The more aware people are of their internal states, the better able they are to regulate the experience of those states by engaging in top-down cognitive change. 

Top-Down Emotion Regulation

Which Type of Information Processing Involves Using Existing Context and Prior Experiences to Influence Perception and Attention?

A practical example of top-down processing is searching for misplaced keys. If the keys have a distinct feature, like a yellow fob, the search is guided by the specific goal of finding a yellow object of a certain size. This search is further directed by prior experience and knowledge, such as knowing that keys are more likely to be on a coffee table than on a ceiling fan. This makes the search a controlled and deliberate act, rather than a random scan of the environment.

Example of Top-Down Processing: Searching for Keys

Top-down processing is a perceptual process where the recognition of stimuli is guided by an individual's pre-existing knowledge, experiences, and expectations. This cognitive approach is typically goal-directed, slow, deliberate, and effortful, operating under conscious control to interpret incoming sensory information.

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-  Bottom-up processing
-  Top-down processing 
-  Unitization 

Attention Process Mechanisms

The greater amount of grey matter within the right amygdala, the lesser activity and thus the greater cognitive control of stressful/fearful emotional responses. This is likely because the amygdala is inhibited by the Prefrontal Cortex at rest. Thus the result is greater top-down control of the emotions.

Mindfully Trained Right Amygdala

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

Wheeler, M., Arnkoff, D., & Glass, C. (2017). The Neuroscience of Mindfulness: How Mindfulness Alters the Brain and Facilitates Emotion Regulation. Mindfulness, 8(6), 1471-1487.

How Mindfulness Alters the Brain and Facilitates Emotion Regulation

Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020, April 22). Psychology (2nd ed.). OpenStax. https://openstax.org/books/psychology-2e/pages/1-introduction

OpenStax Psychology (2nd ed.) Textbook

Processing sensory information as it comes in (e.g. flashing light, alarm) It is driven by salience.

Bottom-up Processing

Top-Down Processing

Perceiving something as a unit vs. piece-by-piece to make sense of it (native vs. foreign language)

Unitization

- Anterior Cingulate Cortex
- Insular Cortex
- Prefrontal Cortex
- Amygdala

Areas of the Brain Responsible for Mindfulness

Researchers compared neural structures and function of the brains within a group of participants. Only one facet (the describing facet) correlated with greater gray matter volume. The higher people scored on the describing facet, the higher their gray matter volume in a region that spanned the right amygdala and in the right anterior IC. 

Mindfulness Practice Builds Gray Matter

Bottom-up processing is a perceptual process that begins with sensing the basic features of a stimulus from the environment. These individual sensory details are then integrated and built upon to form a complete perception, without the influence of prior knowledge or expectations.

Bottom-Up Processing

Analyze the following scenario. Explain how both the processing of raw sensory information and the influence of prior knowledge and expectations contribute to the individual's changing perception of the object.

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