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Perception

Perception

Perception is a fundamental psychological process that enables individuals to organize, interpret, and consciously experience sensory information. This process is crucial for understanding and interacting with the world around us. It includes both bottom-up and top-down processing, each playing a distinct role in how we perceive our environment.
Bottom-up processing begins at the sensory level, where receptors detect external environmental stimuli. These could include the tactile sensation of...

Vision

Vision

Vision is the result of light being detected and transduced into neural signals by the retina of the eye. This information is then further analyzed and interpreted by the brain. First, light enters the front of the eye and is focused by the cornea and lens onto the retina—a thin sheet of neural tissue lining the back of the eye. Because of refraction through the convex lens of the eye, images are projected onto the retina upside-down and reversed.

Visual System

Visual System

Light enters the eye through the cornea, a transparent, dome-shaped surface covering the surface of the eyeball that helps to direct and focus incoming light. This light is then channeled toward the pupil, an adjustable opening whose size is controlled by the iris. The iris, a pigmented muscle, regulates the amount of light entering the eye by contracting or dilating the pupil, thereby ensuring optimal light levels for clear vision.
Once through the pupil, the light passes through the lens, a...

Gestalt Principles of Perception

Gestalt Principles of Perception

Gestalt principles provide a framework for understanding how humans perceive objects as unified wholes within their context. These principles are essential in explaining the cognitive processes that make sense of complex visual stimuli by organizing them into coherent groups. One fundamental principle is proximity, which posits that objects located close to each other are perceived as a collective group. For instance, when dots are positioned near one another, the visual system interprets them...

Depth Perception and Spatial Vision

Depth Perception and Spatial Vision

Depth perception is the ability to perceive objects three-dimensionally. It relies on two types of cues: binocular and monocular. Binocular cues depend on the combination of images from both eyes and how the eyes work together. Since the eyes are in slightly different positions, each eye captures a slightly different image. This disparity between images, known as binocular disparity, helps the brain interpret depth. When the brain compares these images, it determines the distance to an object.

Association Areas of the Cortex

Association Areas of the Cortex

Association areas are regions of the cerebral cortex that do not have a specific sensory or motor function. Instead, they integrate and interpret information from various sources to enable higher cognitive processes such as memory, learning, and decision-making. Some key association areas include the following:
Prefrontal Association Area: This area is located in the frontal lobe and is involved in planning, decision-making, and moderating social behavior. It connects with primary motor areas,...

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 4, 2026

Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity

Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity

Published on: March 18, 2019

Target-directed visual attention is a prerequisite for action-specific perception.

Rouwen Cañal-Bruland¹, Frank F Zhu, John van der Kamp

¹Research Institute MOVE, Faculty of Human Movement Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands. r.bruland@fbw.vu.nl

Acta Psychologica

|January 29, 2011

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Successful golfers perceive the golf hole as larger, a phenomenon known as action-specific perception. This effect requires focused visual attention on the target during the action.

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Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jun 4, 2026

Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity

Investigating the Deployment of Visual Attention Before Accurate and Averaging Saccades via Eye Tracking and Assessment of Visual Sensitivity

Published on: March 18, 2019

Measuring Attention and Visual Processing Speed by Model-based Analysis of Temporal-order Judgments

Measuring Attention and Visual Processing Speed by Model-based Analysis of Temporal-order Judgments

Published on: January 23, 2017

Methods to Explore the Influence of Top-down Visual Processes on Motor Behavior

Methods to Explore the Influence of Top-down Visual Processes on Motor Behavior

Published on: April 16, 2014

Area of Science:

Cognitive Psychology
Sports Science
Visual Perception

Background:

Action-specific perception suggests successful actions alter perceptual judgments.
Previous research indicated golfers perceive holes as larger when they putt successfully.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate if action-specific perception in golf putting relies on visual attention directed at the target.
To determine the necessity of focused attention for altered perceptual judgments during action.

Main Methods:

Experiment 1 replicated prior findings on action-specific perception in golf putting.
Experiments 2 and 3 manipulated visual attention by withholding or dividing it during the putting task.
Participants performed golf putts under varying attentional conditions.

Main Results:

Action-specific effects on perception were absent when visual attention was withheld from the target.
No action-specific effects were observed when attention was divided between the target and other stimuli.
Replication of action-specific effects was successful only when attention was presumably focused.

Conclusions:

Focused visual attention on the action target is a prerequisite for action-specific perception.
The phenomenon of action-specific perception is dependent on the allocation of visual attention during task performance.
These findings highlight the interplay between motor actions, attention, and perceptual experience.