Psychology
Perception Research
Perception research in psychology focuses on understanding how individuals interpret and make sense of sensory information from the environment. It explores the processes involved in organizing and interpreting sensory input to form meaningful perceptions. This field investigates various factors that influence perception, such as attention, memory, and individual differences, to gain insights into human cognition and behavior.
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12 Key excerpts on "Perception Research"
eBook - ePub- Ann L. Weber, Joseph Johnson(Authors)
- 2011(Publication Date)
- Collins Reference(Publisher)
CHAPTER 6Perception
P erception is usually taken to mean the final, organized, and meaningful experience of sensory information. The difference between sensation and perception is one of degree of understanding. Sensation (from a Latin word meaning “to feel”) involves the neural stimulation of sensory systems by physical changes, as we saw in Chapter 5. Perception (from the Latin per or “thorough” and capio or “grasp”) involves recognizing the meaning of what has been sensed. Basically, sensation is detecting a stimulus, whereas perception is recognizing a stimulus. That is, when one senses a stimulus, one is aware of it, but when one perceives that stimulus, one understands what it is.STUDYING PERCEPTIONThe study of perception has been guided by different approaches to exactly what the nature of perception is. To a large degree, the study of perception has also been defined by the formal quantitative framework used to analyze perceptual performance. These concepts are introduced here to lay the foundation for the remainder of the chapter.Approaches to PerceptionThere are three primary approaches that describe psychologists who study perception. The ecological approach, founded by James J. Gibson (1904–1979), focuses on the interactions with the environment, in particular how we perceive the cues in the environment that help us to perform specific actions. The constructivist approach is mainly concerned with perceptual inference, or how we use incomplete sensory information to form mental representations. These approaches have contributed a great deal to the more recent computational approach, which attempts to understand the exact computations that a perceptual system performs.Psychophysics RevisitedWe discuss a bit about the historical contributions of psychophysics in Chapter 1 and the application of psychophysics to sensation in Chapter 5. Classical psychophysical studies have examined absolute thresholds
- Stephen F. Davis, William Buskist, Stephen F. Davis, William F. Buskist(Authors)
- 2007(Publication Date)
- SAGE Publications, Inc(Publisher)
However, the multiple, simultaneous chains of events that occur in order for us to perceive our surroundings are extremely complex and still not completely understood. Further, what we perceive is not a perfect representation of the environment; it is simply one that is good enough in most ways most of the time for survival. Curiosity about perceptual processes has motivated philosophical discourse and scientific research for hundreds of years. In addition to perception being explored simply to understand how it occurs (pure research approach), it is also studied for many practical, or applied, reasons. There are many ways by which perceptual processes can be dam-aged or not develop properly. The goal of many current researchers is to understand these processes and eventually develop ways to help individuals with perceptual prob-lems. Another application of Perception Research involves human factors: the use of knowledge about how humans function (physically, perceptually, cognitively) to design safer and more efficient interactions between humans and objects such as machines or computers. This chapter presents an overview of many aspects of perception. Historically and currently, how does the study of perception fit with other areas of psychology, especially those of sensation and cognition? What are some basic principles of perception? What are some of the challenges for and theories of perception? What have special popula-tions of participants allowed us to learn about perception? 246 • SENSORY PROCESSES AND PERCEPTION PERCEPTION AS A FIELD OF STUDY How is perception distinguished from sensation (see Chapter 19)? There are mixed views on the issue. One sim-ple distinction is that sensation is the neural response to a stimulus, and perception is our conscious awareness, orga-nization, or recognition of that stimulus.
eBook - ePubNeuroergonomics
A Cognitive Neuroscience Approach to Human Factors and Ergonomics
- A. Johnson, R. Proctor, A. Johnson, R. Proctor(Authors)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Palgrave Macmillan(Publisher)
2
Cognitive Neuroergonomics of Perception
Jacob Jolij, Addie Johnson and Robert W. ProctorPerception is the process of transforming sensory input into internal representations to guide cognition and action. Understanding this process is vital for designers of information systems and interfaces. After all, to understand what people do with information, it is necessary to know what information is available to them perceptually. Traditionally, perception, cognition and action have been treated as fairly independent processes in which the perceptual systems—located in the sensory cortices of the occipital (vision), temporal (vision and audition) and parietal (vision and somatosensation) lobes—carry out their respective tasks and pass information to higher, cognitive areas located in the frontal lobe. That way of conceptualizing perception, however, has been challenged by developments in the cognitive neuroscience of perception, which suggest that lower-level processes in the perceptual systems receive feedback from higher-level processes. Indeed, some have gone so far as to propose that what we think, know and feel may change the way we perceive the world by directly altering our perceptual processing (e.g. Stefanucci et al., 2011). Moreover, perceptual processing is highly dynamic: perceptual learning occurs on a continuous basis, and the different senses show crosstalk in which vision informs audition, touch informs vision and so forth (e.g. Grahn et al., 2011).Neuroimaging technologies such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and new algorithms to analyse electroencephalography (EEG) data on a single-trial level allow us to view the workings of the perceptual systems with ever-increasing accuracy. Using fMRI-decoding, a technique for deriving mental states from looking at brain activity, for example, it is possible to deduce what a person is viewing, thus allowing the researcher to read the ‘mind’s eye’ (Miyawaki et al., 2008; Tong & Pratte, 2012). Novel analysis methods are now being employed to achieve similar things using EEG, with some degree of success (Bobrov et al., 2011). The possibility of determining in such a direct manner what people are processing can be expected to open up new possibilities for their interactions with computers and other machines.
