Understanding Sensation and Perception: A Psychology Assignment

This assignment delves into the fundamental concepts of sensation and perception. It differentiates between the two, highlighting how sensation involves sensory input, while perception involves the brain's interpretation of that input. The assignment also explores the differences between bottom-up and top-down processing, providing examples of each. Bottom-up processing focuses on sensory information, whereas top-down processing involves the brain's cognitive processes. Furthermore, the assignment identifies and explains several Gestalt principles, such as similarity, continuation, closure, proximity, figure, and symmetry, and discusses how these principles contribute to our perception of shapes. The solution demonstrates that the Gestalt principles are an example of a top-down approach. This assignment aims to deepen the understanding of how we receive and interpret information from our environment.

Running head: QUESTION ANSWER
QUESTION ANSWER
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1QUESTION ANSWER
1. What is the difference between Sensation and Perception?
Sensation only involves the activities of our sensory organs, while perception involves
the activities of the brain thus enabling it to select among the situations and therefore
organizing in different ways3.
2. Describe the difference between bottom-up processing and top-down processing.
Provide an example for each type of processing.
Both the bottom up and the top down processes are parts of the sensation and perception.
The bottom up process refers to the processing of the sensory information at the very time it
is coming in, thus focusing on all the little details of the information2.
On the other hand, the top down process refers to the processes of perception by
cognition. Through the process of cognition the brain decides on which part to focus and thus
helps in the process of evaluation2.
For example, the perception of the brain after taking just a glance at a picture is an
example of bottom up, while if a picture is observed for some time, then the mind
automatically develops a context and adds values to the picture. This is top down process.
3. Name some gestalt principles that help us perceive shapes. Is this bottom up or top
down?
There are six principle of gestalt, and these are, similarity, Continuation, Closure,
Proximity, Figure and Symmetry and Order. These are used to create visual effects and
therefore, the brain perceives by joining the dots3. For example, the logo of WWF is an

2QUESTION ANSWER
example of the closure principle of Gestalt. There are certain discontinued section and it is
our brain that completes the pictures. Therefore, since this approach is based on previous
knowledge hence it is a top down approach3.

3QUESTION ANSWER
References:
(1) E. B, G.; J., B. Sensation and perception.; Cengage Learning., 2016; pp 23. 87-93.
(2) J, W. Adding Gestalt to the picture: Comment on “Move me, astonish me delight my eyes and
brain: The Vienna Integrated Model of top-down and bottom-up processes in Art Perception
(VIMAP) and corresponding affective, evaluative, and neurophysiological correlates” by
Matthew Pelowski et al.; Physics of life reviews, 2017; pp 21, 155-158.
(3) M. H. W, R.; A., C. Gestalt principles in multimodal data representation.; IEEE computer
graphics and applications, 2015; pp 35(2), 80-87.