Introduction To Psychology

1 Introduction: what is perception? -- 1.1 Perceptual experiences -- 1.2 Perceptual processes -- 1.3 Perceptual representations -- 1.4 Why do psychologists study perception? -- Summary of Section 1 -- 2 The physiology of the visual system -- 2.1 Sensory receptors -- 2.2 Measuring activity in the visual system -- 2.3 Feature detector cells in the cortex -- 2.4 What have we learnt so far? -- Summary of Section 2 -- 3 Psychological studies of perceptual experiences -- 3.1 Psychophysics : the study of sensations -- 3.2 Gestalt psychology: global properties -- Summary of Section 3 -- 4 Basic perceptual processes -- 4.1 Size constancy -- 4.2 Distance cues -- 4.3 Illusions and conflicting cues -- 4.4 Perceptual hypotheses -- Summary of Section 4 -- 5 Theories of object recognition -- 5.1 Mental representations and sensory cues -- 5.2 Feature detection theories of object recognition -- 5.3 The influence of context in object recognition -- 5.4 Bottom-up and top-down processing -- 5.5 Neisser's cyclic model of perception -- Summary of Section 5 -- 6 Perceiving the natural environment: an overview -- 6.1 Bottom-up models -- 6.2 Perceptual hypotheses and perceptual models -- 6.3 Gibson's theory of direct perception -- 6.4 Do we learn to perceive? -- 6.5 Lack of visual experience: a case study -- 6.6 What is perception? -- Summary of Section 6 -- Personal acknowledgements -- Further reading -- References -- Answers to SAQs.