Perceptual Constancies

Size Constancy- Perceiving that objects have a constant size, even while our distance from them changes. For example, the left half of the picture is what we would normally see and you notice that the man in the back is fairly tall, but on the right half it shows just how big the man is in our minds eye. Size constancy is whats making the man appear to be bigger than how he really looks in our minds eye.


















Shape Constancy- We perceive the form of familiar objects as constant even while our retinal images of them change. For example, in the picture we see a quarter that is being rotated and at all points of the rotation we know that the quarter is a circle, but the shadow shows what the quarter really looks like throughout the rotation.















Brightness Constancy- We perceive an object as having a constant lightness even while its illumination varies. For example, in the picture both people have the same clothing on that are the same color. The reason it looks different is because of its surrounding. Our mind is trying to adapt to the difference in light.