Cognitive psychology I

PERCEPTION AND ATTENTION

ALEXANDER LOGEMANN
Program

 Introduction of the course

 Introduction of me
 Perception
 Attention
 What’s next
Introduction of the course
Introduction of me
Year Organization Position

2016 - Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Hungary Senior Research Fellow

present
2015 - 2016 VU University Amsterdam Lecturer (research
methodology)
2014 - Adapting Minds (www.adaptingminds.nl) Founder & CEO
present
2014 - 2015 University Medical Center Utrecht Postdoctoral researcher /
project manager

2012 - 2014 Utrecht University, dept. of Experimental Postdoctoral researcher

Psychology
2008 - 2012 Utrecht University, dept. of PhD student
Psychopharmacology / Experimental
Psychology
Credits

 www.Psytoolkit.org
 Professor Gijsbert Stoet
 Perception
 What is perception?
 How does it differ from sensation?
 Sensation involves basic experience induced by stimuli.
 Perception involves interpretation of this experience.
 Many things affect perception (anyone?)

 Stimuli characteristics influence perception

 i.e. a cup of black liquid will not easily be associated with (interpreted as) tea, but more readily as coffee.

 Specific states of the brain influences stimulus processing

 Induction of specific neuron-fatigue via persistent movement patterns  motion after effect
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkRHN0rnfME
 General fatigue
 Disorders (i.e. schizophrenia)
 etc

 Perception influences how we process basic stimuli characteristics.

 Perception

 Is also influenced by previous experiences, expectancies, context

 i.e. “the bear story” at p 145, or…

Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Fredrickson, B., Loftus, G. R., & Lutz, C. (2014, p. 146).
Introduction to psychology. Cengage Learning.
PERCEPTION

 Why do we perceive?
 To identify objects around us?
 “Perception is used mainly in the organization of action” (Eysenck, M. W., & Keane, M. T.
(2010). Cognitive Psychology: A Student’s Handbook (6th edition). Psychology Press.)
 Perception and action are strongly linked.
 Five main elements of perception
 Attention
 Localization
 Recognition
 Abstraction
 Perceptual constancy
Visual attention

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vJG698U2Mvo
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubNF9QNEQLA
Localization: foreground/background
 The brain separates objects on foreground from background.
 Again, expectancies affect the final percept (top down influence).
 Localization: grouping
of objects

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D5EAbrX6R8

And.. Not just in vision

Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Fredrickson, B., Loftus, G. R., & Lutz, C. (2014).

Introduction to psychology. Cengage Learning.
Localization: distance
 What aspects in our environment indicate how far away an
object is?
 Binocular cues
 Binocular disparity
 Only effective for relative short distances
 So how do we deal with objects at farther distances?
 Nolen-Hoeksema et al. (2014) mention six cues:
 Relative size (object size in relation to other similar objects)
 Interposition (object occluded by other objects is farther away
 Relative height
 Perspective
 Shading / shadows
 Movement
Nolen-Hoeksema, S.,
Fredrickson, B., Loftus,
G. R., & Lutz, C. (2014,
p. 156). Introduction to
psychology. Cengage
Learning.
 Localization:
motion detection

 How do we perceive motion?

 Movement of image across the
retina?
 Objects do not seem to move when
we move our head…
 That would not be very functional 
 We can be “fooled” to perceive an
object moving in case of
stroboscopic presentation of several
equal stimuli..

Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Fredrickson, B., Loftus, G. R., & Lutz, C. (2014, p. 157).
Introduction to psychology. Cengage Learning.
Localization: motion detection
 Another simple example…
 In tv: not a moving stimulus is presented, but a series of images
(similar to i.e. the old animated films)
 Impressive example: https://www.thisisinsider.com/optical-illusion-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG_l1oacWoQ four-dots-2018-1

 Motion sensitive neurons

 Loss of sensitivity can occur (adaptation) can occur
 Motion after effect (you’ve seen this)

 But then… in some cases we perceive a still image on the retina as

moving (can you think of an example?)
 Following a moving stimulus via smooth eye-movements (“smooth
pursuit”).
 Hence, the brain needs to integrate information from various sources
(external/internal cues) in order to drive the experience of object movement
 Highly complex…
Recognition

 How do we recognize an object (composed of several features/characteristics) as

an actual object?
 Several challenges to solve
 Gobal-to-local processing
 The binding problem/challenge
 Object identification/recognition
Recognition: global-to-local processing

 Identification solely based on local extracted features (visuospatial features such

as lines, colors, shapes, orientations etc) would require substantial resources.
 Local processing
 Processing of the ”larger picture”, the environment is thought to assist parts
(objects) in the environment.
 Global processing

 In general, global processing precedes local processing.

