Processes of perception

How sensory data is transformed into perception is an extremely complex process that has not yet been fully elucidated by brain research. As soon as sensory stimuli reach us, our brain examines the received information in fractions of a second. It discards, evaluates and pre-selects them so that possible storage works faster. All this happens, of course, against the background of the person's experiences, feelings and attention.

Glossary

extrinsic information → information that concerns the external world of a person, such as stimuli of the body from its environment, for example the room environment.

intrinsic information → Information that concerns a person's inner world, such as sensations or joint positions.

Visual cortex → The part of the back of the brain in which visual information is processed.

focused perception → The brain's ability to concentrate attention on a specific target stimulus.

selected perception → The restricted perception of information through limited or one-sided attention.

Self-competence → Self-competence describes a person's ability to reflect self-critically on his or her own knowledge, actions and skills and to assess oneself appropriately.

Self-directed learning → Self-directed learning is a process in which individuals take primary responsibility for planning, continuing and evaluating their learning experiences (Merriam et al., 2007). In self-directed learning, the responsibility for learning shifts from an external source (teacher, etc.) to the individual

Content

How sensory data is transformed into perception is an extremely complex process that has not yet been fully elucidated by brain research. As soon as sensory stimuli reach us, our brain examines the received information in fractions of a second. It discards, evaluates and pre-selects them so that possible storage works faster. All this happens, of course, against the background of the person's experiences, feelings and attention.

Sensory information

Human development is guided by perception from the beginning. It starts with the fetus generating movements from virtually nothing. It hits the spatial limits. From the sensory feedback of these limitations, the child learns to perceive itself. Gradually, he learns to perceive stimuli from his body and from the environment. Perceptions are stimuli from the outside, that is, extrinsic information. All experienced patterns are stored in neural networks and are part of the intrinsic information. Extrinsic and intrinsic information are combined in the processing of sensory data.

As soon as the stimuli are transmitted, an "imaginary space" is supposed to be created. Perception thus triggers a problem-solving process. A plan of action, a plan for a particular movement pattern, is created anticipatory. At the same time, by incorporating intrinsic information (experiences), a plan B, an alternative program, is also prepared.

Examples:

When a baby approaches a hot stove for the first time, its reaction time is very long. It has no intrinsic information and therefore no plan B.
Man walks on a wet tile in the pool. Without previous experience, he slips. But if it has previous experience, it can perceive danger and adjust its speed, balance and position accordingly.

View

From birth, people move their eyes. The sense of sight also develops in the first months of life as the ability to control the eyes, through which one controls not only the world, but especially one's own extremities and their movements.

The human eye can create images of our world from an avalanche of information. Visual stimuli that meet the eye are received by more than 120 million receptors. We are able to distinguish ten million shades of colour, to perceive small things near us and huge things at extreme distances.

The processing of our visual perceptions already begins on the retina: Signals from the receptors condense there. These are processed and transmitted via the optic nerve to the visual cortex. By taking into account experiences, memory programs, emotions and memories, information is sorted, selected and evaluated. This ultimately leads to a perception, which, however, is not a realistic picture of reality, but an individual one. This is because our brain would be completely overworked if it had to continuously process the entire volume of information coming to us in the form of visual stimuli in a complete and real way.

In evaluating visual perceptions, it is important to create meaningful, albeit subjective, images of the environment in which we can orient ourselves. False impressions occur when there is not enough clear information and our brain relies on experience and stored knowledge and still constructs a half-believable picture.

Visual perception problems also result from lack or insufficient attention. In this context, attention means the autonomous and conscious focus and selection of stimuli.

Hearing

Ears are one of the first sensory organs to develop in humans. As early as the eighth week of pregnancy, the sense of balance develops, and by the sixth month of pregnancy at the latest, people can hear.

Auditory perception takes place in the brain, in a network of areas within and below the cerebral cortex. Auditory impulses reach the cochlea of the inner ear in the form of different frequencies. By connecting different frequency ranges with certain areas of the brain, a pre-selection of perceptions is already possible. The abundance of auditory stimuli is enormous. The selection of fragments (parts of auditory information) to be processed must take place within a few milliseconds. Therefore, the process of perception can only work because experience and attention are involved.

The degree of attention also determines whether listening becomes "casual listening" or listening. Selective listening requires a high level of concentration and is tiring. The constant overload of stimuli also makes differentiated perception difficult, and information can no longer be properly processed.

However, conscious selection in the reception of sensory impressions is of fundamental importance to learning. Patricia Kuhl uses the example of six-month-old babies to show the integrative link between focused and selective perception and the ability to pay attention. They are universally competent to perceive the sounds of all the languages of the world. However, at about eight months of age, this capacity is reduced. People have learned to pay attention and focus that attention on the language(s) in their environment - in order to learn them.

Attention is therefore the basic condition of any perceptual process. The ability to focus and perceive selectively is also the basis of self-competence and self-directed learning. Focusing on the source of information sometimes even has a physiological influence on the listener: when he listens carefully to spoken texts, even his own breathing rhythm adapts to that of the speaker.

What does this mean for my teaching practice?

Selective listening is a skill that must be trained to be able to distinguish relevant information from less important information. In everyday classroom life, children are constantly challenged to distinguish foreground sounds from background noises. Mindful listening and training in selective listening can have a positive effect on children's responsiveness.

Reflection question

What role do experiences and attention play in visual as well as auditory perception processes? How can previous experiences be activated in the teaching process to generate attention and readiness to learn?

Quiz

1) Perceptions trigger a problem-solving process. How does this work?

A) Selectively
B) Anticipatory
C) Extrinsic

2) Why can't many school children hear selectively?

A) Nobody teaches them
B) With multitasking, you don't need it
C) There are so many distractions

Answers

1️⃣ → B) Anticipatory
2️⃣ → C) There are so many distractions