Attention and Perception

(i) Nature of attention –

(a) Inner and outer determinants- how both physical factors such as size, colour, movement, change,
intensity, contrast, and psychological factors such as need, interest and emotion determine attention
and perception.
(b) The importance of attention in perception -
(ii) Perceptual processes-
(a) Difference between ssensation and perception- Process involved in transforming sensation to
perception.
(b) Organizational principles of perception –
laws, constancies, depth, and colour perception.
Important factors in perceptual process - figure and ground, laws of grouping: similarity,
proximity, continuation, simplicity, good figure; constancy of size, shape, and colour;
factors involved in depth perception -monocular and binocular cues;
How colour is perceived - biological and psychological factors attributes of colour - hue,
brightness, and saturation; laws of colour mixture; colour blindness, adaptation, and after-
images.
(iii) Errors in perception –
(a) Illusions of size and shape: False interpretations - illusions: Muller-Lyer, Height -Width, Ponzo,
Zoellner, Poggendorf (details of experiments are required)
(b) What is meant by extra-sensory perception (ESP).; ESP - perceptions not based on any of the
known senses (general understanding of ESP).
Notes:
(i) Nature of attention –
(a) Its inner and outer determinants- how both physical factors such as size, colour, movement,
change, intensity, contrast, and psychological factors such as need, interest and emotion
determine attention and perception.
(b)The importance of attention in perception -
Attention:
• Active process.
• Higher order mental function.
• A process through which certain stimuli are selected from a group of others is generally
referred to as attention.
• Cognitive process of selecting and concentrating on specific stimulus from among several
stimuli surrounding the individual’s environment.
• William James: Taking possession of the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one object out of
what may seem several simultaneously possible objects. It implies withdrawal from some
things in order to deal effectively with others.
• Ross: Attention as the process of getting an object or thought clearly before the mind.
• Attention helps to discard all those irrelevant information now and instead focuses the energy on the
important information.
• Attention to a particular thing in the environment often may lead to missing of some other important
information.
• An individual is always bombarded with lots of stimuli, it is not possible for one to attend each
stimulus. Hence, the process of attention involves a filtering mechanism.
• Besides selection, attention also refers to several other properties like alertness, concentration, and
search.
• Alertness refers to an individual’s readiness to deal with stimuli that appear before him/her.
• Concentration refers to focusing on certain specific objects while excluding others for the
moment.
• In search an observer looks for some specified subset of objects among a set of objects.
• Attention is a process or function rather than a power or an ability. To bring a stimulus to the focus
of our consciousness, we must actively try and focus. Hence, attention is more of an activity or
function and not a power or an ability.
• It makes an individual conscious about his/ her surroundings. The individual understands what
happens around him/her by attending to the various stimuli in the environment.
• Attention is not possible in absence of interest or desire. Individuals tend to attend things
pertaining to their interests, needs or desires. This helps the individuals to act appropriate in each
situation.
• Although it is referred to as cognitive or higher order mental functioning, it is something more
than that, because it is governed by other factors such as interest, desire, aptitude etc.
• Attention creates a readiness and preparation for performing a task. When an individual pays
attention to something, he/she makes the necessary adjustments.
• Attention is a cognitive process of mind which is subjected to practice and application.
• Attention shifts frequently and cannot be fixed on a particular object for longer span of time. Thus,
attention is limited in terms of both capacity and duration.
• External factors
• Size
• Shape
• Color
• Movement (Mobility)
• Change,
• Intensity
• Contrast
• Novelty
• Long Duration
• Repetition
• Internal factors
• Need
 • Interest
• Emotion
• Aptitude
• Experience
• Habit
Importance of Attention in Perception:
Attention, or mental focus, captures only a small portion of the visual auditory stimuli available at a given
moment, while ignoring other aspects. But what about information from our other senses? By shifting the
focus of our attention, we may suddenly notice smell, tastes and tactile sensations that were outside our
awareness only moments ago.
Selective Attention:
One thing is certain- we cannot absorb all the available sensory information in our environment. Thus, we
selectively attend to certain aspects of our environment while relegating others to the background.
Selective attention has obvious advantages, in that it allows us to maximize information gained from the
object of our focus while reducing interference from other relevant sources.
Selective attention to one thing may mean neglecting another.
Divided Attention: Studies have shown that people can focus so intently on one task that they fail to notice
other events occurring simultaneously. We are however, faced with many everyday situations in which we
must cope with multiple conflicting inputs.
Divided attention is the ability to process more than one piece of information at a time.
Our attention often shifts to other aspects of our environment, such as juicy bit conversation or a mention of
our own name. This often referred to as the cocktail party phenomenon and illustrates one way in which
we deal with the demands of divided attention.
(ii) Perceptual processes-
(a) Difference between ssensation and perception- Process involved in transforming sensation to
perception.
• The mental processes which help us to know about the environment and build attachment with
it, are:
• Sensation
• Perception
• We get connected with our external environment, with our five sense organs:
• Eyes: Visual
• Ears: Auditory
• Nose: Olfactory
• Skin: Tactile
• Tongue: Gustatory
• Sensation: Sensation is the process which generates primary feeling and impression about the
environment through our various sense organs and nervous system.
• The just noticeable sensory stimulation in brain is transformed into a meaningful concept, which is
known as perception.
 • Attention acts as a bridge between the sensory stimulation and perceptual experience.
• The perceptual process is a sum of sensation and attention.
Process involved in transforming sensation to perception.
• We recognize external stimuli in the form of visual, auditory, gustatory, olfactory, tactile
sensation and various organic senses such as stomach ache, muscle tension, feeling of suffocation,
pressure in bladders, thirst, hunger, nausea, and sexual drive as internal stimuli.
• Sensory Thresholds: Our sensitivity changes from moment to moment. Bodily sensations change
constantly in order to maintain the body’s internal environment at optimal levels, a state termed as
homeostasis. It is not surprising that as a result of these changes, the sensitivity of our sensory
organs to external stimuli also varies. For this reason, psychologists have coined the term absolute
threshold to denote our sensory threshold.
• Absolute threshold: It is defined as the smallest amount of stimulus that we can detect 50%
of the time.
• Transduction: The translation of a physical energy into electrical signals by specialized
receptor cells.
• Highly specialized cells known as sensory receptors, located in our eyes, ears, nose, tongue
and elsewhere, are responsible for accomplishing this task. Thus, sight, sounds and smells
that we experience are the product of transduction.
• Transduction, a process in which the physical properties of stimuli are converted into
neural signals that are then transmitted to our brain via specialized sensory nerves.
• Our nervous system makes sense out of the physical energies in our environment.
• Sensory or Afferent nerves receive information in the form of physical stimuli.
• After transduction, sensory nerves carry encoded neural impulses through neural
pathways towards thalamus via CNS (spinal cord) to create sensation.
• The brain receives the information, decodes the neural impulses, recognizes, and process the
sensation.
• Finally, brain sends neural impulses in the form of decisions or instructions through the
neural pathways towards the active organs for eliciting proper behavior via efferent or motor
nerves
• This process of simple sensation into perception takes place with previous experiences,
memory, and emotions etc.

