How long it takes to respond to a stimulus

Reaction time

A lot of what someone experiences is not based on direct stimuli, rather representations in the nervous system

Principle of Neural representation

Processing in perception

Created by Thomas Bayes, who posited that our estimate of the probability of an outcome was determined by two things:
- 1) prior probability of an outcome 
- 2) likelihood of an outcome

Bayesian Inference

The ability to (mentally) recreate the sensory world in the absence of external stimuli. People can imagine tastes, smells and experiences

Mental Imagery

The study of perception involves multiple levels of analysis, extending from fundamental biological mechanisms to behavioral outcomes. These levels include:
1) Chemical processes
2) Activation of individual neurons
3) Activation of specific brain structures
4) Activation of interacting groups of brain structures
5) The conscious experience of perception
6) The resulting behavioral output or action

Levels of Analysis for Perception

- Reaction time
- Levels of analysis
- Principle of Neural Representation
- Processing in perception
- Bayesian Inference
- Mental imagery

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Perception is the complex psychological process of organizing, interpreting, and consciously experiencing sensory information. It involves making sense of the raw data detected by sensory receptors, actively shaping our conscious experience based on focused attention, past experiences, and cultural background.

Perception

Goldstein, E. B. (2014). Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience. Nelson Education.


Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research and everyday experience

Focuses of Research on Perception

- Vision 
- Hearing 
- Touch 
- Taste
- Smell
- Pain
- Social 
- Multi-modal
- Sensory Adaptation

Types of Perception

In Buddhism, perception is the process of identifying what the individual experiences by associating historically learned patterns with what is happening.

The Five Aggregates of Clinging: Perception

The body transfer illusion refers to the deceptive sense of ownership over a body that does not belong to oneself. This occurs when bottom-up visual cues override top-down knowledge about body ownership, leading to a false perception of possessing a different body.

Body Transfer Illusion 

Inattentional blindness is when people do not notice certain stimuli in their environment because their attention is elsewhere.

Inattentional Blindness

Perception is an active interpretation of sensory data that is significantly affected by a variety of personal and social factors. An individual's beliefs, values, prejudices, cultural background, and unique life experiences all interact to shape how they consciously perceive the world around them.

Factors Influencing Perception

Perception operates through two fundamental processing modes. Bottom-up processing is initiated by sensory information from an environmental stimulus, while top-down processing is guided by an individual's pre-existing knowledge and expectations.

Processing Modes in Perception

The discrepancy between what sensory receptors detect (sensation) and what is consciously experienced (perception) can be explained by several psychological mechanisms. Concepts such as sensory adaptation, selective attention, and signal detection theory help explain why certain sensory stimuli are perceived while others are not.

Factors Explaining Gaps Between Sensation and Perception

Human perception is not an objective recording of reality; it is a subjective process susceptible to error. Perceptual interpretations can be significantly shaped by an individual's pre-existing biases, prejudices, and other personal factors, demonstrating that what we perceive is not always an accurate reflection of the sensory world.

Fallibility and Bias in Perception

A person who is very afraid of spiders sees a small, dark piece of lint on their bed and momentarily perceives it as a spider, causing a brief panic. Which psychological principle best explains why the piece of lint was interpreted in this way?

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