Psychological Science ©2013 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

4.1 How Do We Sense Our Worlds?
Learning Objectives Distinguish between sensation and perception. Describe the process of transduction. Distinguish between an absolute threshold and a difference threshold. Discuss sensory detection theory. Define sensory adaptation. 4.1 How Do We Sense Our Worlds? Stimuli Must Be Coded to Be Understood by the Brain Psychophysics Measures the Relationship between Stimuli and Perception Sensory Thresholds Signal Detection Theory Sensory Adaptation Critical Thinking Skill: Recognizing the Effects of Context on Judgments Summing Up: How Do We Sense Our Worlds? Measuring Up

How Do We Sense Our Worlds?
Sensation: our sense organs’ detection and response to external stimulus energy and the transmission of those responses to the brain Perception: the brain’s processing of detected signals, resulting in internal representations of the stimuli that form a conscious experience of the world What we sense is the result of how we perceive Students may initially have trouble distinguishing perception from sensation and with the notion that what we sense is the result of how we perceive.

FIGURE 4.2 From Sensation to Perception

Stimuli Must Be Coded to Be Understood by the Brain
Sensory coding: Sensory receptors translate the physical properties of stimuli into patterns of neural impulses Transduction: a process by which sensory receptors produce neural impulses when they receive physical or chemical stimulation The brain needs qualitative and quantitative information about a stimulus Sensation and perception result from a symphony of sensory receptors and the neurons those receptors communicate with

Table 4.1 The Stimuli, Receptors, and Pathways for Each Sense

FIGURE 4.3 Qualitative versus Quantitative Sensory Information

Psychophysics Measures the Relationship between Stimuli and Perception
Psychologists try to understand the relationship between the world’s physical properties and how we sense and perceive them Psychophysics is a subfield that examines our psychological experiences of physical stimuli

Sensory Thresholds Absolute threshold: the minimum intensity of stimulation that must occur before you experience a sensation Example: The absolute threshold for hearing is the faintest sound a person can detect 50 percent of the time Difference threshold: the minimum amount of change required for a person to detect a difference (i.e., the “just noticeable difference”) Weber’s law: states that the just noticeable difference between two stimuli is based on a proportion of the original stimulus rather than on a fixed amount of difference

FIGURE 4.4 Absolute Threshold

Table 4.2 Approximate Absolute Sensory Threshold (Minimum Stimulus) for Each Sense

Signal Detection Theory
Signal detection theory (SDT): states that detecting a stimulus requires making a judgment about its presence or absence, based on a subjective interpretation of ambiguous information Example: A radiologist is looking at a CAT scan for the kind of faint shadow that signals an early-stage cancer. Her judgment will likely be affected by her knowledge of the patient, training, experience, motivation, attention and the knowledge of the consequences of being wrong Signal detection research involves a series of trials in which a stimulus is presented in only some trials. In each trial, the participant must state whether he or she sensed the stimulus

FIGURE 4.5 Payoff Matrices for Signal Detection Theory
Note that the percentages in this figure were invented to show representative numbers. Actual percentages vary from question to question.

Sensory Adaptation Sensory adaptation: a decrease in sensitivity to a constant level of stimulation If a stimulus is presented continuously, the responses of the sensory systems that detect it tend to diminish over time; when a continuous stimulus stops, the sensory systems usually respond strongly as well

FIGURE 4.6 Sensory Adaptation
Because of sensory adaptation, people who live near constant noise eventually become less aware of the noise. Pictured here are homes near Heathrow Airport, in London. If jets were flying this close over your home, how long do you think it would take for you to adjust? What other kinds of constant stimulation must people adjust to?

4.2 What Are the Basic Sensory Processes?
For each of the five major senses — taste, smell, touch, hearing, and vision — identify the type of receptor and trace the neural pathway to the brain Distinguish between the neural processes associated with the experience of immediate pain and the experience of chronic pain Discuss color perception 4.2 What Are the Basic Sensory Processes? In Taste, Taste Buds Detect Chemicals In Smell, the Nasal Cavity Gathers Odorants In Touch, Sensors In the Skin Detect Pressure, Temperature, and Pain Two Types of Pain In Hearing, the Ear Detects Sound Waves The Cochlear Implant In Vision, the Eye Detects Light Waves Rods and Cones Transmission From the Eye to the Brain The Color of Light is Determined by Its Wavelength Subtractive Color Mixing Additive Color Mixing We Have Other Sensory Systems Critical Thinking Skill: Questioning the “Evidence” for Extrasensory Perception (ESP) Summing Up: What Are the Basic Sensory Processes? Measuring Up

