PSYCH 106 OUTLINE

Visual Perception and Illusion

Learning Objectives:

1. To learn the basic concepts of Visual Perception

2. To investigate how perception is influenced by illusions
3. To understand the role of Top-down processing and bottom-up processing in visual
perception

A. VISUAL PERCEPTION

● Perception
- Perception refers to the way sensory information is organized, interpreted, and
consciously experienced.
- the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses.
● Sensation
- Any concrete, conscious experience resulting from stimulation of a specific sense
organ, sensory nerve, or sensory area in the brain.

● Percept is the mental representation of a stimulus that is perceived.

● The existence of perceptual illusions suggests that what we sense is not necessarily what we
perceive. Our minds must take the available sensory information and manipulate
information to create mental representations of objects, properties, and spatial
relationships within our environments (Peterson, 1999.)
HOW DOES OUR VISUAL SYSTEM WORK?

Vision begins when light passes through the cornea, which is a clear dome that protects the
eye. Then light passes through the pupil, the opening in the center of the iris. It continues through
the crystalline lens and the vitreous humor.

RETINA

Eventually, the
light focuses on the
retina, where
electromagnetic light
energy is transduced
into neural
electrochemical
impulses. (Blake, 2000)
Vision is most acute in
the fovea, a thin region
in the retina.

The retina contains the

photoreceptors that convert light energy to electrochemical energy, which is then transmitted by
the neurons in the brain.

RODS and CONES

RODS
- Long and thin
- More highly concentrated in the periphery of the retina than in the foveal region.
- Is responsible for night vision
- Sensitive to light and dark stimuli.

CONES
- Short and thick
- More highly concentrated in the foveal region of the retina

The neurochemical messages processed by the rods and cones travel via the bipolar cells to
the ganglion cells. The axons of the ganglion cells collectively form the optic nerve for that eye. At
this point, the ganglion cells from the inward, or nasal part of the retina cross through the optic
chiasma and extend to the opposite hemisphere of the brain. The ganglion cells from the outward,
or temporal area of the retina go to the hemisphere on the same side of the body.

After being routed via the optic chiasma, about 90% of the ganglion cells then go to the lateral
geniculate nucleus of the thalamus. From the thalamus, neurons carry information to the primary
visual cortex (V1 or striate cortex) in the occipital lobe of the brain.

TOP-DOWN PROCESSING

● In contrast to the bottom-up theory, Top-down processing involves perceiving things based
on prior experiences and knowledge. In other words, you use what you already know to
make sense of the new information you encounter.

● Our senses are constantly taking in new information. At any given time, we're experiencing a
never-ending stream of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and physical sensations. If we had to
focus equally on all of these sensations every second of every day, we would be
overwhelmed.

Why We Use Top-Down Processing

In a world where we are surrounded by virtually limitless sensory experiences and information,
top-down processing can help us quickly make sense of the environment. It allows us to use our
perceptual and attentional resources more efficiently to interpret incoming sensory data and make
decisions.

TOP-DOWN THEORIES

1. Constructive perception (also known as intelligent perception) is the theory of perception in

which the perceiver uses sensory knowledge heavily influence these perceptions, constructive
perception shows the relationship between intelligence and perception

Put simply; your brain applies what it knows to fill in the blanks and anticipate what's next.

2. Perceptual constancy refers to the tendency to perceive an object you are familiar with as
having a constant shape, size, and brightness despite the stimuli changes that occur. Some of the
most common perceptual constancies are size constancy, shape constancy, and color constancy.

How do perceptual Constancies help us?

 ● Regardless of our viewing angle, distance, and illumination, the top-down processing ability
called perceptual constancy allows us to identify people and objects in less time than it
takes to draw a breath. Sometimes an object whose actual shape cannot change seems to
change shape with the angle of our view.

● According to constructivists, we usually make the correct attributions regarding our visual
sensations. The reason is that we perform unconscious inference, the process by which we
unconsciously assimilate information from several sources to create a perception (Snow &
Mattingley, 2003).

