Week #2 Blog Exercise - Top-Down Visual Processing

Credit for photo: http://www.theotherpages.org/spy/spy-cat4.html

Top-Down processing is essential in our daily lives when looking for a certain object or person. For example, the photo I posted is a game called "I Spy" where one person thinks of an object in their head and the other person tries to guess which object it is. The person first starts off by saying "I spy with my little eye, something __(red)___". Then, the seeker uses goal-direct eye movement and distinguishes objects that are red such as the bubble blower, sunglasses, the letter block, etc. Furthermore, the seeker has narrowed their options down and has fewer guesses to make. If I were to be the seeker, I would look at the entire photo and then look straight for the objects in red. If I were to guess a certain shape, I would do the same and look for a specific shape, etc. Our eyes are fixated on an object for a second until we have more details and hints of what we are looking for. Once we know what we are looking for, the surroundings become unimportant and blur.