In Taste, Taste Buds Detect Chemicals
Gustation: the sense of taste Taste buds: sensory organs, mostly on the tongue; come in the form of tiny, mushroom-shaped structures (papillae) Stimulated taste buds send signals to the brain, which then produces the experience of taste Different regions of the tongue are not more sensitive to certain tastes (Lindemann, 2001) Every taste experience is composed of a mixture of five basic qualities: sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and the relatively new taste sensation umami (Krulwich, 2007) Mothers can pass their eating preferences on to their offspring Some students may believe that different parts of the tongue are more sensitive to different tastes.

Figure 4.8 How We Taste

FIGURE 4.10 Scientific Method: Infant Taste Preferences Affected by Mother’s Diet

In Smell, the Nasal Cavity Gathers Odorants
Olfaction: the sense of smell Basic process: Odorants pass into the nose and nasal cavity Contact a thin layer of tissue embedded with smell receptors called the olfactory epithelium Smell receptors transmit information to the olfactory bulb, the brain center for smell Has the most direct route to the brain Smell’s intensity is processed in brain areas also involved in emotion and memory (Anderson, Christoff et al., 2003)

Figure 4.11 How We Smell

In Touch, Sensors In the Skin Detect Pressure, Temperature, and Pain
Haptic sense: the sense of touch Sense conveys sensations of temperature, pressure, pain, and where our limbs are in space The integration of various signals and higher-level mental processes produces haptic experiences Examples: Stroking multiple pressure points can produce a tickling sensation, which can be pleasant or unpleasant, depending on the mental state of the person being tickled Brain areas involved in touch sensation respond less to self-produced tactile stimulation than to external tactile stimulation (Blakemore, Wolpert, & Frith, 1998)

Figure 4.12 How We Experience Touch: The Haptic Sense

Two Types of Pain Pain is part of a warning system that stops you from continuing activities that may harm you Two kinds of nerve fibers have been identified for pain: Fast fibers for sharp, immediate pain; activated by strong physical pressure and temperature extremes Slow fibers for chronic, dull, steady pain; activated by chemical changes in tissue when skin is damaged

Figure 4.13 How We Experience Touch: The Sense of Pain

In Hearing, the Ear Detects Sound Waves
Audition: the sense of sound Movements and vibrations of objects cause the displacement of air molecules, which produce a sound wave (change in air pressure that travels through the air) A sound wave’s amplitude determines loudness; its frequency determines pitch The ears convert sound waves to brain activity, which produces the sensation of sound

Figure 4.14 How We Hear

The Cochlear Implant Cochlear implantation has helped people with severe hearing problems due to the loss of hair cells in the inner ear Works by directly stimulating the auditory nerve; does not not amplify sound When devices are implanted in children born deaf, the child’s hearing will be quite functional and he/she will learn to speak reasonably normally The problem of audism Students may wonder about the attitudes of the deaf community pertaining to their “disability.” Specifically, they may wonder how widespread the negative reaction is to a device that can improve hearing.

FIGURE 4.15 Cochlear Implants
Cochlear implants, such as the one fitted on the side of this 10-year-old girl’s head, consist of a microphone around the ear and a transmitter fitted to the scalp, linked to electrodes that directly stimulate the auditory nerve. When implanted at a young age, these devices can enable people with hearing loss to learn to hear and speak.

In Vision, the Eye Detects Light Waves
Most of the scientific study of sensation and of perception is concerned with vision Very little of what we call seeing takes place in the eyes, but rather as a result of constructive processes that occur throughout much of the brain Basic structures: cornea, lens, pupil, iris, retina

Figure 4.16 How We See (Part 1)

Rods and Cones The retina has two types of receptor cells:
Rods: respond at extremely low levels of illumination; responsible primarily for night vision; found on outer edges of the retina Cones: less sensitive to low levels of light; responsible primarily for vision under high illumination and for seeing both color and detail; found throughout the retina but concentrated at the fovea Contain photopigments that initiate the transduction of light waves into electrical neural impulses Students may need further clarification as to the make-up and function of photopigments.