(b) Organizational principles of perception –

• Figure and ground
• Laws of grouping: similarity, proximity, continuity simplicity, good figure
• Constancy of size, shape and color and brightness
 • Factors involved in Depth Perception -Monocular and Binocular cues
• How color is perceived - biological and psychological factors attributes of color hue, (brightness
and saturation)
• Laws of color mixture;
• Color blindness,
• Adaptation
• Afterimage
The process by which we structure the input from our sensory receptors is called perceptual organization.
Aspects of perceptual organization were first studied systematically in the early 1900s by Gestalt
psychologists.
Gestalt Psychologists – German psychologists intrigued by our tendency to perceive sensory patterns
as well-organized wholes rather than as separate, isolated parts.
(Gestalt means “whole” in German)
These scientists outlined several principles that influence the way we organize basic sensory input into
whole patterns. Some of these are described below.
 Figure and ground
Our tendency to divide the perceptual world into two distinct parts-discrete figures and the background
against which they stand out.
We tend to divide the world two parts:
Figure: Which has a definite shape and a location in space.
Ground: Which has no shape, seems to continue behind the figure, and has no definite location.
This figure-ground relationship helps clarify the distinction between sensation and perception. Although the
pattern of sensory input generated in our receptors remains constant, our perceptions shift between the two
figure-ground patterns.
Principles of perceptual organization apply to the other senses, too. For instance, consider how the figure-
ground relationship applies to audition: During complicated lecture, you become absorbed in whispered
gossip between two students sitting next to you; the professor’s voice becomes background noise. Suddenly
you hear your name and realize that the professor has asked you a question; her voice is now become the
sole focus of your attention, while the conversation becomes background noise.
Principles or Laws of Grouping:
Principles of Grouping: Simple principles describing how we tend to group discrete stimuli together in the
perceptual world.
The principles outlined by Gestalt psychologists are not hard-and-fast rules.
They are merely descriptions of ways in which we perceive the world around us.
Innate or learned.
1. Similarity:
Objects or items that are similar tend to be perceived together. A tendency to perceive things that look like
each other as being part of the same group.
Similar objects are perceived as united in an organized form, even if they remain scattered.
2. Proximity:
This is a visual and perceptual organizational principle where the objects that are near or proximal (close
together) are perceived together in a group.
There is a tendency to perceive objects in an organized manner because brain tends to associate objects more
easily that are close to each other than when these objects are placed far apart
In the given picture, six columns of small circles are perceived as three pairs or groups of two columns of
small circles due to their proximity.
3. Continuity:
According to Gestaltists, mind has an innate tendency to perceive objects that follow a smooth, continuous
contour as being parts of single unit rather than different units.
If the objects are placed continuously, we prefer to perceive these as connected even if these are
disconnected from each other.
In given picture, we usually perceive that the pair of lines continuously crisscross each other to form the
cross mark. However, we generally do not tend to perceive the cross mark as the combination of
disconnected angular wings, as shown in the given picture.
4. Good Figure (Simplicity) (Pragnanz):
Law of simplicity refers to the tendency to perceive an object in a simple manner.
Though there is a complex pattern, a person tends to perceive it as simple as possible.
The law of simplicity or good figure occurs due to our preferences for the objects that are simple, clear,
balanced, ordered and symmetrical in nature.
Constancies:
Perceptual constancy is referred to as the tendency to perceive a familiar object as having a constant size,
shape, brightness, colour and location irrespective of the changes in perspective of distance, angle, and
illumination of the object.
Perception helps us to adapt and accommodate to our complex and continuously changing environment.
We perceive object in its unchanged and original shape, size, height and other physical characteristics even
when they are under different conditions, such as perceiving them from different angels, distances and
illuminations etc.
1. Size constancies:
We perceive sizes of objects depending on the images of the objects formed on the retina in our eyes. The
image of an object becomes smaller as it goes away from the eye. If it comes closer, the size of image on
