Perception

Perception is the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information which enables us to recognize meaningful objects and events.

• Bottom-up processing:
  • starts at sensory receptors and then works up to the higher brain for processing
  • We use this when we are unfamiliar with a setting
• Top-Down Processing
  • constructs perceptions from the sensory input by drawing on experience and expectations.
  • We use this when we know what expect from a setting.

Think of your school and how differently you see it now versus the first time you went. The first time you ever stepped into your school you were processing your surroundings from a sensory perspective, this is Bottom-up processing. Now you have a sensory expectation of the school so you perceive it differently now, and that is Top-down processing.

Things that can impact perception

Selective Attention, this is when your awareness is focused on a particular detail of your experience. This also explains why true multitasking isn’t always feasible.

An example of this is the Cocktail party effect, this is a phenomenon where, even in a noisy environment (like a crowded room), you can still focus on a single conversation. Imagine being at a party or event and despite all the noise you can still easily hear when someone is calling your name.

Inattentional Blindness

Our conscious awareness only picks up a small part of the visual information around us. Researchers illustrated this effect through a video experiment where three men in black shirts and three in white shirts passed a basketball. Viewers were asked to count the passes made by the black-shirted players.

Focusing so closely on the task, most viewers didn’t notice a woman with an umbrella walking across the screen. When they saw the video again, they were surprised to spot her.

This shows how our ability to concentrate on specific things can make us miss other details in our surroundings. In a similar experiment, someone dressed as a gorilla walked through the game, paused, beat their chest, and moved on. Yet, half of the viewers who were counting passes didn’t notice the gorilla.

Our attention is very selective, and our conscious mind can only focus on one thing at a time. Other studies revealed a related phenomenon called change blindness, where people fail to notice changes in their environment.

Perceptual Set

Perceptual set is a mental predisposition that acts like a lens through which we view and interpret the world around us. It is influenced by our past experiences, schemas (learned concepts), and expectations, shaping the way we perceive ambiguous information.

Schemas (a cognitive framework or concept that helps organize and interpret information that is developed based on our past experiences and knowledge, allowing us to categorize and understand new information quickly) help us organize and make sense of new information.

Expectations, context, motivation, and emotions can influence how we interpret events and behaviors.

Example:
If you walk into a classroom expecting a test, you might interpret the teacher’s serious expression as a sign of upcoming pressure. However, if you walk in expecting a fun activity, you might see the same expression as one of concentration or focus, unrelated to stress.