Transmission From the Eye to the Brain
A variety of retinal cells perform a series of sophisticated computations that help the visual system process the incoming information Cells include: bipolar, amacrine, and horizontal cells; converge on about a million retinal ganglion cells Ganglion cells are the first neurons in the visual pathway with axons, which are gathered into a bundle called the optic nerve At the optic chiasm, axons in the optic nerves cross to the left and right hemispheres, travel to visual areas of the thalamus and then to the primary visual cortex in the occipital lobe

The Color of Light is Determined by Its Wavelength
An object appears to be a particular color because of the wavelengths of light it reflects Trichromatic theory: activity in three different types of cones that are sensitive to different wavelengths Opponent-process theory: Different types of ganglion cells, working in opposing pairs, create the perception that R/G, B/Y are opposites We categorize color along three dimensions: hue, saturation, and brightness Often students need further clarification of the opponent process theory. In the end, students should be clear on how and why both are necessary for color vision.

FIGURE 4.18 The Experience of Color
The color of light is determined by the wavelength of the electromagnetic wave that reaches the eye. This graph shows the percentage of light at different wavelengths that is absorbed by each kind of cone.

FIGURE 4.20a The Color Spectrum
(a) When white light shines through a prism, the spectrum of color that is visible to humans is revealed. As shown here, the visible color spectrum is only a small part of the electromagnetic spectrum: It consists of electromagnetic wavelengths from just under 400 nm (the color violet) to just over 700 nm (the color red). By using nightvision goggles, humans are able to see infrared waves (i.e., waves below red in terms of frequency).

FIGURE 4.21 Brightness versus Lightness
(a) Which blue is brighter? How do you determine?

FIGURE 4.21 Brightness versus Lightness
(b) For each pair, which central square is lighter? In fact, the central squares in each pair are identical. Most people see the gray square that is surrounded with red, for example, as lighter than the gray square surrounded with green. Why do they look different?

Subtractive Color Mixing
Color can be produced through either the subtractive or the additive mixture of wavelengths Subtractive color mixing: a process of color mixing that occurs within the stimulus itself; a physical, not psychological, process Mixing paints is one form of subtractive color mixing because the colors are determined by pigments. Wavelengths that a pigment does not absorb are reflected and enter the eye Red, yellow, and blue are the subtractive primary colors because together these pigments absorb nearly all the colors of the visible spectrum and when mixed, produce black Some students may have learned that the primary subtractive colors are cyan, magenta, and yellow.

Additive Color Mixing Additive color mixing: a process of color mixing that occurs when different wavelengths of light interact within the eye’s receptors; a psychological process Additive primary colors are red, green, and blue because mixing them yields white light Students may be confused about the difference between mixing lights (of different colors) and mixing pigments.

FIGURE 4.22 Subtractive and Additive Color Mixing
(a) Subtractive color mixing is the physical process of color mixing that happens within the stimulus. The subtractive primary colors are red, yellow, and blue. (b) By contrast, additive color mixing happens when lights of different wavelengths are perceived by the eye. The additive primary colors are red, green, and blue.

We Have Other Sensory Systems
Humans, like other animals, have several internal sensory systems in addition to the five primary senses Kinesthetic sense: perception of the body’s position in space and movements of our bodies and our limbs (some include this with the sense of touch) Vestibular sense: perception of balance; uses information from receptors in the semicircular canals of the inner ear

4.3 How Does Perception Emerge from Sensation?
Identify the primary sensory areas for touch, hearing, and vision. Discuss the gate control theory of pain. Explain how the brain localizes sound. Distinguish between the “what” and “where” pathways of the visual system. Describe blindsight. 4.3 How Does Perception Emerge from Sensation? In Touch, the Brain Integrates Sensory Information from Different Regions of the Body Gate Control Theory Controlling Pain In Hearing, the Brain Integrates Sensory Information from the Ears In Vision, the Brain Processes Sensory Information from the Eyes What Versus Where Blindsight Summing Up: How Does Perception Emerge from Sensation? Measuring Up

How Does Perception Emerge from Sensation?
With the exception of olfaction, all sensory information is relayed from the thalamus to cortical and other areas of the brain Information is projected separately from the thalamus to primary sensory areas of the cerebral cortex In these areas the perceptual process begins in earnest

FIGURE 4.23 Primary Sensory Areas
These are the primary brain regions where information about taste, touch, hearing, smell, and vision are projected. Visual information travels in separate “streams” — what you see and where it is — from the occipital lobe (visual cortex) to different parts of the brain for further processing.

