What’s sensory perception?

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Sensory perception, also called sensory perception, is gaining an understanding or awareness of what is happening or present in one’s surroundings. It happens when a person collects, organizes and interprets sensory information. This is a complex task that is deeply connected to the body’s nervous system.
The heart of sensory perception are sensory organs such as the eyes, skin, and ears. These organs essentially serve as an interface between the brain and the environment. Once these organs have a piece of data, complex signals are sent to the brain via the nervous system. The brain interprets these signals so that the data has meaning.

How the brain interprets information from the body’s sensory organs is incredibly complex. Structures in the rational and emotional centers of the brain help maintain memories of the information a person acquires. These memories allow people to make comparisons between different things, to learn and to make rational judgments. For example, based on the experiences a person has, she can infer whether what she perceives is real or simply an illusion.

The fact that everyone’s brain works a little differently and that people have different experiences means that not everyone will interpret sensory data the same way. A classic example is an image of two identical face silhouettes looking at each other with a space in between. Some people only see silhouettes. Others only see the space between the silhouettes, which looks like a goblet or cup. This is of interest to psychologists, psychiatrists, physicians, and other professionals such as teachers who need to understand how sensory perception relates to a person’s behavior, health, or learning ability. Different brain functions and experiences also mean that sensory perception is not constant, but rather shapes over time as memories are formed.

Traditionally, experts have always included the five main senses in sensory perception. These include vision, hearing, taste, touch and smell. Some experts believe that sensory perception involves other less recognized senses. Examples of these include equilibrium perception, the ability to know how the body is positioned and to maintain balance; proprioception, the ability to know where parts of the body are without seeing them; thermoception, the ability to sense heat and cold; and temporal perception, which is the sense of the passage of time. Another sense originally thought to be part of general touch is nociception, or the ability to perceive pain.

Of considerable debate is extrasensory perception, or ESP. The simple definition of ESP is the ability to gather data beyond the normal senses. For example, a person with ESP might know when someone is in trouble without being near the other person, or be able to detect the presence of a spirit. Many people don’t believe that ESP exists, but proponents often spend a lot of time explaining how to tap into this kind of perception and thereby become more aware internally and externally.

Sensory perception occurs in many different species, not just people. The way different species are designed means that their sensory perception is often different from that of humans. For example, dogs have a sense of smell that can be tens of times greater than a person’s sense of smell.
Given all the variables present with sensory perception, it is virtually impossible to tell that there is a right or wrong way to perceive. As people learn more about the brain, however, understanding of sensory perception will increase. This can help people progress in multiple areas, including medicine, design, education, and even advertising and marketing.

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