the retina increases. Despite these great varieties in the sizes of images on the retina, our perception
regarding original size of the object does not change much, due to our acquired prior experience and
knowledge about the size of the object.
2. Shape constancies:
We perceive different shapes of the objects depending on the image representations of these objects on the
retina. Despite having a particular shape of an object, the shape may get apparently altered, when viewed
from different angles and perspectives.
3. Color constancies:
Perceived colour of objects remains constant under different conditions of changing illumination or
lightening arrangements.
Depth perception:
The capability to see the world in three dimensions is called depth perception. Various cues exist for
perceiving depth in the world. Some require the use of only one eye (monocular cues) and some are a result
of the slightly different visual patters that exist when the visual fields of both eyes are used (binocular cues).
A. Monocular cues: Monocular cues are often referred to as pictorial depth cues because artists can use
these curs to give the illusion of depth to paintings and drawings.
1. Linear perspective: WHen looking down a long interstate highway, the two sides of the highway
appear to merge in the distance. This tendency for lines that are parallel to seem to converge on each
other is called linear perspective. It works in pictures because people assume that in the picture, as in
real life, the converging lines indicate that the ‘ends’ of the lines are a great distance away from
where the people are as they view them.
2. Relative size: The principle of size constancy is at work in relative size, when objects that people
expect to be of a certain size appear to be small and re, therefore, assumed to be much farther away.
Movie makers use this principle to make their small models seem gigantic but off in the distance.
3. Overlap: If one object seems to be blocking another object, people assume that the blocked
object is behind the first one and, therefore, farther away. This cue is also known as interposition.
4. Aerial (atmospheric) perspective: The farther away an object is, the hazier the object will
appear to be due to tiny particles of dust, dirt, and other pollutants in the air, a perceptual cue called
aerial perspective. Therefore, distant mountains often look fuzzy, and buildings far in the distance
are blurrier than those that are close.
5. Texture gradient: If there are any large expanses of pebbles, rocks, or patterned roads (such as
cobblestone street) nearby, the pebbles or bricks that are close to you are very distinctly textured, as
we look farther off into the distance, their texture becomes smaller and finer. Texture gradient is
another trick used by artists to give the illusion of dept in a painting.
6. Motion parallax: The perception of the motion of objects in which close objects appear to move
more quickly than objects that are farther away.
B. Binocular cues: Depth information based on the coordinated efforts of both eyes. Binocular cues for
depth perception stem from two primary sources:
1. Convergence: In order to see close objects, our eyes turn inward, toward one another; the greater
this movement, the closer such objects appear to be.
2. Retinal disparity: (binocular parallax) Our two eyes observe objects from slightly different
positions in space; the difference between these two images is interpreted by our brain to provide
another cue to depth.
How colour is perceived - biological and psychological factors
Colour perception is not just a visual sensation rather it is a combination of sensation and perception
as it occurs through the process of experiencing the colours and understanding the meaning of colour.
The way in which we see colour, is through the sensory photo receptor cells in the retina of our eyes called
rods and cones.
Retina: The surface at the back of the eye containing the rods and cones.
Cones: Sensory receptors in the eye that play a crucial role in sensations of colour.
Rods One of the two types of sensory receptors for vision found in the eye.
The rods are sensitive to low light while the cones require greater intensity of light and are sensitive to
colour.
 Perception of colour begins with specialized retinal cells containing pigments with spectral sensitivity
known as cone cells.
 The cone cells of the retina are responsible for creating sensation of colours.
 Different colours in visible spectrum of light, which the human eye can detect and identify, are the
radiation of light with different wavelength.
 Attributes of colour:
o Wavelength: The peak-to-peak distance in a sound or light wave.
o Hue: The colour that we experience due to the dominant wavelength of a light.
o Brightness: The physical intensity of light.
o Saturation: The degree of concentration of the hue of light. We experience saturation as the
purity of a colour.

