Perception (from the Latin perceptio, percipio) is the process of attaining awareness orunderstanding of the environment by organizing and

interpreting sensory information.[1][ ] !"" perception invo"ves signa"s in the nervous system, which in turn resu"t from physica" stimu"ation of the sense organs. [#] $or e%amp"e, vision invo"ves "ight stri&ing the retinas of the eyes, sme"" is mediated by odor mo"ecu"es and hearing invo"ves pressure waves. Perception is not the passive receipt of these signa"s, but can be shaped by "earning,memory and e%pectation.['][(] Perception invo"ves these )top*down) effects as we"" as the )bottom*up) process of processing sensory input. [(] Perception depends on comp"e% functions of the nervous system, but sub+ective"y seems most"y effort"ess because this processing happens outside conscious awareness.[#] ,n the case of visua" perception, some peop"e can actua""y see the percept shift in their mind-s eye.[1#] .thers, who are not picture thin&ers, may not necessari"y perceive the -shape*shifting- as their wor"d changes. /he -esemp"astic- nature has been shown by e%periment0 anambiguous image has mu"tip"e interpretations on the perceptua" "eve"./his confusing ambiguity of perception is e%p"oited in human techno"ogies such as camouf"age, and a"so in bio"ogica" mimicry, for e%amp"e by 1uropean Peacoc& butterf"ies, whose wings bear eye mar&ings that birds respond to as though they were the eyes of a dangerous predator./here is a"so evidence that the brain in some ways operates on a s"ight )de"ay), to a""ow nerve impu"ses from distant parts of the body to be integrated into simu"taneous signa"s.[1']Perception is one of the o"dest fie"ds in psycho"ogy. /he o"dest 2uantitative "aw in psycho"ogy is the 3eber*$echner "aw, which 2uantifies the re"ationship between the intensity of physica" stimu"i and their perceptua" effects (for e%amp"e, testing how much dar&er a computer screen can get before the viewer actua""y notices). /he study of perception gave rise to the 4esta"t schoo" of psycho"ogy, with its emphasis onho"istic approach. $eatures Constancy Perceptua" constancy is the abi"ity of perceptua" systems to recognise the same ob+ect from wide"y varying sensory inputs.[(][1(] $or e%amp"e, individua" peop"e can be recognised from views, such as fronta" and profi"e, which form very different shapes on the retina. ! coin "oo&ed at face* on ma&es a circu"ar image on the retina, but when he"d at ang"e it ma&es an e""iptica" image. [15] ,n norma" perception these are recognised as a sing"e three*dimensiona" ob+ect. 3ithout this correction process, an anima" approaching from the distance wou"d appear to gain in size. [16] [17] .ne &ind of perceptua" constancy is co"or constancy0 for e%amp"e, a white piece of paper can be recognised as such under different co"ors and intensities of "ight. [17] !nother e%amp"e is roughness constancy0 when a hand is drawn 2uic&"y across a surface, the touch nerves are stimu"ated more intense"y. /he brain compensates for this, so the speed of contact does not affect the perceived roughness.[17] .ther constancies inc"ude me"ody, odor, brightness and words. [18] /hese constancies are not a"ways tota", but the variation in the percept is much "ess than the variation in the physica" stimu"us.[17] /he perceptua" systems of the brain achieve perceptua" constancy in a variety of ways, each specia"ized for the &ind of information being processed. [ 9] Grouping /he princip"es of grouping (or 4esta"t "aws of grouping) are a set of princip"es in psycho"ogy, first proposed by 4esta"t psycho"ogists to e%p"ain how humans natura""y perceive ob+ects as

organized patterns and ob+ects. 4esta"t psycho"ogists argued that these princip"es e%ist because the mind has an innate disposition to perceive patterns in the stimu"us based on certain ru"es. /hese princip"es are organized into five categories. /he princip"e of pro%imity states that, a"" e"se being e2ua", perception tends to group stimu"i that are c"ose together as part of the same ob+ect, and stimu"i that are far apart as two separate ob+ects. /he princip"e of simi"arity states that, a"" e"se being e2ua", perception "ends itse"f to seeing stimu"i that physica""y resemb"e each other as part of the same ob+ect, and stimu"i that are different as part of a different ob+ect. /his a""ows for peop"e to distinguish between ad+acent and over"apping ob+ects based on their visua" te%ture and resemb"ance. /he princip"e of c"osure refers to the mind:s tendency to see comp"ete figures or forms even if a picture is incomp"ete, partia""y hidden by other ob+ects, or if part of the information needed to ma&e a comp"ete picture in our minds is missing. $or e%amp"e, if part of a shape:s border is missing peop"e sti"" tend to see the shape as comp"ete"y enc"osed by the border and ignore the gaps. /he princip"e of good continuation ma&es sense of stimu"i that over"ap0 when there is an intersection between two or more ob+ects, peop"e tend to perceive each as a sing"e uninterrupted ob+ect. /he princip"e of common fate groups stimu"i together on the basis of their movement. 3hen visua" e"ements are seen moving in the same direction at the same rate, perception associates the movement as part of the same stimu"us. /his a""ows peop"e to ma&e out moving ob+ects even when other detai"s, such as co"or or out"ine, are obscured. /he princip"e of good form refers to the tendency to group together forms of simi"ar shape, pattern, co"or, etc. [ 1] [ ][ #][ '] Later research has identified additiona" grouping princip"es. [ (] ;ontrast effects0! common finding across many different &inds of perception is that the perceived 2ua"ities of an ob+ect can be affected by the 2ua"ities of conte%t. ,f one ob+ect is e%treme on some dimension, then neighboring ob+ects are perceived as further away from that e%treme. )<imu"taneous contrast effect) is the term used when stimu"i are presented at the same time, whereas )successive contrast) app"ies when stimu"i are presented one after another. [ 6] /he contrast effect was noted by the 16th ;entury phi"osopher =ohn Loc&e, who observed that "u&ewarm water can fee" hot or co"d, depending on whether the hand touching it was previous"y in hot or co"d water.[ 7] ,n the ear"y 9th ;entury, 3i"he"m 3undt identified contrast as a fundamenta" princip"e of perception, and since then the effect has been confirmed in many different areas.[ 7] /hese effects shape not on"y visua" 2ua"ities "i&e co"or and brightness, but other &inds of perception, inc"uding how heavy an ob+ect fee"s. [ 8] .ne e%periment found that thin&ing of the name )>it"er) "ed to sub+ects rating a person as more hosti"e. [#9] 3hether a piece of music is perceived as good or bad can depend on whether the music heard before it was unp"easant or p"easant.[#1] $or the effect to wor&, the ob+ects being compared need to be simi"ar to each other0 a te"evision reporter can seem sma""er when interviewing a ta"" bas&etba"" p"ayer, but not when standing ne%t to a ta"" bui"ding.[ 8] Of sound >earing (or audition) is the abi"ity to perceive sound by detecting vibrations. $re2uencies capab"e of being heard by humans are ca""ed audio or sonic. /he range is typica""y considered to be between 9 >z and 9,999 >z.[''] $re2uencies higher than audio are referred to as u"trasonic, whi"e fre2uencies be"ow audio are referred to as infrasonic. /he auditory system inc"udes the earsand inner structures which produce neura" signa"s in response to the sound. /he primary