eBook - ePub- Alan J. Parkin(Author)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Psychology Press(Publisher)
Cognitive psychologists have been very uneven in the time they have devoted to the study of our senses. Most work has been carried out on our visual system because of the dominant role it plays in communication. Next comes hearing, followed by touch, smell and taste. Research into hearing has been quite substantial owing to the need to understand speech perception but the other three senses have received relatively little attention. However, research into touch (often known as haptic perception) has received considerable impetus from its relevance to communication aids for the blind. Smell and taste, although subject to some investigation within cognitive psychology, have been of more interest to physiologists. In this book we will be primarily concerned with visual perception (this chapter) and with hearing in relation to speech perception (Chapter 10). Visual perception is more than a “cognitive photograph” The first thing to learn about visual perception, and indeed all other forms of perception, is that it is reconstructive. The visual percept which we experience as reality does not come about in a manner analogous to the way in which a visual image develops passively in the emulsion of a film. Rather, a visual percept is built up by a wide range of inferential processes which use cues provided by the basic two-dimensional input on the retina. This creates a perceptual reality of three dimensions in which, as we shall see, a constant world is maintained despite considerable distortions in what projects on to the retina. FIG. 2.1. What do you see here? (answer on next page). The reconstructivist view of perception introduces us to a crucial distinction which runs right through a wide range of explanations in cognitive psychology. This is the distinction between bottom-up and top-down processing (note that the terms data-driven and conceptually-driven are often used as alternatives)
eBook - ePub- Alan J. Parkin(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Psychology Press(Publisher)
Cognitive psychologists have been very uneven in the time they have devoted to the study of our senses. Most work has been carried out on our visual system because of the dominant role it plays in communication. Next comes hearing, followed by touch, smell, and taste. Research into hearing has been quite substantial owing to the need to understand speech perception but the other three senses have received relatively little attention. However, research into touch (often known as haptic perception) has received considerable impetus from its relevance to communication aids for the blind. Smell and taste, although subject to some investigation within cognitive psychology, have been of more interest to physiologists. In this book we will be primarily concerned with visual perception (this chapter) and with hearing in relation to speech perception (Chapter 10). Visual perception is more than a ‘cognitive photograph’ The first thing to learn about visual perception, and indeed all other forms of perception, is that it is reconstructive. The visual percept which we experience as reality does not come about in a manner analogous to the way in which a visual image develops passively in the emulsion of a film. Rather, a visual percept is built up by a wide range of inferential processes which use cues provided by the basic two-dimensional input on the retina. This creates a perceptual reality of three dimensions in which, as we shall see, a constant world is maintained despite considerable distortions in what projects on to the retina. The reconstructivist view of perception introduces us to a crucial distinction which runs right through a wide range of explanations in cognitive psychology. This is the distinction between bottom-up and top-down processing (note that the terms data-driven and conceptually-driven are often used as alternatives). A bottom-up process is one which proceeds from lower levels of analysis to higher levels
eBook - PDFHuman 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.
eBook - ePub- 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
eBook - ePubSports 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
eBook - PDF- Zhongzhi Shi(Author)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- World Scientific(Publisher)
Perceptual Cognition 147 of subject, but not teach the details and concrete facts of subject. Education should promote the development of children’s cognitive ability. He proposes that the child’s early education should be paid attention to, thinking that finding method is the main learning method of children, emphasizing the importance of intuition in study. He thinks that intuition is a means to solve problem, children’s immediately understanding or intuitive understanding would be much better than planned analyzing knowledge step by step. Existing knowledge and experience influent on perception in many aspects. The most noticeable one is the effect on the context. Some present psychologists think that the past knowledge and experience mainly act on the perception in the form of supposing, expecting or factor overall. While people perceive, he receive feeling as input, forming what present stimulus is on the basis of past experience, or forming a certain expectation of target by activating some knowledge units. The perception is carried on under the guide and plan of these assumption and expectation. According to Gregory’s view, perception is a constructing process including hypotheses testing. Through receiving the message, forming hypotheses testing, and receiving or searching the message again, testing hypotheses again, until verifying a certain hypothesis, then people make correct explanation to feeling and stimulating, this is called hypotheses testing theory of perception. According to the theory, physical characteristics of feeling stimulus, stimulant contexts and related concept can activate related knowledge of long-term memory and form various assumptions. Thus perception is the reconstruction of combining realistic stimulant information and memory information which regarding hypothesis as link. Under general circumstances, people cannot aware the participant of hypothesis when they perceive.
