Perception

10 Key excerpts on "Perception"

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  Human Aspects of Urban Form

  Towards a Man—Environment Approach to Urban Form and Design

  • Amos Rapoport(Author)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Pergamon

    (Publisher)

  While all people see the world more or less the same way (Gibson 1968, p. 321) they structure it and evaluate it quite differently. Perception is a process involving the interaction of the perceiver and the environment and has always raised complex philosophical issues such as the mind-body problem, the nature of objective reality and the value of introspection. The current position stresses the continuum between sensation, memory and Perception, applies information processing and relates Perception and cognition (Haber 1968). It follows that Perception is affected by the nature of the stimuli, the physiology of Perception and the state of the organism - expectation, attention, motivation, selectivity or adaptation. Most current theories of Perception stress this interactional aspect, and argue that it must link sensory, cognitive and conative aspects so that the perceptual properties of an object are a function of the way in which the stimuli coming from that object will affect the existing state of the organism (Werner and Wapner 1952). This involves notions of homeostasis, meaningful information, changes in schemata and noticeable differences. If both environ-ment and observer are important, then the various personal and cultural characteristics of the perceiver — for example his past history and experience, adaptation level, and cultural schemata - must be considered (e.g., Gregory 1969; Arnheim 1960). When trying to mail a letter, mail boxes will become very apparent, when hungry - restaurants, when driving — parking places, and as cognitive and emotive states change so will Perception. There is also some evidence that culture affects Perception (Segall et al 1966; Stacey 1969; Wober 1966) although these effects are less than for cognition or evaluation. 178 Importance and Nature of Environmental Perception 179 Those theories which include the effects of set, knowledge and learning see Perception as a man—environment mechanism.

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  Sports Psychology

  Concepts and Applications

  • S. K. Mangal, Shubhra Mangal(Authors)
  • 2023(Publication Date)
  • Routledge India

    (Publisher)

  Perception provides the necessary link in terms of process for converting input into output by organising and interpreting the sensory impressions. Perception is the information extractor: Our sensory receptors are bombarded continuously by various stimuli present in our environment. It is impossible to react to all stimulation. A selection process is therefore essential. Perception performs this duty by extracting relevant information out of a jumble of sensory impressions and converting it into some meaningful pattern. Perception is preparation to respond: Perception is the first step toward the active behaviour of an organism. It is the stage that prepares an individual for action and response. Our sensory receptors are just the receiving and transmitting centres of the sensory information. How we should react and respond is ordered by our central nervous system through the involvement of some mediating activity known as Perception. Perception involves sensation: In a simple and straightforward way, we may sense that sensation precedes Perception. The relationship between sensation and Perception is always direct: that is, what we have in sensation is always a part of Perception. Perception goes beyond sensation as it organises, interprets, and gives meaning to the results of sensations. Therefore, to a student of psychology, Perception means assigning meaning to sensory stimuli. Sensation attached to meaning is thus termed Perception. Perception provides organisation: In addition to the help provided in deriving meaning from sensory impressions, Perception also helps in their proper arrangement and organisation. This arrangement or organisation reflects a particular pattern rather than being merely a summation of the sensory impressions. What one perceives, they perceive as a whole in an organised pattern and not as the sum total of various stimuli. Perception is highly individualised: Perception is an individual affair

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  Human Aspects of Urban Form

  Towards a Man—Environment Approach to Urban Form and Design

  • Amos Rapoport(Author)
  • 2013(Publication Date)
  • Pergamon

    (Publisher)

