PERCEPTION

When ore sense-organ come in contact with the world and are stimulated by external
stimuli and receive sensations, it results in perception. Sensation is the initial response
of an individual to a stimulus. Perception is the interpretation of sensory stimuli which
reach the sense organs and the brain. Interpretation gives meaning to sensation and we
become aware of objects.
DEFINITION:
According to JH Jackson,
‘Perception is the experience of objects, events or relationship obtained by extracting
information from and interpreting sensation’.
According to RE Silverman,
‘Perception is an individual’s awareness aspect of behaviour, for it is the way each
person processes the raw data he receives from the environment into meaningful
patterns’.

PRINCIPLES OF PERCEPTION:
Individual tend to organized environmental stimuli into some meaningful patterns or
wholes according to certain principles. Some of the important principles are as follows,
1. Principle of Figure-Ground Relationship:
According to this principles, a figure is perceived in relationship to its
background. The perception of the object/figure in terms of color, size, shape and
intensity, etc depends upon the figure-ground relationship. A proper figure-
ground relationship is quite important from the angle of perception of the figure
or the ground

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 2. Principle of Closure:
According to this principle, while confronting an incomplete pattern one tend to
complete/close the pattern or fill in sensory gaps and perceive it as a meaningful
whole. This type of organization is extremely helpful in making valuable
interpretation of various incomplete objects, patterns or stimuli present in our
environment. Exp: The lines in the figure may be well perceived as letters W, O,
D etc.

3. Principle of Grouping:
Principle of grouping refers to the tendency to perceive stimuli in some organized
meaningful patents by grouping them on some solid basic like Similarity,
Proximity & Continuity.
Similarity, there is a tendency to perceive objects of a similar size and shape or
color as a unit or figure.

Proximity, it means nearness. The objects which are nearer to each other can be
perceived meaningfully by grouping them.

Continuity, any stimulus which extends in the same direction or shape will be
perceived as a whole. Our attention is being held more by a continuous one. We see a
curved line and a straight line. We do not see a straight line with small semi-circles
above and below.

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4. Principle of Context:
Perceptual organization is also governed by the principle of context, i.e. an
examiner may award higher marks to the same answer book in a pleasant context
than in an unpleasant one.

5. Principle of Contrast:
Perceptual organization is very much affected through contrast effects as the
stimuli that are in shape contrast to nearby stimuli may draw our maximum
attention and carry different perceptual affects.

6. Principle of Adaptability:
The perceptual organization for some stimuli depends upon the adaptability of the
perceiver to perceive similar stimuli. An individual who adapts himself to work
before an intense bright light will perceive normal sunlight as quite dim.

7. Principle of Contour:
A contour is said to be a boundary between a figure and its ground. The degree of
the quality of this contour separating the figure from the ground is responsible for
enabling us to organize stimuli or objects into meaningful patterns.

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 8. Principles of Connectedness

This principle explains that the elements and objects that are visually connected are
perceived as more related than the elements or objects with no connection. In this
image, the lines connect two pairs of elements. The connections lead us to perceive that
the connected elements are related to each other in some way.

FACTOR AFFECTING PERCEPTION:

Sense
Organ

Needs and
Brain
Desires

Factors
affecting
Perception
Memory
Acquired images of
Interests the past
experience
Personal
interests
and mind
set

Sense Organ:
Perception depends upon the sense organs or receptors on which the stimuli act and
sensory neurons which transmit the nerve current from the receptors to the sensory area
of the brain. Exp: If cones are not developed in the retina, color cannot be perceived.

