Perception 1

Sensation &
Perception
Dr Neil Roach
 Summary 1

Learning objective: Describe the perceptual process and the scientific techniques used to study it

When thinking about the perceptual process, it can be useful to distinguish between two separate
stages:

Sensation

• Energy from physical stimuli in the environment stimulates sensory receptors

• Converted to neural impulses, which are sent to the brain

Perception
• The brain processes and interprets this input

The modern ‘information processing approach’ to perception focuses on the computational steps
required to acquire, select, recall and process sensory information.

This is informed by complementary scientific approaches that probe relationships between sensory
input, neural representations/processes and perception
 Summary 2

Learning objective: Describe situations in which perception departs from reality

Most of the time our perceptions are reasonably accurate, otherwise we would have difficulty
navigating and interacting with the world

However, our brain’s interpretation does not always coincide with the properties of the sensory
input.
Types of illusions include

• failure to perceive objects (e.g. Lilac chaser)

• perception of objects in the absence of a stimulus (e.g. Lilac chaser, Hermann grid)
• perceptual distortions (e.g. Müller-Lyer illusion)
• multiple perceptions of the same stimulus (e.g. Necker cube, Rubin’s vase)
• perceptions that are physically impossible (e.g. Penrose triangle)
 Summary 3

Learning objective: Distinguish between top-down and bottom-up processing

• Top-down
– use of context and prior knowledge in perception
– emphasised by constructivist theories (e.g. Helmholtz, Gregory)

• Bottom-up
– processing of sensory information as it is received
– emphasised by Gibson’s direct theory of perception