In Touch, the Brain Integrates Sensory Information from Different Regions of the Body
Touch information from the thalamus is projected to the primary somatosensory cortex In the 1940s, Wilder Penfield discovered that electrical stimulation of the primary somatosensory cortex could evoke the sensation of touch in different regions of the body (Penfield & Jasper, 1954) The most sensitive regions of the body, such as lips and fingers, have a greater amount of cortex devoted to them

Gate Control Theory Pain is a complex experience that depends on biological, psychological, and cultural factors Melzack’s gate control theory of pain: Pain receptors must be activated and a neural “gate” in the spinal cord must allow the signals through to the brain Pain signals transmitted by small-diameter nerve fibers can be blocked at the level of the spinal cord by the firing of larger sensory nerve fibers

FIGURE 4.24 Gate Control Theory
According to the gate control theory of pain, neural “gates” in the spinal cord allow signals through. Those gates can be closed when information about touch is being transmitted (e.g., by rubbing a sore arm) or by distraction.

Controlling Pain Drug treatments (ibuprofen, acetaminophen, Novocain, anesthetics) Cognitive states (distraction, positive mood, relaxation) can close the pain gate Some mental processes, such as worrying about or focusing on the painful stimulus, seem to open pain gates Well-rested research participants rated the same level of a painful stimulus as less painful than did participants who were fearful, anxious, or depressed (Loggia, Mogil, & Bushnell, 2008; Sullivan et al., 2001)

In Hearing, the Brain Integrates Sensory Information from the Ears
Auditory neurons in the thalamus extend their axons to the primary auditory cortex Neurons in the primary auditory cortex code the frequency (or pitch) of auditory stimuli To locate the origin of a sound (auditory localization), the brain integrates the different sensory information coming from each of our two ears Students may be interested in the relation between sensation, perception, and selective auditory attention.

FIGURE 4.25 Auditory Localization
(a) Like barn owls, (b) humans draw on the intensity and timing of sounds to locate where the sounds are coming from.

In Vision, the Brain Processes Sensory Information from the Eyes
The study of perception has focused to a large extent on the primary visual cortex and the multiple areas in which the retinal image is processed According to some estimates, up to half of the cerebral cortex may participate in visual perception

What Versus Where Visual areas beyond the primary visual cortex form two parallel processing streams, or pathways Ventral stream appears to be specialized for the perception and recognition of objects Dorsal stream seems to be specialized for spatial perception (determining where an object is) These two processing streams are therefore known as the “what” stream and the “where” stream

Blindsight Blindsight: a condition in which people who are blind have some visual capacities in the absence of any visual awareness Example: A person might not be able to see anything on his or her left. However, when a stimulus is presented in this blind field, the patient can respond unconsciously to that stimulus

4.4 What Factors Influence Visual Perception?
Describe the Gestalt principles of perceptual organization. Identify the brain regions associated with facial perception. Identify cues for depth perception. Explain how the visual system perceives motion. Discuss how perceptual constancy is achieved. 4.4 What Factors Influence Visual Perception? Object Perception Requires Construction Gestalt Principles of Perceptual Organization Figure and Ground Proximity and Similarity The “Best” Forms Bottom-Up and Top-Down Information Processing Face Perception Depth Perception Is Important for Locating Objects Binocular Depth Perception Monocular Depth Perception Motion Cues for Depth Perception Size Perception Depends on Distance Perception Ames Boxes The Ponzo Illusion Motion Perception Has Internal and External Cues Motion Aftereffects Compensation for Head and Eye Movement Stroboscopic Motion Perception Perceptual Constancies Are Based on Ratio Relationships Summing Up: What Factors Influence Visual Perception? Measuring Up Psychology: Knowledge You Can Use—How Can I Use Psychology to Improve My Next PowerPoint Presentation?

Object Perception Requires Construction
Perceptual psychologists believe that illusions reveal the mechanisms that help our visual systems determine the sizes and distances of objects in the visual environment Researchers rely on these tricks to reveal automatic perceptual systems that, in most circumstances, result in accurate perception

Gestalt Principles of Perceptual Organization
The German word Gestalt means “shape” or “form.” As used in psychology, Gestalt means “organized whole.” Gestalt psychology postulated a series of laws to explain how our brains group the perceived features of a visual scene into organized wholes

Figure and Ground Among the most basic organizing principles is distinguishing between figure and ground A classic illustration of this is the reversible figure illusion, in which figure and ground switch back and forth (ambiguous) In identifying what is “figure,” the brain assigns the rest of the scene to the background

FIGURE 1.12 Try for Yourself: What Do You See?

