emergent property

a characteristic of a complex system that is not predictable from an analysis of its components and that thus often arises unexpectedly. For example, it has frequently been claimed that conscious experience is not predictable by analysis of the neurophysiological and biochemical complexity of the brain.

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Psychology term of the day

January 13th 2025

perceptual organizational deficit

a phenomenon in which a subset of people with schizophrenia have particular difficulty visually integrating the parts of an object and seeing them as an ensemble. For example, if looking at a watch, they will perceive the hands, the dial, and the numbers as separate forms but will have difficulty processing the watch face as a whole. [coined by U.S. psychologist Steven M. Silverstein (1962– )]