A world without colour would be sadly limited; for colour-vivid reds, glowing yellow, restful greens- is a
crucial part of our visual experience.
There are two leading theories to explain our rich sense of colour. The first, trichromatic theory, suggests
that we have three different types of cones in our retina, each of which is maximally sensitive though not
exclusively so, to a particular range of light wavelength.
Trichromatic theory: A theory of colour perception suggesting that we have three types of cones, each
primarily receptive to different wavelengths of light.
Opponent-process theory: Theory that describes the processing of sensory information related to colour at
levels above the retina. The theory suggests that we posses six different types of neurons, each of which is
either stimulated or inhibited by red, green, blue, or black, or white.
Psychological factors:
An object appears coloured because of the way it interacts with light. The analysis of this interaction and
factors that determine it is the concern of physiological properties of colour.
The physiological factors of colour perception involve the mechanism of eyes and the brain’s responses to
light and the sensory experiences produced during the process.
The psychology of colour perception is invoked when the mind processes the visual stimulus, compares it
with information stored in memory and interprets it as any colour.
Laws of color mixture:
The laws of colour mixture generally deal with the mixing or combination of various colour stimuli, lights or
colour pigments and dyes by physical combination. The theory of colour mixture was first proposed by
Ewald Hering which was based on six perceptual primaries, two achromatic elements- white and black and
four chromatic elements- yellow, red, blue and green.
All the colour perceptions are considered as the process of perception of either single or mixture of two
chromatic elements, or one chromatic element with one or both achromatic elements. There are usually two
types of colour mixing --- subtractive mixing and additive mixing.
1. Subtractive mixing: Subtractive mixing occurs when two colours are mixed and in the mixture each of the
mixed colour tends to absorb or subtract some wavelength of light that fall upon it.
2. Additive: Additive mixing occurs in a mixture of two or more primary colours, when no wavelength of
light spectrum is absorbed or subtracted.
Color blindness:
Inability to perceive each colour of the visible spectrum distinctly is call colour blindness.
 It may vary from mild to severe.
 A person may not perceive one or two to many colours of the spectrum.
 This visionary defect is mainly hereditary and can be identified during early childhood.
 Besides that, other causes include aging, use of certain drugs and eye diseases.
  Colour sensation is generally absent in the peripheral regions of the eyes in normal people. But in
case of colour blindness absence of colour sensation occurs not only in periphery but also in larger
areas of the retina.
 In most of the cases, colour blindness cause permanent damage.
 Adaptation:
Adaptation means a dynamic, ongoing and life sustaining process by which living beings adjust to the
environmental changes.
Sensory adaptation: Reduced sensitivity to unchanging stimuli over time.
In terms of vision, the adaptation is referred to as the adjustment of pupil of the eyes with respect to the
changes in illumination or colour.
 Light adaptation: Light adaptation is the adaptation of the eye to visualize in bright illumination. The
cone cells of our retina are responsible for our vision in bright light. The eye adjusts to the prevailing
intensity of light by adjustment of the muscles.
 Dark adaptation: Dark adaptation is the adaptation of the eye to visualize in the dark or low illuminated
surroundings. The rod cells are stimulated in very low intensity of light and thus help in adaptation of
our vision in negligible illumination or almost dark surroundings. When a person goes from well
illuminated environment to a dark environment, it will take some time to adjust the vision to the very
less illuminated or the near dark environment. The cone cells stop functioning in the darkness.
 Colour adaptation: Colour adaptation is the adaptation of eye with respect to colour stimuli. This
adaptation occurs when an individual is exposed to a coloured field for a prolonged period. This
sensation gets diluted and weakened with time by the adjustment of vision to degree of brightness or the
degree of hue of the illumination.