  While all people see the world more or less the same way (Gibson 1968, p. 321) they structure it and evaluate it quite differently. Perception is a process involving the interaction of the perceiver and the environment and has always raised complex philosophical issues such as the mind—body problem, the nature of objective reality and the value of introspection. The current position stresses the continuum between sensation, memory and Perception, applies information processing and relates Perception and cognition (Haber 1968). It follows that Perception is affected by the nature of the stimuli, the physiology of Perception and the state of the organism — expectation, attention, motivation, selectivity or adaptation. Most current theories of Perception stress this interactional aspect, and argue that it must link sensory, cognitive and conative aspects so that the perceptual properties of an object are a function of the way in which the stimuli coming from that object will affect the existing state of the organism (Werner and Wapner 1952). This involves notions of homeostasis, meaningful information, changes in schemata and noticeable differences. If both environ-ment and observer are important, then the various personal and cultural characteristics of the perceiver — for example his past history and experience, adaptation level, and cultural schemata - must be considered (e.g., Gregory 1969; Arnheim 1960). When trying to mail a letter, mail boxes will become very apparent, when hungry - restaurants, when driving — parking places, and as cognitive and emotive states change so will Perception. There is also some evidence that culture affects Perception (Segall et al. 1966; Stacey 1969; Wober 1966) although these effects are less than for cognition or evaluation. 178 Importance and Nature of Environmental Perception 179 Those theories which include the effects of set, knowledge and learning see Perception as a man-environment mechanism.

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  Cognitive Neuroscience of Human Systems

  Work and Everyday Life

  • Chris Forsythe, Huafei Liao, Michael Christopher Stefan Trumbo, Rogelio E. Cardona-Rivera(Authors)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • CRC Press

    (Publisher)

  Our brains recreate the world around us within our heads. Everything that we experience is an abstraction that arises through transduction as energy flows from sensory receptors through intermediate neural circuits, eventu-ally resulting in an integrated internal representation of the external world. This is Perception, at least from our brains’ perspective. Perception concerns the processes whereby we experience the world around us based on our cre-ating an abstract representation of the external world within our heads. It is worth noting that the majority of this experience may never enter into our conscious awareness. However, whether experienced at a conscious or an unconscious level, one’s experience of a system and its design will arise through perceptual processes. Traditionally, from an engineering perspective, Perception has mainly been discussed with respect to the capacity for a human to effectively sense, process, and use various information to achieve task objectives. Certainly, effective task performance is essential to achieving system objectives, and there are many excellent accounts of the principles underlying effective 74 Cognitive Neuroscience of Human Systems information presentation and display (Boff and Lincoln, 1988; McBride and Schmorrow, 2005; Salvendy, 1997). However, in the following sections of this chapter, there will be little emphasis on engineering information displays for task performance, with the primary focus placed on engineering design that engages perceptual processes to create certain experiences within operators, users, and others affected by a system. Each of the following sections dis-cusses general principles concerning the mechanisms and organization of perceptual processes within the brain that determine how systems will be experienced and the resulting efficacy with which people will operate within those systems.

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  Sensation, Perception and Action

  An Evolutionary Perspective

  • Johannes Zanker(Author)
  • 2010(Publication Date)
  • Bloomsbury Academic

    (Publisher)

  OVERVIEW Why is Perception such an important topic of study for psychologists? Throughout every single day of our life we incessantly and effortlessly solve complex tasks related to the collec-tion and interpretation of sensory input, and the planning and execution of action based on what is perceived. We (usually) experience little difficulty in preparing a sandwich, catching a ball, riding a bicycle, or crossing a busy road – but each of these seemingly simple tasks requires a huge amount of sensory information processing! Only when we observe the hope-less efforts of robots facing much, much simpler challenges (like walking up a step), do we start to appreciate how difficult it is to navigate and coordinate movements in a group of independently moving individuals, for instance, on a crowded dance floor. To address these questions, and to understand more generally how a person collects knowledge about the world and acts in the world, the information processing paradigm is introduced, together with the computer metaphor for the brain. This approach is closely linked, through the specific relationship between brain and Perception, and more generally the relationship between brain and mind, to the study of brain function, which embeds Perception in a vari-ety of scientific disciplines that help us to analyse and conceptualise human behaviour. The attempt to localise mental functions in the brain is an illustration of how the information processing approach, and neuroscience, are highly relevant to gain some deep understanding of psychological phenomena. Sensory systems usually are treated as information processing channels that are tuned to particular signals (such as sounds, or odours) and used to solve particular tasks (such as communication). Studying such mechanisms from a scientific and/ or engineering perspective allows us to tackle questions of how their designs are optimised in the context of evolutionary adaptation and ecological constraints.

