Perception | Edexcel GCSE Psychology (1PS0)
Perception
- 63 questions
- 4 subtopics
- Paper 2
- Paper 2
Perception is examined in Paper 2, optional (two of five are studied).
It covers depth cues, visual illusions and constancies, Gibson's direct theory and Gregory's constructivist theory, perceptual set and the Haber and Levin and Carmichael studies.
Sample questions from Perception
Answer each one closed book first, then open the answer.
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Depth cues, visual illusions and constancies
What is linear perspective?
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Linear perspective is the way parallel lines appear to converge as they stretch into the distance. Railway tracks seem to meet at the horizon, which signals depth. -
Depth cues, visual illusions and constancies
What is an ambiguous figure?
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An ambiguous figure is an image that can be seen in two different ways. The Necker cube flips between two orientations, and Rubin's vase can be seen as two faces. -
Gibson's direct theory and Gregory's constructivist theory
What is an affordance?
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An affordance is the possible use or action that an object offers. A chair affords sitting, and Gibson believed an affordance is seen directly without learning. -
Gibson's direct theory and Gregory's constructivist theory
How does prior knowledge affect perception, according to Gregory?
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Prior knowledge from past experience is used to interpret what is sensed. A partly hidden object can be recognised because the whole object is already familiar. -
Perceptual set
Describe Bruner and Minturn's (1955) study of expectation.
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Participants were shown an ambiguous figure that could be read as the letter B or the number 13. Participants shown it among letters reported a B. Participants shown it among numbers reported 13. -
Perceptual set
What did Hudson (1960) find about culture and depth in pictures?
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Hudson showed South African participants a picture of a hunter, an antelope and an elephant. Participants with little experience of pictures often thought the hunter was aiming at the elephant. The use of depth cues in pictures seems to be learned. -
The Haber and Levin and Carmichael studies
What did Haber and Levin conclude?
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Knowing the familiar size of an object can help a person judge its distance. Distance can also be judged from other cues in the scene, independently of an object's size. -
The Haber and Levin and Carmichael studies
Which experimental design did Carmichael, Hogan and Walter use?
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The study used an independent groups design. Separate groups heard each list of names, and a control group heard no names.
The 4 subtopics
One subtopic is one session. Work down the list.
| Subtopic | What it covers | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| Depth cues, visual illusions and constancies | Sensation and perception, monocular and binocular depth cues, fictions, ambiguous figures and distortions, and size, shape and colour constancy. | 16 |
| Gibson's direct theory and Gregory's constructivist theory | The optic array, optic flow, invariants and affordances, perceptual hypotheses and inference, the Müller-Lyer illusion, and the two theories on nature and nurture. | 16 |
| Perceptual set | How motivation, expectation, emotion and culture affect perception, with Gilchrist and Nesberg, Bruner and Minturn, McGinnies, Hudson and the carpentered world hypothesis. | 15 |
| The Haber and Levin and Carmichael studies | Haber and Levin's study of judging distance from familiar and unfamiliar objects, and Carmichael, Hogan and Walter's study of how labels change the drawing of a figure. | 16 |
How the guide is worked
Answering a question from memory stores it far better than reading the answer again. The guide runs that as a fixed procedure on one subtopic at a time, about twenty minutes a session.
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Step 1 · Closed book
Cover the answers. Work through one subtopic and write down what you can. Leave blanks where you have nothing.
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Step 2 · Open book
Go back to the top. Read each printed answer and write it out in full, including the ones you had right.
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Step 3 · Closed book again
Same questions, same order, from memory. The gap between pass one and pass three is the session result.
Read the full method, the return schedule and the research behind it.
Nearby topics
Edexcel GCSE Psychology Active Recall Guide
Every topic, not just this one. 891 questions with their answers.