auditory corte%, within the tempora" "obe of the human brain, is where auditory information arrives in thecerebra" corte%. <ound does not usua""y come from a sing"e source0 in rea" situations, sounds from mu"tip"e sources and directions are superimposed as they arrive at the ears. >earing invo"ves the computationa""y comp"e% tas& of separating out the sources of interest, often estimating their distance and direction as we"" as identifying them.[15] <peech perception is the process by which the sounds of "anguage are heard, interpreted and understood. ?esearch in speech perception see&s to understand how human "isteners recognize speech sounds and use this information to understand spo&en "anguage. /he sound of a word can vary wide"y according to words around it and the tempo of the speech, as we"" as the physica" characteristics, accent and mood of the spea&er. Listeners manage to perceive words across this wide range of different conditions.[citation needed] !nother variation is that reverberation can ma&e a "arge difference in sound between a word spo&en from the far side of a room and the same word spo&en up c"ose. 1%periments have shown that peop"e automatica""y compensate for this effect when hearing speech.[15]['(] /he process of perceiving speech begins at the "eve" of the sound within the auditory signa" and the process of audition. !fter processing the initia" auditory signa", speech sounds are further processed to e%tract acoustic cues and phonetic information. /his speech information can then be used for higher*"eve" "anguage processes, such as word recognition. <peech perception is not necessari"y uni*directiona". /hat is, higher*"eve" "anguage processes connected with morpho"ogy, synta%, or semantics may interact with basic speech perception processes to aid in recognition of speech sounds.[citation needed] ,t may be the case that it is not necessary and maybe even not possib"e for a "istener to recognize phonemes before recognizing higher units, "i&e words for e%amp"e. ,n one e%periment, ?ichard @. 3arren rep"aced one phoneme of a word with a cough*"i&e sound. >is sub+ects restored the missing speech sound perceptua""y without any difficu"ty and what is more, they were not ab"e to identify accurate"y which phoneme had been disturbed.['5] [Touch:haptic perception is the process of recognizing ob+ects through touch. ,t invo"ves a combination of somatosensory perception of patterns on the s&in surface (e.g., edges, curvature, and te%ture) and proprioception of hand position and conformation. Peop"e can rapid"y and accurate"y identify three*dimensiona" ob+ects by touch. [47] /his invo"ves e%p"oratory procedures, such as moving the fingers over the outer surface of the ob+ect or ho"ding the entire ob+ect in the hand.[48] >aptic perception re"ies on the forces e%perienced during touch.[49] 4ibson defined the haptic system as )/he sensibi"ity of the individua" to the wor"d ad+acent to his body by use of his body).[(9] 4ibson and others emphasized the c"ose "in& between haptic perception and body movement0 haptic perception is active e%p"oration. /he concept of haptic perception is re"ated to the concept of e%tended physio"ogica" proprioception according to which, when using a too" such as a stic&, perceptua" e%perience is transparent"y transferred to the end of the too". /aste0/aste (or, the more forma" term, gustation) is the abi"ity to perceive the f"avor of substances inc"uding, but not "imited to, food. >umans receive tastes through sensory organs ca""ed taste buds, or gustatory ca"ycu"i, concentrated on the upper surface of the tongue.[(1] /he human

tongue has 199 to 1(9 taste receptor ce""s on each of its rough"y ten thousand taste buds. [( ] /here are five primary tastes0sweetness, bitterness, sourness, sa"tiness, and umami. .ther tastes can be mimic&ed by combining these basic tastes. [( ][(#] /he recognition and awareness of umami is a re"ative"y recent deve"opment in 3estern cuisine.[('] /he basic tastes contribute on"y partia""y to the sensation and f"avor of food in the mouth A other factors inc"ude sme"", detected by the o"factory epithe"ium of the noseB[5] te%ture, detected through a variety of mechanoreceptors, musc"e nerves, etc.B[(#][((] and temperature, detected by thermoreceptors.[(#] !"" basic tastes are c"assified as either appetitive or aversive, depending upon whether the things they sense are harmfu" or beneficia".[(5] ]Of the social world <ocia" perception is the part of perception that a""ows peop"e to understand the individua"s and groups of their socia" wor"d, and thus an e"ement of socia" cognition.[(6]