the actual physical distance then the perceived size
will also be larger than the actual physical size and vice-versa. It is contended that with
retinal image being the same, the perceived distance of the moon in the horizon is more than
the perceived distance of the moon in the zenith. Thus, the perceived size of the moon will be
larger at the horizon than the zenith.

MULER-LYER ILLUSION

The Muller-Lyer Illusion is named after its creator, Franz Carl Müller-Lyer (1857 - 1916), a
German psychiatrist and sociologist, who first published the illusion in the physiology
journal ArchivfürAnatomie und Physiologie, PhysiologischeAbteilung in 1889.

The Muller-Lyer Illusion is one among a number of illusions where a central aspect of a
simple line image e.g. the length, straightness, or parallelism of lines appears distorted in
virtue of other aspects of the image e.g. other background, foreground lines, or other
intersecting shapes. These are sometimes called ‗geometrical-optical illusions‘ and you can
search for others in the Illusions Index.

There have been a number of attempts to explain how the Muller-Lyer illusion works. The
following discussion will focus first on the original arrowhead version, before moving on to
other versions. The three most discussed attempts to explain how the illusion works are:

(i) ‗misapplied size constancy scaling‘ the arrowheads engage the part of the visual system
that deals with depth cues in retinal images, and results in the line with the outward-pointing
arrowheads being perceived as longer because it is processed as being further away (Gregory
1997);

(ii) ‗conflicting cues‘ the arrowheads are perceived as contributing to the length of the lines,
and the longer overall shape of the line with the outward-pointing arrowheads causes the
appearance of greater length of that line (Day 1989);

(iii) ‗confusion‘ the inter-tip distance between the relevant arrowheads influences perceived
length. So, for the line with the inward-pointing arrowheads, the distance between the tips of
the arrowheads at opposite ends of the line is shorter than the distance between the tips of the
outward-pointing arrowheads of the other line, thus causing the illusion (Sekuler and
Erlebacher 1971).

One version of the Muller-Lyer that seems to support the misapplied size constancy scaling
hypothesis embeds the illusion in an image representing a room with relevant perspectival
depth:
Perhaps the most unique contribution made by the Muller-Lyer illusion to debates in
cognitive science is with regards to the modularity of mind. On the hypothesis that the mind
is modular, a mental module is a kind of semi-independent department of the mind which
deals with particular types of inputs, and gives particular types outputs, and whose inner
workings are not accessible to the conscious awareness of the person all one can get access to
are the relevant outputs. For example, even though one knows that, with the Muller-Lyer
illusion, the lines are of same lengths, it still appears as if they are not; the module, or
modules, that make up the relevant parts of the visual system continue to output the ‗different
length‘ appearance, despite one‘s conscious awareness that this is incorrect.

Although the details and the implications of the modularity of the mind are widely debated,
that there are modules in some sense or other is now widely accepted, but this was not always
so. And the Muller-Lyer illusion was one of the central examples employed in supporting the
hypothesis that human minds are at least partly modular (see Fodor 1983 for the classic
statement of the argument for modularity which employs the Muller-Lyer illusion as the
central example). For an examination of this general issue, see Macpherson (2012).

Relatedly, there has been much discussion of whether the illusion is only seen by people who
have been raised in ‗carpentered environments‘ which contain lots of right-angles (e.g. many
urban environments). This hypothesis is supported by studies which purport to show that
those living in less rectilinear environments (e.g. many rural environments) are less
susceptible to the illusion (e.g. Segall et al. 1963). Others have investigated alternative factors
such as differences in eye pigmentation between ethnicities, and gender, race, or age
differences (Pollack 1963; Pollack and Silvar 1967; Jahoda 1971; Stewart 1973). Whether
such differences cause a change in susceptibility to the illusion is controversial.

