When processing starts at the beginning of the system, starting with the environment stimulating receptors (i.e. electrical signals being sent through the brain after light reaches the eye)

Bottom-up processing

When processing starts in the brain, at "the top" of the perceptual system (i.e. incorporating prior knowledge or experience in perception).

Top-down processing

University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

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

Focuses of Research on Perception

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

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Related

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