MCAT Behavioral Sciences Question 188: Answer and Explanation

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Question: 188

8.

Instead of perceiving a series of lines in the figure above, humans perceive two shapes: a circle and a rectangle. What best accounts for this phenomenon?

  • A. The principles of Gestalt psychology
  • B. Bottom-up processing
  • C. Parallel processing
  • D. Weber's Law

Correct Answer: A

Explanation:

Gestalt psychology proposes that humans tend to see objects in their entirety, and our visual processing systems and brain will superimpose larger organization or structure that makes holistic sense. The "shapes" are technically composed of a series of unconnected lines, but according to gestalt psychologists, humans are more likely to use both top-down and bottom-up processing to perceive them as a complete circle or a complete rectangle (choice A is correct). Bottom-up processing begins with the sensory receptors and works up to the complex integration of information occurring in the brain; while bottom-up processing is a requirement of perceiving the lines in the figure, it does not explain why we see two shapes instead of a bunch of unconnected lines (choice B is wrong). Parallel processing refers to the fact that the brain is capable of processing multiple sensory inputs simultaneously and Weber's Law explains how much two stimuli must differ in order for their difference to be perceptible; neither accounts for the phenomenon described in the question stem (choices C and D are wrong).

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