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Brain:
Perception depends upon the functioning capacity of both the sensory and association
areas of the brain. Exp: If the auditory area is destroyed we cannot have auditory
perception.
Memory Images of the Past Experience:
Memory images help us in the comprehension of the object or stimulus before us.
Generally, perception involves the integration of sensory experience in the light of past
experience and present psychological conditions. Exp: A child has come in contact with
a horse for the first time. He has already seen a cow. When he is asked it [horse]is, he
may say it is a cow or like a cow.
Personal Interests and Mind Set:
We perceive those things quickly and clearly, which are concerned with our interests
and mind set.
Acquired Interests:
Our acquired interests also determine the object or objects which we perceive. A person
who has a hobby of collecting stamps will quickly notice any new stamp on a letter.
Needs and Desires:
Our needs or desires also modify our perceptions. Besides these our beliefs, opinions
and cultural ideals also modify our perception of thinking, situations and objects.

ERRORS IN PERCEPTION:
Perceptual processes enable an individual to perceive things accurately and facilitate
smooth functioning. However, some errors creep into this process under certain
circumstances leading to impaired perceptions. These are:
i. Illusion:
It is a misinterpretation of actual perception. When the interpretation of a
particular stimulus goes wrong, it gives rise to a wrong perception or illusion.
Exp: A rope in the dark is perceived as a snake or vice-versa.
The voice of an unknown person is mistaken as a friend’s voice.
A person standing at a distance who is not known may be perceived as a
known person.
Illusions are caused by inadequacies of our sense organs, distance of the object
from the sense organ which perceives it, misleading stimuli in the
environment, our perceived notions and expectancy.

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 ii. Hallucination:

The word “Hallucination” is derived from the Latin word ‘Hallicinat’ which means
“gone astray in thought” , meaning when thoughts become lost or misplaced. Thus,
hallucination is defined as the false perception occurring in the absence of external
stimulus.
Hallucination is identified as one of the major errors of perceptions. These are sensory
perceptions, in the absence of any corresponding external sensory stimuli.
Hallucinations are imaginary perceptions, in which one sees or hears something that is
not seen or heard by others around him.
Depending upon the particular sensory modality people experience different types of
hallucinations, Exp: visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, olfactory and gustatory. Accurate
perception is absolutely necessary in order to record an accurate observation. It is
possible to make errors in perception due to a number of reasons.
• Visual Hallucination:

This hallucination, when a person sees or visualizes something which does not actually
exist.

Exp: A person may hear a voice that no one else in the room can hear, meaning the
stimulus in reality is not there.
• Auditory Hallucination:

When a person hears a sound, but the sound is not actually there (it means no one else
nearby can hear that sound).

Exp: A person may hear someone speaking to him or telling him to do certain things.
• Tactile Hallucination:

It is a false perception of touch. Exp: A person may feel insects crawling on his skin
when none are present.
• Olfactory Hallucination:

This also known as phantosmia, making a person detect smells when are not present in
the environment in reality. It may be a foul or pleasant smell and can occur in one or
both nostril.
• Gustatory Hallucination:

It is a false perception of taste. These tastes are often strange and unpleasant. The
metallic taste for instance, is often a common symptom among people with epilepsy.

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CAUSES FPR INACCURATE PERCEPTION:
a. Defective functioning of sense organs: For example, myopia, deafness,
anaesthesia or other sensory defects can cause inaccurate perception.
b. Inadequate stimulus: Our receptors may not be stimulated adequately, if stimuli
were strong enough, vague or indefinite. A very weak light/ soft sound will make
it difficult to perceived correctly.
c. Too many stimuli at one time: When too many stimuli are present at one given
time, perceiving one stimulus correctly is difficult.
Exp: In the presence of loud noises, it may be difficult to perceive the call of a
patient.
d. Poor health: Sense organs cannot function adequately and correctly as a result of
illness. For this reasons, the perceptions of patients may be inaccurate.
e. Limited attention: If we try to apprehend more things than we can at a time, we
are liable to have an inaccurate perception.
f. Figure merges in the ground: Sometimes objects are perceived with difficulty
because they resemble their surroundings.
Exp: A white patch is difficult to detect on a white wall.
g. Guidance: Perception is inaccurate, when we do not know what should be
perceived.

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