Looming Looming Looming is a term found in the study of perception, as it relates directly to psychology. Looming refers to the rapid expansion in the size of any given image. As the image becomes increasingly large on the perceiver's retina, i.e., when an object "looms", there is an automatic physiological response to perceive the object as an approaching object or surface, instead of one that is stationary or receding. Evidence indicates that looming perception is not limited to the visual modality, but can occur due to auditory or even tactile stimuli. There is a different type of mirage that is
Empirical theory of perception certain co-occurring sensory attributes are usually present when an object is at a given distance an observer would see an object with those attributes as being at that distance. For Helmholtz Berkeleyan associations form the premises for inductive "judgements," in Alhazen's sense of the term. Helmholtz was one of the first thinkers on the subject to augment his reasoning with detailed knowledge of the anatomy of sensory mechanisms. In current work Helmholtz's use of the term is construed as referring to some mechanism that augments sense impressions with acquired knowledge or through application of heuristics. In general, contemporary empirical theories