APPLIED REFLECTIVE QUESTION

Applied Reflective Questions (ARQs) 1

Due Date: September 15th

Points: 10 points

Purpose: Apply knowledge from Chapter 2, Visual Object Recognition, to explain the behavior described in the following scenario.

Skills You Will Use:

1. Apply Cognitive concepts to everyday behavior.

2. Demonstrate how the experiences described in the scenario below can be explained by the processes described in the first parts of Chapter 2.

Knowledge You Will Use: In this assignment you will incorporate the various terms that describe how stimuli in our environment become perceptions in our mind. This will require understanding of Object Recognition and the two types of Perceptual Processing.

Criteria for Success:

· A short response to the prompt below that appropriately integrates the chapter concepts into their answer. Merely listing chapter terms without appropriate explanation or using them incorrectly can result in reduction of points.

· Student should demonstrate a thoughtful application of the concepts to the prompt below.

· An originally written response; any response that is partially or fully written by someone else may result in academic misconduct or penalties.

· No more than two or three paragraphs. Use 12pt standard font (e.g., Times New Roman, Calibri, etc.). Either double or single spaced is fine.

· Document must be Word Doc or PDF; any other format will be an automatic 0.

· Do not include the prompt or questions in your submitted document.

Prompt/questions on back…

CHAPTER 2 – NIGHT AT THE ART MUSEUM

Colored Ocean by Osnat Tzadok

Veronica and Gabriel decide to visit the abstract art museum in their city. They pass several interesting artworks, but both pause at a particularly colorful painting (seen on the left). The image is filled with bright vibrant colors. The features of the painting include lots of vertical brushstrokes, paint texture, and splotches of color everywhere, especially towards the middle of the art piece.

After both examine the art for a bit, Gabriel decides he does not like it because he believes it looks lazy. He thinks to himself that “it is just a bunch of splashes of paint on a canvas; it does not look like anything. I could have painted this!”

Picture of sailboats

However, Veronica is quite impressed by piece. She happens to have lots of boating experience from often going sailing with her family. She immediately realizes that the patterns of splotches and brushstrokes on the painting look like a bunch of sailboats docked at port.

Task: Use the concepts and terminology from Chapter 2’s sections on Object Recognition to answer the following questions.

1. Describe the processes that is taking place between them looking at the painting and then perceiving the features (i.e., colors, lines, and shapes). Your explanation must include the following terms from the chapter: primary visual cortex, retina, proximal stimulus, perception, and distal stimulus.
(5 pts)

a. Note: I am not asking about their interpretation or experience of the painting in this question. I want to know the process from painting to mental representation of the painting.

2. Veronica and Gabriel have two very different experiences of the painting. How can you explain why their two perceptual experiences of the artwork are so different? What is a cognitive explanation for why each person perceived the image differently? (5 pts)