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  A Primer on Organizational Behavior

  • James L. Bowditch, Anthony F. Buono, Marcus M. Stewart(Authors)
  • 2015(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  C H A P T E R T W O Perception, Attitudes, and Individual Differences M any of the theories discussed in this book attempt to explain general behavioral tendencies. While these concepts provide us with a broad understanding of such behavior, they do not necessarily give us insight into the behavior of a particular individual. By understanding and building on these general theories, however, we can begin to move closer to an understanding of why a specific person may behave the way she or he does. One of the major determinants of how and why an individual initiates and sustains certain behaviors is based on the concepts of sensation and Perception. Sensation refers to the physical stimulation of the senses—our ability to see, hear, smell, taste, and touch. Although knowledge of these different sensations helps to explain some of the whys and hows of behavior, we also need to understand how an individual reacts to and organizes these sensations. This process is referred to as Perception and refers to the way in which we interpret messages from our senses to provide some order and meaning to our environment. The key to this definition is the term interpret. Since different people can view the same situation in disparate ways, the interpretation of the meaning of a particular event determines how these individuals will react to it. Thus, Perception can be thought of as an intervening variable that influences behavior. 1 This chapter begins with a brief discussion of visual and auditory Perception and moves toward social Perception. An underlying assumption made by Perception theorists is that certain types of mental processes that operate in relatively simple visual and auditory situations similarly occur in more complex interpersonal situations. Thus, the ability to examine more complex forms of Perception is based on our understanding of these relatively simple perceptual processes.

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  Acquisition and Performance of Sports Skills

  • Terry McMorris(Author)
  • 2014(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  The organization, integration and interpretation of sensory information is thought to take place primarily in the prefrontal cortex, but it draws upon the sensory information held in the specific sensory areas of the cortex and information from LTM contained in several areas of the brain. It should, therefore, be of no surprise to find that fMRI and PET studies have shown considerable activation of the prefrontal cortex during perceptual tasks. The parietal cortex has also been shown to play a role in Perception and is particularly active in tasks where the individual switches attention for one part of the display to another, for example, a defender in hockey switching between attending to her/his immediate opponent and the runs of other attackers.

  Definition of Perception

  Based on the above, we can define Perception, according to information processing theory, as being the organization, interpretation and integration of sensory information. Kerr (1982) provides a similar definition but includes the word ‘conscious’. Although information processing theorists would argue that, most of the time, Perception is a conscious process, recent research on learning and anticipation has shown that it can take place at a subconscious level.

  Signal detection theory

  As information processing theorists claim that Perception is inferred, a number of theories have been developed to explain different aspects of the cognitive processes taking place. One of the first theories was Swets’ (1964; Swets and Green, 1964) signal detection theory. Swets realized that people live in an environment that is full of sensory information. He reckoned that the individual receives over 100 000 signals per second. These may be signals from the environment and/or from within the person themselves. Sport provides many examples of this and the problems it can cause. Think of a tennis player about to serve in a game on Centre Court at Wimbledon. What kinds of signals do you think the player will be receiving visually and auditorally? What kinds of internal signals might the player be receiving: e.g. will I win, will I play well? The problem facing Swets was how to explain how anyone can recognize relevant information against this background of signals, which he termed ‘noise

