PSYCO258 Midterm: Chapter Three

• School: University of Alberta
• Department: Psychology
• Course: PSYCO258
• Professor: James Farley

Document Summary

We define perception as experiences resulting from stimulation of senses. Perception can change based on added information. It involves a constructive process similar to reasoning or problem solving. Tends to occur in conjunction with actions. It is important to recognize that while perception creates a picture of our environment and helps us take action within it, it also plays a central role in cognition in general. Essential for creating memories, acquiring knowledge, solving problems, communicating with other people, recognizing someone, and answering questions on an exam. While perception seems automatic, effortless, seamless, and trivial but human perception draws on higher level cognitive abilities to resolve the many things we perceive. Can be considered an active and constructive process. Variability in what can be perceived is often particularly evident in optical illusions. Attempts to create artificial forms of perception have been met with limited success, and have frequently had problems that could not be solved.