Perception is one of the many cognitive processes that help us acquire information from the environment. The environment consisting of various objects and events always excite us in some forms by creating its initial impression on our sense organs.
Our perception of the stimulus world is not always accurate. In certain occasions, the sensory information may be incorrectly interpreted. Such cases are known as illusions. A visual illusion occurs when two objects produce exactly the same retinal image, but are perceived as different images.
We see birds fly in the sky. We see the movement of different types of vehicles. We see the movement of people around us. How do we perceive movement? Do we perceive the moving objects the same way that we perceive objects, which are static?
Emotions and mood changes form a part of our daily life experience; Emotions change under different circumstances and color our perception of the world. When the person is in a happy mood, the world around appear beautiful and satisfying.
Set refers to a state of mental disposition to be alert to certain kinds of sensory inputs. A person having a definite set would attend to certain selected aspects of the stimulus situation.
Perception is guided not simply by factors intrinsic to the person; the socio- cultural environment also has a role to play. The culture consists of the whole range of experiences during the process of socialization.
A number of studies was conducted in the late 1940s and 1950s to show the impact of motives and needs on perception. Despite methodological imitations and inconsistencies, most of those studies point to the fact that our perception is largely guided by our immediate needs and motives.
The perception involves the meaningful interpretation of the sensory input. Both Helmholtz and Gibson pointed to the importance of experience in explaining perception. The past experience prepares the individual to emphasize some sensory inputs and ignore others.