As part of an experiment, Ananda is seated in front of a blank computer screen. On each trial, a line appears on the screen and then an object appears above the line. The task is to name the object as rapidly as possible. The object is either presented alone or within a scene. For example, a chicken may be presented alone or in a barnyard. People are significantly faster at naming the object when it is presented in the scene. This result is evidence for:
A) bottom-up processing in visual perception
B) top-down processing in visual perception
C) the role of context in figure-ground segmentation
D) a cognitive application of the Gestalt laws

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The faster naming of objects in a scene compared to objects presented alone suggests that the brain is using top-down processing, where prior knowledge and context are used to facilitate perception and recognition. This is because the presence of a scene provides additional contextual information that helps the brain generate predictions about the likely identity of the object, which can speed up processing.

As Part of an Experiment, Ananda Is Seated in Front