One interesting line of investigation in the above debates involves testing whether different
versions of the illusion, such as the circle-heads variant illustrated below, produce the
purported effects. If, for example, the circle-heads variant (reproduced below) produces the
illusory effect in populations raised in rectilinear environments, then this might count against
the ‗carpentered world‘ hypothesis (as well as perhaps, the misapplied size constancy scaling
hypothesis), as the illusion would have been shown to persist in the relevant groups in the
absence of rectilinear cues. A recent, prominent discussion of these issues can be found in
McCauley and Henrich (2006).

Moon illusion
An old explanation of the moon illusion holds that various cues place the horizon moon at an
effectively greater distance than the elevated moon. Although both moons have the same
angular size, the horizon moon must be perceived as larger. More recent explanations hold
that differences in accommodation or other factors cause the elevated moon to appear smaller.
As a result of this illusory difference in size, the elevated moon appears to be more distant
than the horizon moon.

These two explanations, both based on the geometry of stereopsis, lead to two diametrically
opposed hypotheses. That is, a depth interval at a long distance is associated with a smaller
binocular disparity, whereas an equal depth interval at a smaller distance is associated with a
larger disparity. We conducted experiments involving artificial moons and confirmed the
hypothesis that the horizon moon is at a greater perceptual distance. Moreover, when a moon
of constant angular size was moved closer it was also perceived as growing smaller, which is
consistent with the older explanation.
Although Emmert's law does not predict the size distance relationship over long distances, we
conclude that the horizon moon is perceived as larger because the perceptual system treats it
as though it is much farther away. Finally, we observe that recent explanations substitute
perceived size for angular size as a cue to distance. Thus, they imply that perceptions cause
perceptions.

Regardless of its elevation in the sky, the moon's angular size at the eye remains the same.
Yet the horizon moon may appear to be nearly twice the diameter of the elevated moon. Over
the centuries many different explanations were offered for this immensely powerful real-
world illusion. Today most attention is paid to two diametrically opposed general
explanations. Each explanation is exemplified by several different versions, but all reflect two
basically different views of how the perceptual system computes size and distance. The older
explanation is typified by the so-called apparent distance theory. Basically, it holds that the
perceived distance to the moon at the horizon is greater than that to the zenith moon.

1.3.7 EXTRA SENSORY PERCEPTION

Extrasensory perception, also referred to as the sixth sense, is the ability to perceive
information without using the five physical senses. Extra sensory literally means ―outside the
senses‖ the 5 senses of sight, touch, hearing, smell, and taste.

ESP is the ability to receive and process information independent of our five senses. Hence,
why this phenomenon is often coined a ―sixth‖ sense. Some sciences say that this information
is received through the mind, alone. Yet, other sciences argue that it‘s perhaps not
the mind that transmits this extrasensory perception, but perhaps the gut, the heart, or
something even more mysterious.

Whatever this extrasensory perception is, it seems to not be bound to limits of time and space.
And, it seems to take on several different shapes and forms from manipulating physical
objects, to knowing the thoughts of others, to seeing into the future.
There are 5 different types of ESP.

Types of extra sensory perception

1. Telepathy: Telepathy is the ability to know another person‘s thoughts. A telepath is able
to communicate with another person by using only their mind no other sensory input.
2. Precognition: Precognition is the ability to see into the future. Generally, people who
possess the gift of precognition can perceive information about events, people, locations,
and scenarios before they actually occur.
3. Retrocognition: Retrocognition is the opposite of precognition it‘s the ability to see into the
past; oftentimes, the distant past. People with this type of extrasensory perception can
recognize people, places, and events of the past that they had nothing to do with.
4. Psychokinesis: Many people associate this type of ESP with the strange phenomena of
déjà vu. Retrocognitive people can often describe, in strikingly accurate detail, what
specific events in the past were like. And, although science is still wary about the topic,
people with these abilities are sometimes used in investigative cases. Undoubtedly, you
are familiar with this type of ESP from some of your favourite superhero movies.
5. Clairvoyance: Clairvoyance refers to the ability to see information about an object, person,
scenario, location, or event in the past, present, or future, using only extrasensory means.
This type of extrasensory perception is generally strongest during practiced meditation
 but can also happen unintentionally. If you are imagining a superhero tightening up their
face and moving their arms around dramatically to violently gravitate objects toward their
villain, you are spot on about psychokinesis… Well, sort of. Alas, real psychokinesis is
much less theatrical.
6. Psychokinesis, or telekinesis, is the ability of one‘s mind to have a direct effect on another
object without the use of any physical energy.

