Perception

Perception means the way sensory information is organised, analysed, and consciously experienced. We obtain knowledge about the features and aspects of the environment that are crucial to our existence through the perceptual process. Perception shapes our views of the world around us and teaches us to interact with it.

Touch, sight, sound, smell, and taste are the five senses that make up perception. It also contains proprioception, a combination of senses that allows you to notice changes in your body’s posture and movement. It also includes the cognitive processes required to analyse information, such as recognising a familiar face or smelling something familiar.

History of Perception

Perception has been studied from the time of the ancient Greek philosophers, who were interested in how humans learn and understand the world.

Researchers grew interested in understanding how different vision components worked as psychology arose as a science distinct from philosophy, particularly the perception of colour. Psychologists were interested in learning how the mind interprets and organises these impressions and knowing the basic physiological processes that occur. Gestalt psychologists advocated for a holistic approach, arguing that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Today, researchers also work to investigate perception meaning on the neural level and how injury, conditions, and substances might affect perception.

Types of Perceptual Processes

Bottom-up and top-down processes are both involved in perception. Perceptions are built from sensory input, referred to as bottom-up processing. Our accessible knowledge, experiences, and thoughts, on the other hand, influence how we perceive such sensations. This is described as “top-down” processing.

In other words, sensation is a physical process, whereas perception is a psychological one. The sensation of stepping into a kitchen and smelling the scent of baked cinnamon rolls is the scent receptors recognising the odour of cinnamon. The perception may remind you of the time when your mother used to bake these cinnamon rolls.

Effects of Other Psychological Processes on Perception

Sensation

Although all sensations result in perception, in reality, humans frequently fail to notice stimuli that are generally steady over lengthy periods. This is called sensory adaptation.

Consider walking into a classroom and seeing an old analogue clock. When you initially walk into the room, you can hear the clock ticking; however, as you converse with classmates or listen to your lecturer greet the class, you become less aware of the ticking. The clock continues to tick, and that information continues to affect auditory sensory receptors. The fact that you no longer feel the sound exhibits sensory adaptation and proves that, while sensation and perception are closely related, they are distinct.

Attention

Attention is another component that influences sensation and perception. The distinction between what is experienced and what is perceived is largely determined by attention. Assume you’re at a party with music, merriment, and fun. You become engrossed in a stimulating chat with a friend, and the surrounding noise fades away. You’d probably be stumped if someone asked what music had just finished playing, and you couldn’t tell them.

Motivation

Perception is influenced by motivation. Have you ever been expecting a phone call and thought you heard it ringing while having a shower, only to find out it wasn’t? If that’s the case, you’ve probably seen how our desire to recognise a meaningful stimulus can affect our capacity to distinguish between an actual sensory stimulation and background noise.

Signal detection theory refers to the ability to recognise a stimulus in the presence of a distracting background. This could also explain why a mother gets awakened by her baby’s faint murmur but not by other sounds she hears while sleeping.

Signal detection theory has real-world applications, such as improving the accuracy of air traffic controllers. Controllers must be able to identify planes among the various signals (blips) on the radar screen and track them as they move through the sky.

Limitations of Perception

The perceptual process is not always straightforward, and various factors can obstruct perception. Perceptual diseases are mental illnesses that affect one’s capacity to perceive objects or concepts.

The following are some disorders that might affect a person’s ability to perceive things:

• Spatial neglect syndromes are characterised by a failure to pay attention to stimuli on one side of the body
• Prosopagnosia is a condition in which it is difficult to distinguish and perceive faces
• Aphantasia is a condition in which you are unable to visualise objects in your mind
• Schizophrenia is a mental illness characterised by aberrant views of reality

Genetics may play a role in some of these diseases, while others result from a stroke or brain injury.

Conclusion

Perception is the process of organising, identifying, and interpreting sensory data to represent and understand the information or environment provided. Perception is based on impulses that go through the neurological system and are triggered by the physical or chemical activation of the sensory system.