Proximity and Similarity
Two of the most important Gestalt principles concern proximity and similarity Principle of proximity: The closer two figures are to each other, the more likely we are to group them and see them as part of the same object Principle of similarity: We tend to group figures according to how closely they resemble each other

FIGURE 4.27a Gestalt Principles
Gestalt psychology describes how perceived features of a visual scene are grouped into organized wholes.

FIGURE 4.27b Gestalt Principles

The “Best” Forms Good continuation: the tendency to interpret intersecting lines as continuous rather than as changing direction radically Closure: the tendency to complete figures that have gaps Illusory contours: We sometimes perceive contours and cues to depth even though they do not exist

FIGURE 4.27c Gestalt Principles

FIGURE 4.27d Gestalt Principles

FIGURE 4.27e Gestalt Principles

Bottom-Up and Top-Down Information Processing
How do we assemble the information about parts into a perception of a whole object? Bottom-up processing: Data are relayed in the brain from lower to higher levels of processing Top-down processing: Information at higher levels of mental processing can influence lower, “earlier” levels in the processing hierarchy The flight crew of New Zealand Flight 901 failed to notice the 12,000-foot volcano looming in front of them because the pilots saw what they expected to see

FIGURE 4.28 Context Context plays an important role in object recognition. How does context aid your interpretation of the shapes shown here?

FIGURE 4.29 Mount Erebus Because the pilots on Air New Zealand Flight 901 did not expect to see this Antarctic volcano ahead of them, they failed to see it.

Face Perception The visual system is sensitive to faces:
We can more readily discern information about a person’s mood, attentiveness, sex, race, and age by looking at a person’s face than by listening to them talk, watching them walk, or studying their clothing (Bruce & Young, 1986) Whites are much better at recognizing white faces than at recognizing black faces (Brigham & Malpass, 1985) Prosopagnosia: deficits in the ability to recognize faces Cortical regions, even specific neurons, seem to be specialized to perceive faces and are sensitive to facial expression and gaze direction

FIGURE 4.30 Perceiving Faces
Brain imaging shows increased activity in the right hemisphere when faces are viewed.

Depth Perception is Important for Locating Objects
How are we able to construct a three-dimensional mental representation of the visual world from two-dimensional retinal input? Binocular depth cues: available from both eyes together and contribute to bottom-up processing Monocular depth cues: available from each eye alone and provide organizational information for top-down processing

Binocular Depth Perception
Binocular disparity (or retinal disparity): This cue is caused by the distance between humans’ two eyes The brain uses the disparity between these two retinal images to compute distances to nearby objects Stereoscopic vision: the ability to determine an object’s depth based on that object’s projections to each eye Convergence: When eye muscles turn the eyes inward, the brain knows how much the eyes are converging and uses this information to perceive distance

FIGURE 4.32 Binocular Disparity
To demonstrate your own binocular disparity, hold one of your index fingers out in front of your face and close first one eye and then the other. Your finger appears to move because each eye, due to its position relative to the finger, has a unique retinal image.

FIGURE 4.33 Convergence Hold one of your index fingers out in front of your face, about a foot away. Slowly bring your finger toward your eyes. Are you able to perceive your eyes converging?

Monocular Depth Perception
We can perceive depth with one eye because of monocular depth cues Pictorial depth cues: Occlusion Relative size Familiar size Linear perspective Texture gradient Position relative to horizon

FIGURE 4.34 Pictorial Depth Cues
Using the bulleted list below as a reference, try to identify the six depth cues in Edvard Munch’s painting Evening on Karl Johan Street (circa 1892).

Motion Cues for Depth Perception
Motion parallax: The brain uses cues from the relative movements of objects that are at various distances from the observer When you watch the scenery from a moving car, near objects such as mailboxes seem to pass quickly, far objects more slowly, whereas objects farther away appear to match your speed Objects at an intermediate distance (a house) move opposite the direction of closer ones (a mailbox), whereas distant objects (a mountain) move in the same direction relative to the intermediate-distance object

FIGURE 4.35 Motion Parallax
Near objects seem to pass us more quickly in the opposite direction of our movement. Objects farther away seem to move more slowly.

