Perception

Essay by prinstonwHigh School, 12th gradeA+, September 2006

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Perception is "the process of acquiring, interpreting, selecting, and organizing sensory information." Perception plays a vital role in ones life as it depends on the five senses and triggers the ability to acquire and mentally interpret information perceived by the brain from the senses. Everything which we see around us are converted by the brain into nerve impulses, and these impulses are the only information the brain receives as it has not direct contact with the external world, therefore creating the 'real world' inside our heads. We would not be able to see the world as it is today if it were not for our senses and perception.

Perception can be conceived as a task to be accomplished and a problem to be solved which means we are constantly inquiring and we must grasp hold of what we learn with the help of sensation and make functional for our purposes.

For example, a baby learning how to see is constantly inquiring knowledge and using sensation to make it useful- in this case, the child is using sensation to help it learn how to see and inquire about the objects around the child.

Seeing-As

Separating sense data from inference or interpretation may be seen as a difficulty which we must overcome. When we see-as, we are differentiating between using our senses and inferences- there is more to seeing than what meets the eye. For example, if we see a tiny blue blob across a large room, we may perceive it to be one of many numerous objects, but based on previous information, we may realize that the tiny blue blob is actually a pen. Objects are not seen until the brain organizes it, and based on previous knowledge, one may interpret it for what it actually is, say in this example...