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Related Concept Videos

Factors Affecting Perception01:25

Factors Affecting Perception

Perception is influenced by perceptual set, context, motivation, and emotion. Perceptual set, or perceptual expectancy, refers to the tendency to perceive things in a particular way, influenced by previous experiences and expectations. This phenomenon affects the interpretation of stimuli, creating a set of mental tendencies and assumptions that impact sensory perceptions of sound, taste, touch, and sight.
An illustrative example of a perceptual set is the scenario where an airline pilot told...
Color Vision01:24

Color Vision

Color perception begins in the retina, the light-sensitive layer at the back of the eye. Two main theories explain how colors are seen: the trichromatic theory and the opponent-process theory. The trichromatic theory, proposed by Thomas Young in 1802 and extended by Hermann von Helmholtz in 1852, suggests that color vision is based on three types of cone receptors in the retina. These cones are sensitive to different but overlapping ranges of wavelengths corresponding to red, blue, and green.
Photoreceptors and Visual Pathways01:22

Photoreceptors and Visual Pathways

At the molecular level, visual signals trigger transformations in photopigment molecules, resulting in changes in the photoreceptor cell's membrane potential. The photon's energy level is denoted by its wavelength, with each specific wavelength of visible light associated with a distinct color. The spectral range of visible light, classified as electromagnetic radiation, spans from 380 to 720 nm. Electromagnetic radiation wavelengths exceeding 720 nm fall under the infrared category, whereas...
Perceptual Constancy01:12

Perceptual Constancy

Perceptual constancy is the ability to recognize that objects remain consistent and unchanged even when their appearance varies due to changes in sensory input. There are four main types of perceptual constancy: size constancy, shape constancy, color constancy, and brightness constancy.
Size constancy is the recognition that an object remains the same size, even when its image on the retina changes. For instance, a bus is perceived to be large enough to carry people, even if it looks tiny from...
Vision01:24

Vision

Vision is the result of light being detected and transduced into neural signals by the retina of the eye. This information is then further analyzed and interpreted by the brain. First, light enters the front of the eye and is focused by the cornea and lens onto the retina—a thin sheet of neural tissue lining the back of the eye. Because of refraction through the convex lens of the eye, images are projected onto the retina upside-down and reversed.
Perception01:28

Perception

Perception is a fundamental psychological process that enables individuals to organize, interpret, and consciously experience sensory information. This process is crucial for understanding and interacting with the world around us. It includes both bottom-up and top-down processing, each playing a distinct role in how we perceive our environment.
Bottom-up processing begins at the sensory level, where receptors detect external environmental stimuli. These could include the tactile sensation of...

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Related Experiment Video

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Visualizing Visual Adaptation
04:43

Visualizing Visual Adaptation

Published on: April 24, 2017

Perceptual load alters visual excitability.

David Carmel1, Jeremy D Thorne, Geraint Rees

  • 1Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London, United Kingdom. davecarmel@nyu.edu

Journal of Experimental Psychology. Human Perception and Performance
|July 7, 2011
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

High perceptual load reduces awareness of peripheral visual stimuli. This study supports a visual cortex excitability mechanism, challenging stimulus competition theories for attention.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Visual Perception

Background:

  • Perceptual load theory explains how attention influences processing of unattended stimuli.
  • The underlying neural mechanisms, particularly the role of visual cortex excitability, remain debated.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate whether perceptual load affects visual stimuli through modulations of visual cortex excitability.
  • To differentiate between cortical excitability and stimulus competition accounts of perceptual load.

Main Methods:

  • Participants performed a central visual task with varying perceptual load (low vs. high).
  • Detection sensitivity for peripheral critical stimuli (CS) was measured during simultaneous and sequential presentations with central stimuli.
  • Control conditions assessed strategic task prioritization.

Main Results:

  • Increased central perceptual load significantly reduced detection sensitivity for peripheral CSs.
  • This reduction in sensitivity occurred similarly for both simultaneous and sequential CS presentations.
  • Results were not explained by strategic task prioritization.

Conclusions:

  • Findings support a cortical excitability account for perceptual load effects.
  • The results challenge stimulus competition accounts, suggesting load impacts visual processing broadly, not just during simultaneous events.