Perception

set of process by which we:

● recognize
● organize
● make sense of the sensations we receive from the environmental stimuli

Perception…
● sometimes we cannot perceive what does it exist
● at other times we perceive things that does not exist

How can you reach the top of the staircase?

● Follow it around until you reach the top
● “perceptual staircase illusion”

Perceptual Illusions..

● Suggests that what we sense (in our sensory organs) is not necessarily what we
perceive (in our minds)
● Our minds must be taking available sensory information and manipulating that
information to create mental representations of objects, properties and spatial
relationships of our environment.
● The way we represent objects will depends in part on our viewpoint in perceiving the
objects

From Sensations to Representation

● Vision begins when light passes through the protective covering of the eye
● Cornea - a clear dome that protects the eye
● Pupil - opening in the center of the iris
● Light pasess through the crystalline lens (transparent membrane behind the iris which
makes us view objects both close and at a distance) and vitreous humor (gel-like
substance that comprise majority of the eye; provides support the eye)

How does our visual system work?

● Refraction- change in the directions and speed of the light entering the eye
● Refracted lights focuses on the Retina- a network of neuron extending over most of the
back (posterior) surface of the interior eye
● The retina is where electromagnetic light energy is transduced - converted into neural
electrochemical impulses.

Layers of the neural tissue of retina

 1. Layers of ganglion cells - closest to the front, outward- facing surface of the eye whose
axons constitute the optic nerve.
2. (3) interneuron cells: amacrine cells and horizontal cells-
● Make single lateral connections among adjacent areas of the retina in the middle
layer cells
● Bipolar cells- dual connections forward and outward to the ganglion cells and
vackward and inward to the third layer of retina cells
3. Photoreceptors - transduce light energy into electrochemical energy transmitted by
neurons to the brain
● Enables the eye to detect visual stimulation
● Farthest from the light source
● Light must pass though the other layers first
● Messages are passed back outward toward the front of the eye before traveling
to the brain
2 kinds of photoreceptors
● Rods - long and tiny; highly concentrated in periphery of the retina, where vision is acute
● Fovea - small thin region of the retina, the size of the pin head most directly in the line of
sight
● When you look straight at an object, your eye rotates so that the image falls directly onto
the fovea.

How do we make sense of what we see?

Bottom-Up Theories
● Describe approaches where perception starts with the stimuli whose appearance you
take in through your eye.
● Data-driven theories

1. Direct Perception
● The information in our sensory receptors, including the sensory context, i all we
need to percieve anything
● Also play a role in interpersonal situations when we try to makes sense of others’
emotions and intentions
● Neiuroscience indicate that direct perception may be involve in person perception
● There are separate neural pathways in the lateral occipital area for the
processing of form, color and texture in objects
2. Template Theories and Neuroscience
● Suggest that we have stored in our minds myriad sets of templates (highly
detailed models for patterns we might recognize)
● We recognize a pattern by comparing it with our set of templates
● Letters are simpler than faces and other complex stimuli
● Experiments suggest that there is a difference between letter digits
● Activation of the left fusiform gyrus when letters are presented than with digits
3. Feature Matching Theories
 ● We attempt to match features of pattern stored in memory, than to match a whole
pattern to a template or prototype
Neuroscience and Feature matching Theories
● The Visual cortex contains specific neurons that respond only to a particular
stimulus (e.g. horizontal line)
4. Recognition-by-Components Theory
● Explains our ability to perceive 3-D objects with the help of simple geometric
shapes called geons (e.g. bricks, cylinders, wedge, cones and curved axis
counterpart
Neuroscience and RBC theory
● Neurons in the inferior temporal cortex are sensitive to just those viewpoint-invariant
properties
● Many neurons respond primarily to one view of an objects and decrease when objects is
rotated

Top-Down Theories
● Constructive perception - the perceiver builds (constructs) a cognitive understanding
(perception) of a stimulus
● The concepts of the perceiver and his cognitive processes influence what he sees
● The perceiver uses sensory information as the foundation for the structure; also uses
other sources of information to build the perception.

Intelligent Perception
● Higher-order thinking plays an important role in perception
● Emphasizes the role of learning in perception
● Not only does the world affect perception but also the world we experience is actually
formed by our perception (Goldstone, 2003)

In other words,
Perception
● Is reciprocal with the world we experience
● Both affects and is affected by the world as we experience it

Feature of theory of constructive Perception

● It links human intelligence even to basic processes of perception

● Perception comprise comprises not merely a low-level set of cognitive processes, but
also sophisticated set of processes that interact with and are guided by human
intelligence

Percept
● During perception we form and test various hypotheses regarding precepts (impression
of an object) based on:
● What we sense (the sensory data)
 ● What we know (knowledge stored in memory)
● What we can infer (using high-level cognitive processes)

Gestalt Approach
● How proved to be useful particularly for understanding how we perceive groups of
objects or even parts of objects to form integral wholes

Review
● What is perception?
● It emphasized the role of learning to perception

Assignments

Find activity that show various approaches to perception