- Robert R. Hoffman, Peter A. Hancock, Mark W. Scerbo, Raja Parasuraman, James L. Szalma(Authors)
- 2015(Publication Date)
- Cambridge University Press(Publisher)
As a result, there is a large knowledge base that instructors must select from when deciding what is most important for their students. Second, sensation and perception encompasses many different spe- cializations and links to many kindred disciplines. In order to understand the sensory and perceptual systems, learners need to acquire information about the rudimentary physics of the stimuli (e.g., light, sound, chemical composi- tion of odorants, etc.), the biology of the sensory and nervous system, and the psychology of how information is filtered and interpreted. Third, sen- sation and perception are taught in macro-segments (i.e., tactile, olfaction, taste, auditory, vestibular, and visual systems) and in narrower segments (i.e., spatial gradients, motion perception, depth perception, color perception), but has the ultimate goal of understanding each sensory system as a whole and, ultimately, perception as a whole. stephenson and halpern 1100 Although these and other challenges exist in teaching and learning sensa- tion and perception, most learners are not completely naïve to the topic. Learners come to the course with preconceptions and beliefs about their own sensory and perceptual systems that are based on reflections about personal experiences, conjectures, and induction, many of which are wrong. It is not an easy task to change belief systems and the way people concep- tualize knowledge (Spiro, Feltovich, Coulson, and Anderson, 1989). For new instructors, each class session usually requires hours of planning to devise a lecture, demonstration, or discussion that leads to such changes.
eBook - PDF- Barry Kantowitz, Henry Roediger, III, David Elmes, Barry Kantowitz, Henry Roediger, III, David Elmes, (Authors)
- 2014(Publication Date)
- Cengage Learning EMEA(Publisher)
If no differences are found—that is, if distance estimates are the same for all colors—there remain two possi- bilities. You have probably noticed that the hypothesis states that normal binocular vision (both eyes) was to be tested. This is another converging operation. (continues) CHAPTER 7 • Perception 223 Copyright 2015 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. SUMMARY 1. Perception is often described as the interpreta- tion of sensation. Issues in the study of percep- tion include the role of direct and indirect approaches to perception (often referred to as bottom-up and top-down processes), the ways native and experiential factors influence per- ception, and the part played by awareness. 2. Verbal reports allow the psychologist to study another person’s perceptual and phenomeno- logical experiences. However, care is needed to make sure that the verbal reports are ade- quate dependent variables. Examples of per- ceptual issues that have been studied by verbal reports are blindsight and perception without awareness. 3. In the Stroop effect, work by Cheesman and Merikle indicates that there is a difference in verbal awareness for items presented above a subjective threshold and for those presented below the subjective threshold and above the objective threshold. 4. Converging operations allow inferences about perceptual operations that are stronger than inferences from a single experiment or experi- mental condition.
eBook - PDF- E. Goldstein, James Brockmole(Authors)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- Cengage Learning EMEA(Publisher)
Other applications include robotic vehicles that can find their way through unfamiliar environ- ments, face recognition systems that can identify people as they pass through airport security, speech recognition systems that can understand what someone is saying, and highway signs that are visible to drivers under a variety of conditions. But reasons to study perception extend beyond the pos- sibility of useful applications. Studying perception can help you become more aware of the nature of your own perceptual experiences. Many of the everyday experiences that you take for granted—such as tasting food, looking at a painting in a museum, or listening to someone talking—can be appreciated at a deeper level by considering questions such as “Why do I lose my sense of taste when I have a cold?” “How do artists cre- ate an impression of depth in a picture?” and “Why does an unfamiliar language sound as if it is one continuous stream of sound, without breaks between words?” This book will not only answer these questions but will answer other questions that you may not have thought of, such as “Why don’t I see colors at dusk?” and “How come the scene around me doesn’t appear to move as I walk through it?” Thus, even if you aren’t planning to become a physician or a robotic vehicle designer, you will come away from reading this book with a heightened appreciation of both the complexity and the beauty of the mechanisms respon- sible for your perceptual experiences, and perhaps even with an enhanced awareness of the world around you. Because perception is something you experience con- stantly, knowing about how it works is interesting in its own right. To appreciate why, consider what you are experiencing right now. If you touch the page of this book, or look out at what’s around you, you might get the feeling that you are per- ceiving exactly what is “out there” in the environment.
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