Define a perceptual constancy, and describe and give examples of the perceptual constancies identified in your text.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

A perceptual constancy is sensory information that is kept constant due to a set of rules used by the brain. There are three perceptual constancies identified in the book:
1. Size constancy: This addresses changes in the size of an image while our perception is that the object's size remains constant. For example, if I first see a car down the street and continue to watch the car as it approaches, I do not think the car is growing. I see the car as the same size regardless of the size of the visual image.
2. Shape constancy: This means that even though the actual shape of an object may change, we experience the shape as unchanging. For example, when viewing a dog from different angles, the dog's shape changes, but I do not perceive the dog's body changing. If I only see three legs, I still assume the dog has four legs.
3. Brightness constancy: This is our perception that the color and lightness of an object are constant even if we are in different levels of light. For example, if a professor is reading over her class notes outside in the sun and the paper looks bright white, when she goes to review the same notes late at night in a room with dim illumination, she does not assume that the paper is now gray-she still perceives it to be white.