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  Real World Psychology

  • Catherine A. Sanderson, Karen R. Huffman(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  Summarize the three processes involved in Perception. • Explain illusions and why they’re important. • Discuss the process of selection and its three major factors. • Describe the three ways we organize sensory data. • Review the main factors in perceptual interpretation. • Discuss the research findings on ESP and why so many people believe in it. We are ready to move from sensation and the major senses to Perception, the process of selecting, organizing, and interpreting incoming sensations into useful mental representations of the world. Normally, our Perceptions agree with our sensations. When they do not, the result is called an illusion, a false or misleading impression produced by errors in the perceptual process or by actual physical distortions, as in desert mirages. Illusions provide psychologists with a tool for studying the normal process of Perception (Figure 4.16). Note that illusions are NOT the same as hallucinations or delusions. Hallucinations are false sensory experiences that occur without external stimuli, such as hearing voices during a psychotic episode or seeing particular images after using some type of hallucinogenic drug, such as LSD or hallucinogenic mushrooms. Delusions refer to false beliefs, often of persecution or grandeur, that may accompany drug or psychotic experiences. Selection In almost every situation, we confront more sensory information than we can reasonably pay attention to. Three major factors help us focus on some stimuli and ignore others: selective attention, feature detectors, and habituation. Certain basic mechanisms for perceptual selection are built into the brain. For exam- ple, we’re able to focus our conscious awareness onto a specific stimulus, while filtering out other stimuli thanks to the process of selective attention (Figure 4.17).

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  Intelligence Science

  • Zhongzhi Shi(Author)
  • 2012(Publication Date)
  • World Scientific

    (Publisher)

  This kind of representation divided by the feeling passway, just have a relative meaning. For most people (including musicians, painters), feeling representation all has the mixed properties. In people’s activity, generally speaking, we do not have single visual representation and single hearing or movement representation, but often the mixing of different representation, because people should always use various sense organs when they perceive things. Only in a relative sense, we can say that some people’s visual representation is a bit more developed, while others’ hearing representation is a bit more developed. The form is a mental process with particular characteristics. It is noticeable in the early development of modern psychology. But as behaviorism psychology dominated, representation had begun to become quiet in the twenties of the 20th century. After cognitive psychology rises, the research of representation is paid attention to and developed rapidly again, and the achievement is very abundant too. The research of cognitive psychology on “the psychological rotation” and “the psychological scanning” also makes attractive achievement. In the 162 Intelligence Science psychological consultation and psychotherapy, the function of representation also plays an important role. 5.7 Attention in the Perceptual Cognition Attention is the status of psychological activity or Perception at a certain moment. It is shown as direction or centralization of certain target. People can control one’s own attention direction consciously most of the time. Attention has two obvious characteristics: directivity and centrality. The directivity of attention means people have chosen a certain target in psychological activity or Perception in a moment, and has neglected other targets. In the boundless universe, a large amount of information act on us all the time, but we unable to make reflection to all information, and can only direct our Perception to something.

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  Essentials of Psychology

  Concepts and Applications

  • Jeffrey Nevid(Author)
  • 2021(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  precognition The ability to foretell the future. psychokinesis The ability to move objects by mental effort alone. CONCEPT 3.39 Claims of ESP remain just that—claims that have not met the rigorous tests of scientific inquiry. Copyright 2022 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it. MODULE 3.5 129 Basic concepts in Perception Selective attention The tendency to pay attention to types of sensory information that are important to us. Such factors as motivational states and repeated exposure influence whether we attend to particular stimuli. Perceptual set The tendency for our expectations or preconceptions to influence our Perceptions. Perceptual constancy The tendency to perceive objects as unchanging in size, shape, color, and brightness despite changes in perspective, distance, or lighting conditions. Modes of perceptual processing Bottom-up The process by which the brain forms Perceptions by piecing together bits and pieces of sensory data to form meaningful patterns. Top-down The process by which the brain forms Perceptions by recognizing whole patterns without first piecing together their component parts. Gestalt principles of perceptual organization Figure–ground The tendency to perceive the visual environment in terms of figures (objects) that stand out from the surrounding background, or ground. Proximity The tendency to perceive objects as belonging together when they are close to one another. Similarity The tendency to group objects that have similar characteristics.

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