Perception of reality can be influenced by physical and mental states, stimuli such as sound and light patterns, and language. Mental illnesses like schizophrenia can interfere with perception, and the mind interprets reality rather than accessing it directly. Language can also affect understanding of reality.
Many factors can influence perception of reality, including physical and mental states. Stimuli such as sound and light patterns can cause changes in a person’s perceptions that they may not be able to control, but active reorientation of the mind can also produce changes in perception. Mental illnesses such as schizophrenia can interfere with perception in a variety of ways. In some cases, actual thought patterns can also influence how a person understands physical reality.
Physical reality is generally believed to exist objectively, but each person’s perception of that reality can be different. This is because the mind does not access that objective reality directly, but rather interprets it so that the brain can use the information. An interesting case where this is true is slope perception, where a person’s physiological state can influence the slope he sees. Even when a person knows that the hill is not physically steeper than a certain amount and can accurately represent its slope using physical methods, he can still believe that the hill is visually steeper than it is.
Sound can also influence a person’s perception of reality. Subsonic frequencies have often been shown to create feelings of unease in people which sometimes result in ghost sightings or other eerie activity. On a more direct level, constant loud noise can disrupt thought patterns and make accurate perception very difficult.
Mental states can also influence a person’s perception of reality. Mindfully focusing the mind on an object, for example, can change how that object appears to a person. This is partly because the human mind does not treat all visual information as equally relevant. Focusing on sound can produce a similar effect, although this is more difficult for many people to achieve.
Illnesses can change perceptions and can often severely limit a person’s access to objective reality. Mental illnesses that change the way stimuli are interpreted must by definition change perception. Both delusions and hallucinations can change a person’s perception of reality, whether they are the result of drug use or mental difficulties.
An interesting factor that can change a person’s perception is language. Many people believe that how a person uses language can affect their understanding of some aspect of reality, but some people believe that language can literally change the way a person sees the world. This theory, sometimes known as linguistic relativity, is sometimes framed as changing conceptions rather than perceptions of reality, but it results in the same thought processes in both cases.
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