Everyday our brain receive a big number of information from the environment around us. Eyes and other sense organs, collects sensory inputs and transmits them to the brain. What is happening next? The answer can be found in a process known as perception. But what is it exactly? Perception is “the mental activity of interpreting the impressions received through the senses of sight, hearing, tasting, feeling and smelling” (MacMillan and Powell, 1973). In other words, it is a process of taking information about the environment and giving it meaning. How the brain attaches meaning to the sensory information? The understanding of the mechanisms of this process was discussed widely among philosophers in the past, but because of its complexity it is still a popular topic in contemporary psychology. One of the most popular issue is visual perception. Some people say that vision is our most dominant sense. Without direct contact, “from the light that enters our eyes to the complex cognitive processes that follow, we derive most of our information about what things are, where they are, and how they move from our vision” (Wade, Swanson 2013). The process of seeing is directly connected with our brain by a light-sensitive membrane in the back of the eye, called the retina. The lens of the eye focuses light on the layer of cells in retina, subsequently light is converted into neuronal signals, processed and sent to the primary and secondary visual cortex of the brain. However, the image
The human brain is capable of perceiving and interpreting information or stimuli received through the sense organs (i.e., eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and skin) (Weiten, 1998). This ability to perceive and interpret stimulus allows the human being to make meaningful sense of the world and environment around them. However, even as the human being is able to perceive and interpret stimuli information through all sense organs, stimuli is most often or primarily interpreted using the visual (eyes) and auditory (ears) sense organs (Anderson, 2009). However, for the purpose of this paper, the visual information process will be examined.
Comparing Constructivist and Direct Theories of Visual Perception Two of the main theories of visual perception are constructivist and direct. Gregory is associated with the constructivist theory, while Gibson supports the direct theory. The both theories differ in their explanation of perception, however there are some aspects that relate them. Gregory's theory is a top down theory of perception, in the sense that he considers prior knowledge and experience to be crucially important in making sense of what we see.
The term sensation is used when referencing the process of sensing the environment through taste, touch, sound, smell, and sight (Goldstein, 2014). Moreover, it is the process that occurs once the sensory receptor experiences stimulation, which in turn produces nerve impulses that are sent to the brain to be processed in its raw form, then perception comes into play (Goldstein, 2014). Perception is used to describe the way people interpret these sensations and tries to make sense of everything around them on a daily basis. Perception is the occurrences of the brain
Change blindness is a phenomenon in attention where drastic changes to a scene can go unnoticed. This is important to the field of Human Sensation and Perception because it helps illustrate how a visual scene is processed. Specifically it shows how even if there is direct attention to a scene, there are times when drastic changes can occur without perception of the change occurring. With extensive research already conducted illustrating this effect, new research has recently been conducted studying different types of scene changes in the hopes of understanding which changes are easier or harder to notice. The results of these studies were quantified by the measurement of change detection time (usually reported in seconds). This subset of change blindness research has far-reaching practical applications, especially in the field of security and law enforcement. By applying the knowledge of which type of stimuli lead to longer change detection times training programs could be developed that allow this population to improve their observation skills.
Sense perception is one way that allows us to interact and communicate with each other and the world. This is our primary way of knowing because our senses live experiences that we go through. Based on our senses we are to make interpretations of the world. For example, in class, each pair was given a box. Inside the box, there was one metal ball, but you had to figure out the structure or the form of a maze inside the box. We couldn't see inside the box, and we couldn’t touch the inside of the box. By using our sense of hearing and another way of knowing, imagination, we were able to make an educated guess of what the inside structure of the box looked like.
After investigating spatial cognition and the construction of cognitive maps in my previous paper, "Where Am I Going? Where Have I Been: Spatial Cognition and Navigation", and growing in my comprehension of the more complex elements of the nervous system, the development of an informed discussion of human perception has become possible. The formation of cognitive maps, which serve as internal representations of the world, are dependent upon the human capacities for vision and visual perception (1). The objects introduced into the field of vision are translated into electrical messages, which activate the neurons of the retina. The resultant retinal message is organized into several forms of sensation and is
The way a human eye and brain works together to produce visual data understandable to the
Perception checking is a cooperative approach to communication that provides accuracy instead of assuming our first interpretation is correct. It minimizes defensiveness through face saving and requires both nonverbal and verbal elements to match. The benefits of perception checking is to help us have a better understanding of a message, so both persons can mutually relate and to reduce conflict so we don 't jump to conclusions. In the perception process reality is constructed in two ways. The first order realities is physically observable qualities of a thing or situation. For example, if your friend calls you a “bone head”. On the other hand, second order realities cannot reside in objects or events but rather in our minds. It involves our attaching meaning to first order things or situations. For instance, your friend is being critical is an example of second order realities. Perception checking has three parts: description, interpretation, and clarification. Description is describing a behavior that was noticed. Interpretation is providing interpretations of the behavior, Lastly, ask for clarification from the person about the behavior and interpretations. These three parts are important because they help an individual how to prevent assuming something that is probably not the intention of the other person which is why clarification is needed in a situation like this. It is better to gather more information about the situation then to think the
Our bodies are an amazing machine that interpret the world we live in using different processing systems. The visual information process is a system used to perceive our environment and send this information to our brain, the processing center of the body. One of the most important and often the initial sense used in perceiving our environment is vision. Vision may be the leading prominent sense we use in perception.
Perception is the way we view the world around us. It helps us understand others and life. There are three main steps to perception: Selecting, organizing, and interpreting. These steps help create our perception, and happen so quickly that most of the time we aren’t even aware that we are doing it. The step of selecting is one of the most important, it involves selective exposure, selective perception, and selective memory. The things we select determine how we perceive life, and our behavior. Although the other steps to perception are important, this essay will be focusing on the concept of selecting.