What went wrong when the king rode under the arch?

It was too low and knocked off his crown

How does the chain of blame unfold in the poem?

Each accused person blames another, ending with the king's own changes

Name the three processes on which knowledge of the world depends.

Sensation (registering stimuli), attention (selecting stimuli) and perception (interpreting stimuli).

What is an absolute threshold?

It is the minimum value of a stimulus that must be present for it to be detected by a sense organ.

Distinguish between selective and sustained attention.

Selective attention is focusing on one stimulus while ignoring others, whereas sustained attention (vigilance) is maintaining focus on a task over a long period.

What factors determine selective attention?

External factors like size, intensity, movement, novelty and contrast, and internal factors like the perceiver's motivation, interest and mental set.

What is the figure-ground relationship?

It is the most basic principle of perceptual organisation, by which we separate an object (figure) from its background (ground).

List two monocular and two binocular depth cues.

Monocular cues include relative size and interposition; binocular cues include retinal disparity and convergence.

What is perceptual constancy?

It is the tendency to perceive an object as unchanging in size, shape or brightness even when the sensory image changes.

Differentiate bottom-up and top-down processing.

Bottom-up processing builds perception from sensory features, while top-down processing uses prior knowledge and expectations to interpret stimuli.

What is an illusion? Give an example.

An illusion is a mismatch between perception and the actual stimulus, such as the Muller-Lyer illusion in which equal lines appear unequal.

How do socio-cultural factors influence perception?

Learning, experience and the cultural environment shape what and how people perceive, so people from different cultures may interpret the same stimulus differently.

Sensory, Attentional and Perceptual Processes

Class 11 Psychology · Psychology · Chapter 4

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CBSE Class 11 · Psychology

Methods of Enquiry: 13 marks, biggest unit

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CBSE Class 11 · Psychology

Methods of Enquiry: 13 marks, biggest unit

Marks booster + cheatsheet: key concepts in 2 lines each
11 marks each: Units I and III
9 marks: Learning, Unit V
8 marks each: Perception and Memory
Every school with its founder
Comparisons examiners ask for

Page 1 free about 8 min read, Full kit about 55 min read

₹159See the full kit

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Summary

Our knowledge of the world depends on three interrelated processes: sensation, attention and perception. Sensation is the registration of stimuli by the sense organs, which respond only to stimuli within a certain range; the minimum amount of stimulus needed for detection is the absolute threshold and the smallest detectable change is the difference threshold. Different sense modalities (vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch) have specialised receptors. Attention is the selective process by which we focus on certain stimuli; it includes selective attention (governed by external factors such as size, intensity and novelty, and internal factors such as motivation and set), divided attention, and sustained attention or vigilance. Perception is the process of interpreting sensory information, using bottom-up and top-down processing. The Gestalt principles of perceptual organisation (figure-ground, proximity, similarity, continuity and closure) describe how we organise stimuli into meaningful wholes. Depth and distance are perceived through monocular cues (relative size, interposition, linear perspective, texture gradient, motion parallax) and binocular cues (retinal disparity, convergence). Perceptual constancies (size, shape, brightness) keep our perception stable, while illusions are mismatches between perception and reality. Socio-cultural factors, learning and experience also shape perception.

Knowing the WorldNature and Varieties of StimulusSense ModalitiesAttentional ProcessesSelective AttentionSustained AttentionPerceptual ProcessesPrinciples of Perceptual OrganisationPerception of Space, Depth and DistancePerceptual ConstanciesIllusionsSocio-Cultural Influences on Perception

Key terms

Sensation

The process by which sense organs register and respond to physical stimuli from the environment.

Absolute threshold

The minimum amount of stimulus energy that must be present for a stimulus to be detected.

Attention

The selective process of focusing awareness on certain stimuli while ignoring others.

Perception

The process of organising and interpreting sensory information to give it meaning.

Gestalt principles

Rules of perceptual organisation such as proximity, similarity, continuity and closure by which stimuli form wholes.

Perceptual constancy

The tendency to perceive objects as stable in size, shape and brightness despite changes in the retinal image.

Illusion

A mismatch between the physical stimulus and its perception, producing a false or distorted impression.

Extra questions & answers

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Our knowledge of the world depends on three processes: sensation, attention and:

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