1.4 SUMMARY

Attention has been shown to be a flexible aspect of cognition. We see that attention, rather
than being rigidly and mechanically limited, as first described, is instead a more flexible
system, affected by things such as practice, the kinds of tasks being performed and the
persons intention

ESP is considered a para-psychological phenomenon. Psychologists, with scientific attitude,

are generally sceptical about the phenomena of ESP. there have been number of controversies
and debates by psychologists and scientists.As we discussed above, these factors have a
significant impact on how they influence our attention. These factors play an active role in
our day to day activities, for e.g. studying, driving, or doing any task which requires attention,
internal and external factors of attention do affect our activities.

The problem of space perception emanates from the fact that the retinal image is two
dimensional. The third dimension is perceived with the help of various cues of depth and
distance. The three sets of cues available to us are - Non-visual cues - Binocular cues -
Monocular cues. The idea that there are limits n the number of things we can pay attention to
at once is known as selective attention. Anecdotal, laboratory, and even neuroscientific
evidence seems to suggest that we process information to which we are actively paying
attention differently than we process information to which we are not attending.

Cognitive neuropsychologists have identified different neural brain networks of attention,

which have localised in specific regions of the brain. They have also demonstrated a different
pattern of event related phenomenon for attended and unattended information.
The theories of attention are applied in our lives and these theories give a broad idea of how
our attention works. Selective attention and divided attention have various theories, but the
theories discussed above actually occur in our day to day activities.

Hence, perception may be defined as ―a process of interpretation of a present stimulus on the

basis of past experience‖.Perception is not as simple as said here. It is an integrated approach.
It is a synthetic process where different physiological and psychological processes are
involved. For example, the accuracy of sense organs, clarity of sensations, mental set of an
individual, etc. Otherwise our perception may go wrong.

Perception involves a great deal of activity on the part of the perceiver. We do more than
simply record the visual world around us; we are not cameras. In both the constructivist and
the direct-perception approaches to perception, perception is assumed to be the result of
activity, either mental or physical. We navigate the world gathering information as we go and
seek more information about objects of interest as a matter of course. Any theory of
perception must ultimately take into account our own activity in our everyday perception.
Perception is more than the sum of static, individual sensory inputs. Perception clearly
involves more integration and perhaps some interpretation of the sensations we receive.
Perception is not a matter of simply taking in information from the world and creating from it
a duplicate internal representation.

Illusions are misperceptions resulting from misinterpretation of sensory information.

Perception of space refers to perception of size and distance. The problem of space perception
emanates from the fact that the retinal image is two dimensional. The third dimension is
perceived with the help of various cues of depth and distance.

1.5 SUGGESTED QUESTIONS

1. Define attention.
2. What are the key points of attention?
3. What are the internal factors which influence attention?
4. What are the external factors which influence attention?
5. Explain Selective Attention.
6. How does Selective Attention work?
7. Write a note on Divided Attention.
8. Write a note on Extrasensory Perception.
9. Explain information processing model.
10. Explain the filter model.
11. Explain the theories of Selective Attention.
12. Explain the theories of Divided Attention.
13. Write a short note on real motion.
14. Write a short note on apparent motion.
15. Write a note on Perception.
16. Define Perception.
17. Write a short note on Size Constancy.
18. Write a short note on Brightness Constancy.
19. Explain Muller-Lyer Illusion
20. Explain Moon Illusion
21. Explain Binocular cues of depth perception.
22. Explain Monocular cues of depth perception.
23. Difference between Binocular cues of depth perception and Monocular cues of depth
perception
24. Explain the gestalt law of perceptual organisation.
25. Explain the principles of perceptual organisation.