Editing Perception (section)

{{Short description|Interpretation of sensory information}}
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{{Other uses|Perception (disambiguation)}}
{{redirect|Percept|other uses|Percept (disambiguation)}}
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[[File:Multistability.svg|thumb|The [[Necker cube]] and [[Rubin vase]] can be perceived in more than one way.]]
[[File:Synthesizing_3D_Shapes_via_Modeling_Multi-View_Depth_Maps_and_Silhouettes_With_Deep_Generative_Networks.png|thumb|Humans are able to make a very good guess on the underlying 3D shape category/identity/geometry given a silhouette of that shape. [[Computer vision]] researchers have been able to build computational models for perception that exhibit a similar behavior and are capable of generating and [[3D reconstruction|reconstructing 3D shapes]] from single or multi-view depth maps or silhouettes.<ref name="3DVAE">{{Cite web |title=Your 8 Senses |url=https://sensoryhealth.org/basic/your-8-senses |access-date=2024-05-06 |website=sensoryhealth.org |language=en}}</ref>]]
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'''Perception''' ({{etymology|la|{{wikt-lang|la|perceptio}}|gathering, receiving}}) is the organization, identification, and interpretation of [[sense|sensory]] information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment.<ref>{{cite book |title=Psychology |url=https://archive.org/details/psychology0000scha |url-access=registration |last=Schacter |first=Daniel |publisher=Worth Publishers |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-4292-3719-2}}</ref> All perception involves signals that go through the [[nervous system]], which in turn result from physical or chemical stimulation of the [[Sensory nervous system|sensory system]].<ref name="Goldstein52">Goldstein (2009) pp. 5–7</ref> [[Visual system|Vision]] involves [[light]] striking the [[retina]] of the [[eye]]; [[Sense of smell|smell]] is mediated by [[Olfactory system#Peripheral|odor molecules]]; and [[hearing]] involves [[Sound wave|pressure waves]].

Perception is not only the passive receipt of these [[Signal processing|signals]], but it is also shaped by the recipient's [[Perceptual learning|learning]], [[memory]], [[Expectation (epistemic)|expectation]], and [[attention]].<ref name="mind_perception2">[[Richard Gregory|Gregory, Richard]]. "Perception" in Gregory, Zangwill (1987) pp.&nbsp;598–601.</ref><ref name="Bernstein20102">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rd77N0KsLVkC&pg=PA123|title=Essentials of Psychology|last=Bernstein|first=Douglas A.|date=5 March 2010|publisher=Cengage Learning|isbn=978-0-495-90693-3|pages=123–124|access-date=25 March 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170102091148/https://books.google.com/books?id=rd77N0KsLVkC&pg=PA123|archive-date=2 January 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Sensory input is a process that transforms this low-level information to higher-level information (e.g., extracts shapes for [[cognitive neuroscience of visual object recognition|object recognition]]).<ref name="Bernstein20102" /> The following process connects a person's concepts and expectations (or [[knowledge]]) with restorative and selective mechanisms, such as [[attention]], that influence perception.

Perception depends on complex functions of the [[nervous system]], but subjectively seems mostly effortless because this processing happens outside [[Consciousness|conscious]] [[awareness]].<ref name="Goldstein52"/> Since the rise of [[experimental psychology]] in the 19th century, [[Perceptual psychology|psychology's understanding of perception]] has progressed by combining a variety of techniques.<ref name="mind_perception2" /> [[Psychophysics]] [[quantitatively]] describes the relationships between the physical qualities of the sensory input and perception.<ref>[[Gustav Fechner|Gustav Theodor Fechner]]. Elemente der Psychophysik. Leipzig 1860.</ref> [[Sensory neuroscience]] studies the neural mechanisms underlying perception. Perceptual systems can also be studied [[computation]]ally, in terms of the information they process. [[Philosophy of perception|Perceptual issues in philosophy]] include the extent to which sensory qualities such as [[sound]], smell or [[color]] exist in objective reality rather than in the mind of the perceiver.<ref name="mind_perception2" />

Although people traditionally viewed the senses as passive receptors, the study of [[illusion]]s and [[ambiguous image]]s has demonstrated that the [[brain]]'s perceptual systems actively and pre-consciously attempt to make sense of their input.<ref name="mind_perception2" /> There is still active debate about the extent to which perception is an active process of [[hypothesis]] testing, analogous to [[science]], or whether realistic sensory information is rich enough to make this process unnecessary.<ref name="mind_perception2" />

The [[perceptual system]]s of the brain enable individuals to see the world around them as stable, even though the sensory information is typically incomplete and rapidly varying. Human and other animal brains are structured in a [[Cognitive module|modular way]], with different areas processing different kinds of sensory information. Some of these modules take the form of [[Sensory Maps|sensory maps]], mapping some aspect of the world across part of the brain's surface. These different modules are interconnected and influence each other. For instance, [[taste]] is strongly influenced by smell.<ref name="DeVereCalvert2010_332">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m6WOtX2QAtwC&pg=PA39|title=Navigating Smell and Taste Disorders|last1=DeVere|first1=Ronald|last2=Calvert|first2=Marjorie|date=31 August 2010|publisher=Demos Medical Publishing|isbn=978-1-932603-96-5|pages=33–37|access-date=26 March 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111109163210/http://books.google.com/books?id=m6WOtX2QAtwC&pg=PA39|archive-date=9 November 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>