Afterimage:
Visual image of an object continues to persist even after the removal of object is called afterimage.
Afterimage is very normal and common experience as it is caused by some common physiological
phenomenon.
The physiological explanation is that, afterimage occurs due to persisting photochemical activity in the
retina even when the stimulus has ceased to exist in the environment to stimulate the sensory receptor cells
for creating vision.
Afterimage are of two types—
(i) Positive afterimage: The colours of the original image are maintained in case of positive
afterimage. The afterimage looks totally as the original image.
(ii) Negative afterimage: In case of negative afterimage, the colour of the image produced is of the
opposite, complimentary colour to that colour of the original stimulus.
Errors in perception - illusions of size and shape:
Illusions: Instances in which perception yields false interpretations of physical reality. The word
‘illusion’ may be described as wrong or false perception.
Illusion of size:
(i) Muller-Lyre Illusion:
In Muller-Lyre illusion, lines of equal length appear unequal; the lines with the wings pointing outward
looks longer than the line with the wings pointing inward.
 Most people perceive the vertical line in the photo on the right
as longer, although careful measurement shows they are the
same length.

Learning also plays an important role in illusions.

(ii) Ponzo:
Discovered by Mario Ponzo , this illusion has the perception of length, straightness and being parallel
distorted. When two equal parallel lines are drawn on converging lines like a railway tract, the line above is
perceived to be longer than the line below.

One explanation that is given for the hypothesis is that the line on top looks longer than the line below due
to the linear perspective mechanism.
Illusions of shape:
(i) Poggendorff: The German physicist Johann C Poggendorff found the Poggendorff illusion. In this
illusion, some aspects like background or other interesting lines seem to distort various aspects, like length,
straightness, or parallelism of a line image.

What is meant by extra-sensory perception (ESP)?

The term ‘extra sensory perception’ or ESP was adopted by J.B Rhine, one
of the psychologists of Duke University. This is a kind of perception, not
based on any of the known senses. Information gained through some special
ability of mind and not through any of the recognized physical senses is
known as extra sensory perception. It is also called the sixth sense.
(i) Pre-cognition: It is the ability to know and foresee future events without
any reasoning.
(ii) Telepathy: It is the direct transmission of one’s thought into another’s mind even if they are far away
from each other.
(iii) Clairvoyance: It is the ability to see something clearly without any true sensory input.
(iv) Clairaudience: It is the ability to hear something clearly without any true sensory input.
(v) Intuition: It is the ability to acquire knowledge without any sensory experience or possible reasoning.
There paranormal psychic phenomena are studied under parapsychology.