 Recognition by local features: complicated and not ”resource
friendly”….

What does the collection of features represent?

Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Fredrickson, B., Loftus, G. R., & Lutz, C. (2014, p. 160).
Introduction to psychology. Cengage Learning.
Hence, global processing assists object identification and can be
expected to precede local processing
But… is that true?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_precedence
Time for an actual demo

 https://www.psytoolkit.org/experiment-library/navon.html

 Yes, individuals are generally faster in responding to global features as opposed to

local ones.
The binding problem

 Binding problem
 When our environment is processed, stimulus features are segregated (shape, color,
orientation, etc), and perceptually combined at later steps during processing.
 But, which features go together to form an object?
 How does the brain solve this?
Binding problem

 Feature-integration theory (A. Treisman)

 Pre-attentive state
 Basic stimuli features are processed
 Attentive state
 Features are integrated
 Requires focused attention
 A relatively slow process

 Predicts that identification by a basic single stimulus feature can be fast (as it does not required
focused attention).
 Likewise, when binding is required, object identification is slow (as it required focused
attention).
 Conjunctive search
 Feature search vs conjunctive search

Find the red O Find the red O

Q Q Q Q Q Q
Q Q
Q O Q Q Q Q O Q Q Q
Q Q Q Q
Q O Q O
Q Q Q Q
Q Q Q Q Q Q
Q Q
O Q O O Q O
Q Q
Q Q Q Q
Q O O Q O O
Q Q
Feature search vs conjunctive search

 i.e. https://www.psytoolkit.org/experiment-library/search.html

 But issues with the simplified account of a discrete rigid system for feature detection.
 Hence, dynamic control theory
 Basic premise: brain systems are flexible and can adapt to the required taskset.

 Biological account (mostly from single-cell recordings):

 ”Feature detectors”
 I.e.
 Simple cells  sensitive to a specific stimulus (line/bar) in specific orientation presented at a
specific location in the receptive field.
 Complex cell  As the aforementioned, but irrespective of receptive field.
Object identification/recognition
 After processing and binding of features  object.
 But how do we determine what the respective object is?
 Collection of features activate “higher order” visual systems that represent the object
(composed from the collection of features). See i.e. page 164 of the book. But.. Higher
order systems also feedback on lower order systems (see p. 165).

Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Fredrickson, B., Loftus, G. R., & Lutz, C. (2014, p 164).
Introduction to psychology. Cengage Learning.
Object recognition: top down influences

 Recognition depends on bottom-up processing (raw stimulus information), but

also top-down processing (expectancies).
Another example…

 "Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht

oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat
ltteers be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it
wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by
istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.” (http://www.foxnews.com/story/2009/03/31/if-
can-raed-tihs-msut-be-raelly-smrat.html)
Recognition, specialization

 Recognition for faces

 Specialization?
 What do you think?
 Prosopagnosia
 Fusiform Face Area
Perceptual constancy

 What is that?
 What happens to i.e. the percept of the color/ relative brightness of objects
throughout the day.
 Seems relatively constant
 Yet…
 Time for another demo?
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIFXcR2NxcY
Color/brightness constancy
Size constancy

 Percept of size of an object does not (only) depend on the size the object occupies
on the retina.
 But.. also depends on perceived distance.

Nolen-Hoeksema, S., Fredrickson, B., Loftus, G. R., & Lutz, C. (2014, p 176).
Introduction to psychology. Cengage Learning.
Localization & Recognition in the brain

 What are the “neuroanatomical correlates” of localization and recognition?

 The “What” and “Where” pathway
 The “Parvocellular” / “Magnocellular” route
 The Ventral and Dorsal route
Mark H. Johnson, & Michelle de Haan. (2015). Developmental
Cognitive Neuroscience. Wiley-Blackwell.
http://sciencewise.anu.edu.au/articles/dyslexia