Perceptual psychology

The psychology of perception investigates the subjective portion of perception, can not be explained by the objective sensory physiology.

The objects of the general sensory physiology differ in objective ( physical - chemical ) and subjective relations between stimuli and their perception.

In physically definable stimuli is called psychophysics, in stimuli that are not or only very hard physically describable (such as in face recognition ), it is called cognitive psychology.

Overview

With the senses living beings capture physical properties of their environment and their own body. However, there is a considerable difference between what captures a sense organ of a living being, and what the animal perceives. Thus, a deciduous tree, for example, when viewing projected thousands of leaves on the retina of the eye, but a man takes this responsibility not individually, but the tree as a whole. Particularly clearly shows this difference in the perceptual illusions.

Somewhere along the way between the physical and mental sense organ detection information are filtered, grouped, categorized and sorted by importance. This complex process is called perception and is one of the objects of study of the psychology of perception.

In order to understand perceptions, it is helpful to know their biological bases, especially the structure and function of the sense organs and their neurobiological networking with the brain. All perceptual psychology therefore always starts with an analysis of this " raw material ". Use can be limited to describe the event, or trying to explain how it works.

Sub-themes

Sub-themes of cognitive psychology at the abovementioned meaning are:

  • Theory of perception
  • Psychophysics
  • Theories of perceptual organization
  • Gestalt psychology
  • Somatotopik

Historical Development

The field of perception played in the history of psychology often a predominant role. End of the 19th century, when it was discovered in the physiology of the structure and function of the nervous system, formed closely to the physiology and their of apparatus equipment leaning out a new branch of academic psychology, the first time perception processes (also called " impossible" such as optical could systematically examine perceptions). Because of the exact controllable experimental setups ( in the visible range, for example, the type and shape of the template, color, distance, size, lighting conditions, context, position in the field of perception, observation time, etc.) were experimentally perception processes and their limitations are recognized.

The process of perception

The perception process is generally divided into three stages: perception, organizing and classifying. In the first stage is formed as while seeing the image of an object on the retina. In the second step the seen to be organized, ie are assembled into a solid form. People who lack this ability to experience the world as disjointed and patched (see Marcel, 1983, the case of Dr. Richard ). In the third stage, the sensations will be assigned a meaning, they are categorized and assessed. Thus, from the seen object is a " person" or a " vase ". Only this last step makes an adequate response to the perceived at all possible, see theory of perception. On the subject of organization see also Constance phenomenon.

Proximal and distal stimulus

As a " distal stimulus" the seen object is referred to as " proximal stimulus" his image on the retina. There are more differences than can be suspect at first sight between these two stimuli. An important difference is the dimension for the image is two-dimensional, whereas the "original" is in three dimensions. Furthermore, we often do not see the whole object, since parts are hidden from him. Or we see it from different perspectives, so that the shape of the retinal image does not match the shape of the object. For example, when we see a picture of the page, has its retinal image, the shape of a trapezoid, but we see it as a square. In order to still be able to recognize the object, our brain has to rely on experience and mechanisms for recognition.

Different Approaches

  • The theory of Hermann von Helmholtz

According to Hermann von Helmholtz, the experience contributes significantly to our view of the environment. According to the 1866 drawn up by him theory we use it unconsciously, to conclude about the perceived. In our familiar environment allows us this " unconscious inference ," perceiving quickly and effectively, because we need only a few cues. In unfamiliar situations, however, it often leads to false interpretations.

According to James J. Gibson Most theories of perception a) lacks the precise analysis of information in the environment, b ) the consideration of the activity of living organisms, and c ) specify the perception of offers in the world after the Artspezifik respective interesting creatures. As he studied these aspects, he shows that far more structural information can be obtained from the environment, as deemed possible in the other concepts. For example, three-dimensionality of perception must not be constructed from one or more retinal images, but results from occlusion and revelations of structures by the movement of a human or animal. From the activity of living organisms shows that no " single stimuli " are of central importance, but invariant over time and movement. With the concept of the offer he notes that are perceived very differently in much the same physical structure of the eye, such as a mouse, a human or an elephant, the plot offers an escalator.

Psychophysiology
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