Size Perception Depends on Distance Perception
The size of an object’s retinal image depends on that object’s distance from the observer To determine an object’s size the visual system needs to know how far away it is Depth cues can fool us into seeing depth when it is not there; a lack of depth cues can fool us into not seeing depth when it is there

FIGURE 4.36 Distance Perception
This picture, by Rebecca Robinson, captures what appears to be a tiny Sarah Heatherton standing on James Heatherton’s head. This illusion occurs because the photo fails to present depth information: It does not convey the hill on which Sarah is standing.

Ames Boxes Ames boxes: first crafted in the 1940s by Adelbert Ames, a painter turned scientist Ames boxes’ rooms play with linear perspective and other distance cues to create size illusions

FIGURE 4.37 The Ames Box Ames played with depth cues to create size illusions. For example, as illustrated here, he made a diagonally cut room appear rectangular by using crooked windows and floor tiles. When one child stands in a near corner and another (of similar height) stands in a far corner, the room creates the illusion that they are equidistant from the viewer. Therefore, the closer child looks like a giant compared with the child farther away.

The Ponzo Illusion Classic example of a size/distance illusion
Explained: Monocular depth cues make the two-dimensional figure seem three-dimensional (Rock, 1984) This illusion shows how much we rely on depth perception to gauge size; the brain uses depth cues even when depth is absent

FIGURE 4.38 The Ponzo Illusion
The two horizontal lines appear to be different sizes but are actually the same length.

Motion Perception Has Internal and External Cues
How does the brain know what is moving? After receiving damage to secondary visual areas of her brain — areas critical for motion perception—M.P., a German woman, saw the world as a series of snapshots rather than as a moving image (Zihl, von Cramon, & Mai, 1983) Neurons specialized for detecting movement fire when movement occurs

Motion Aftereffects Waterfall effect: If you stare at a waterfall and then turn away, the scenery you are now looking at will seem to move upward Explained: The visual cortex has neurons that respond to movement in a given direction When you stare at a moving stimulus long enough, these direction-specific neurons adapt to the motion and become fatigued When the stimulus is removed, other motion detectors that respond to all other directions are more active than the fatigued motion detectors

Compensation for Head and Eye Movement
When you see what appears to be a moving object, how do you know whether the object is moving, you are moving, or your eyes are moving? Explained: The brain calculates an object’s perceived movements by monitoring the movement of the eyes, and perhaps also of the head, as they track a moving object Motion detectors track an image’s motion across the retina

FIGURE 4.39 Perceiving Movement
These diagrams illustrate the two ways that the visual system detects movement.

Stroboscopic Motion Perception
Stroboscopic movement: a perceptual illusion that occurs when two or more slightly different images are presented in rapid succession Max Wertheimer conducted experiments in 1912 by flashing, at different intervals, two vertical lines placed close together When the interval was about 60 milliseconds, the line appeared to jump from one place to another At slightly longer intervals, the line appeared to move continuously — a phenomenon called phi movement

FIGURE 4.40 How Moving Pictures Work
This static series would appear transformed if you spun the wheel. When the slightly different images were presented in rapid succession, the stroboscopic movement would tell your brain that you were watching a moving horse.

Perceptual Constancies Are Based on Ratio Relationships
How does the brain know that a person is 6 feet tall when the retinal image of that person changes size? Perceptual constancy: The brain correctly perceives objects as constant despite sensory data that could lead it to think otherwise The brain computes a ratio based on relative magnitude rather than on sensations’ absolute magnitude; perceptual systems are tuned to detect changes from baseline conditions, not just to respond to sensory inputs Size Color Shape Lightness Some students may be confused about, and therefore need specific definitions of, each of the four perceptual constancies.

FIGURE 4.41 Perceptual Constancy
When you look at each of these photos, your retinal image of the bearded man is the same. Why, then, does he appear larger in (a) than in (b)?

FIGURE 4.42 The Tabletop Illusion
Created by the psychologist Roger Shepard, this illusion demonstrates the brain’s automatic perceptual processes. Even when we know the two tabletops are the same size and shape — even if we have traced one image and placed it on top of the other — perspective cues make us see them as different.

Psychological Science ©2013 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

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Psychological Science ©2013 W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.

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