Bottom-up Processing

● It was defined in the 1960s by James J. Gibson, an American Psychologist best known as one
of the most important contributors to the field of Visual Perception. The processing begins
with an external stimulus, and with that sensory information, moves to our brain for
analysis.

● This involves the following steps:

○ Intake of new sensory information
○ Sensor Receptors send signals to the Brain
○ The Brain creates a perception via these signals.

There are four main Bottom-up Theories, Direct Perception, Template Theories, Feature
Theories, and Recognition-by-Components.

● Direct Perception, Gibson’s theory, states the information in our sensory receptors is all we
need to perceive anything. We do not need higher cognitive processes to mediate between
our sensory experiences and our perceptions. Existing beliefs or higher-level inferential
thought processes are not needed for perception.
○ Hoffding function - How do we connect what we perceive to what we have stored in
our minds? A Danish Psychologist, Harold Hoffding, questioned whether perception
is a simple process of associating what is seen and what is remembered.

● Template Theories suggest that we have stored in our minds myriad sets of templates.
These are highly detailed models for patterns we might recognize. To recognize a pattern,
we compare it with our set of templates and choose the exact template that matches what
we observe. Template-matching theories suggest expertise is attained by acquiring chunks
of knowledge in long-term memory that can later be accessed for fast recognition.
○ We can compare this process with fingerprint matching, barcode scanning, and
matching strategies (recalling previous games.)
● Feature-Matching Theories, attempt to match features of a pattern to features stored in
memory, rather than to match a whole pattern to a template.
○ The Pandemonium Model by Oliver Selfridge has four kinds of demons: image
demons, feature demons, cognitive demons, and decision demons.
○ Other kinds of feature models are global (big-scale) and Local (small-scale, detailed)
Features.

● Recognition-by-Components (RBC) Theory, perceiving 3-D objects as simple geometric

shapes called “geons” (geometrical ions.) This includes objects such as bricks, cylinders,
wedges, cones, and their curved axis counterparts. (Biederman, 1990/1993b.) According to
Biederman, we quickly recognize objects by observing the edges of them and then
decomposing the objects into geons.
Figure 3. Illustration of Bottom-up Processing

Figure 4. Illustration of The Pandemonium Model

Figure 5. The Global Precedence Effect

Figure 7. Geons

Figure 6. The Local Precedence Effect

How Do Bottom-Up Theories and Top-Down Theories Go Together?

Both theoretical approaches have garnered empirical support (cf. Cutting & Kozlowski,
1977, vs. Palmer, 1975). So how do we decide between the two? On one level, the constructive
perception theory, which is more top-down, seems to contradict the direct perception theory, which
is more bottom-up.

At a very basic level, the top-down approach attempts to move from the general to the specific, it
refers to the internal guidance based on prior knowledge and experiences, unlike the bottom-up
approach, it finds its way from the specific to the general, which begins by the analyzing of incoming
sensory data or stimulus and requires no previous knowledge. In companies, both approaches are
often combined to form a countercurrent process.

*Countercurrent process is a combination of the other two planning directions, combining the advantages of each.

References:

Sternberg, R. J., & Sternberg, K. (2017). Cognitive psychology (7th ed.). Boston, Ma, Usa Cengage
Learning Canada.

Hoffman, D.D. (2012). The Construction of Visual Reality. In: Blom, J., Sommer, I. (eds)
Hallucinations. Springer, New York, NY.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-0959-5_2

https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-top-down-processing-2795975#:~:text=Top%2Ddown%
20processing%20involves%20perceiving,to%20interpret%20new%20sensory%20information.

https://study.com/academy/lesson/perceptual-constancy-in-psychology-definition-examples.html
#:~:text=Video%20Transcript-,Perceptual%20Constancy%20Defined,the%20stimuli%20changes
%20that%20occur.
“She is I, I is she.”