Perception

Perception. What does that mean? The dictionary describes it as the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses. Perception can also be defined as the way in which something is regarded, understood, or interpreted. Wikipedia sums both definitions up by defining perception as the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. Without perception, we probably would not even survive as a species. Therefore, perception is one of the most important survival tools any species can possess. We can probably not even imagine life without it. One can argue without perception one cannot even imagine things. Let´s test that hypnotises shall we. Try to explain to someone who never seen (let us take something simple) the colour blue how the colour blue looks like. It is close to impossible to describe something that one cannot perceive since our language is lacking the words to describe it and how do you describe something that you do not know about. We can perceive something indescribable, which limits our perception to a certain extent. Nevertheless, our society is somewhat dependent on a “common perception” that we use to describe the environment around us. However, has anyone wondered how we perceive what we perceive?

Do not worry this won´t be a science article even though I would have loved to explain how we humans perceive our environment. No in this article, I want to discuss the aspect of perception. Not what happens in the brain but what differs from person to person. Have you ever wondered how we perceive the world around us? One can think one's perception is normal or average but that is not necessarily true. Everyone’s perception is different. There may be traits of your perception that is considered to be normal but there are other traits that could be considered as unique. What is even more frustrating is that one will never know if one´s perception is average since one will never be able to experience things the other's experience. There may be stimulations so that you can try to get a different experience but at the end of the day, it is still your perception and not the perception of someone or something else. One will never know what others feel or how they perceive certain stimuli. I do not want to turn this into a motivation quote but we should always be open-minded when we see someone in pain. It is rude to consider them to be weak since how they perceive pain will be different from how you perceive pain.

Perception happens in the brain and everyone’s brain is different. Similar minds think alike but no two minds think exactly the same. Which makes two people perceiving the same thing nearly impossible. Perception is based on multiple factors. One of those factors is belief. For example, you believe that two slices of toast in the morning is enough but your friend believes that four slices of toast in the morning is the bare minimum. Who is right or wrong? Technically nobody is right or wrong since you and your friend have different beliefs, which lead to different perception of the amount of toast one needs in the morning. The same can be applied to religious beliefs. For example, the number 13 is considered unlucky in Christianity but 13 is considered lucky in countries like France or Italy. Therefore, a devoted Christian may tense up when they see 13 but a not religious Italian may be happy to see the number. The perception of the numbers is different even though the number stayed the same. This can also be applied to cultural beliefs. Many people consider the number four to be a lucky number but in Asian cultures, it is a very unlucky number since four sounds like the word death. Again, the same number with a different perception of it.

Another factor of perception is knowledge. It may not always be clear but different people also have different knowledge. Maybe it is due to different educational system, different beliefs or different experiences. When it comes to knowledge, nothing is 100% correct or incorrect. Not saying that one should disregard scientific studies since they are based on scientific research. However, one should always keep in mind that it used to be common knowledge that the sun revolves around the earth (geocentric model) and not the other way around. They believed that until Nicolaus Copernicus and Galileo Galilei invalidated that knowledge. Even when both Nicolaus and Galileo provided their evidence to disprove the geocentric model, very few people wanted to believe them. The famous physicist Max Planck wrote roughly 250 years after Nicolaus and Galileo, "A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it." (That is somewhat depressing but true. That is probably also the reason why many believe that climate change is a hoax and vaccines will insert microchips into the human brain.) Knowledge is constantly expanding and with new technologies, we will find out new things that may disprove the old theories and knowledge. With different knowledge, we will have a different perception of the world since perception and knowledge are closely intertwined. Let´s take the geocentric model for example. Before the heliocentric model (where the earth and planets revolve around the sun), the geocentric model probably made humans feel good about themselves knowing that they are the centre of the universe. The perception of their role in the universe probably made them feel high and mighty. When the heliocentric model came, many people probably did not want to believe it since it would take away the sense of importance. The heliocentric model probably made them feel like a tiny speck of dust in the enormous universe. Their perception of the whole world and their very own reality probably shifted due to the change of knowledge. (I am using the word ‘probably’ since I have no idea how the geocentric model and the change made the people feel in the middle-ages.)

The third factor is experience. It is funny how our experience is influenced by perception but at the same time, the experience is influencing our perception. It is an infinite cycle. From experience, you may know certain things that make your perception change. For example, fire. You know it is a terrible idea to hold your hand into the fire unless you want to roast your hand. Since your experience tells you, fire is hot and can hurt a lot so you stay away from fire. When you were younger, you probably burned yourself and you now carry that experience with you into the future. Therefore, whenever you see fire you know it is dangerous and you will be more cautious around it. However, a child who is unaware of the concept of fire will see fire as this mesmerizing dancing light. They will perceive fire as beautiful and something they want to get their hands on. The child´s parents probably warned the child about the dangers of fire but as everyone knows, we want to have and do things that are forbidden. The child will eventually learn that fire is dangerous by experiencing the flames against their palm or by watching other people accidentally burn themselves with fire. The child´s perception will change after experiencing the dangers of fire.

Have you ever wondered why some people hate what you love and vice versa? That has something to do with perception as well. The fourth factor that influences our perception also has something to do with that. Personal circumstances. Let´s talk about your likes and dislikes. For example, snow. Some may love it since they rarely see it. They see snow as this beautiful white blanket that covers the landscape and children see it as a new-fallen toy. The children see endless possibilities one can use snow for. Snow can be used for snowball fights, igloos, snowman, snow angels, etc… Their perception of snow is rather positive since they probably do not have a lot of experience with snow and where they live is no snow. Others may hate snow since they cannot continue their day normally because of the snow. They cannot go to work or have to scrape the ice off the cars. Snow can also be dangerous and bad in their opinion since one can slip on ice that forms beneath the snow and how snow and ice can affect the water supply. Their perception of snow will be negative since their experience and knowledge tells them that snow is bad. They probably also experience snow every day and find it rather annoying than fun. Depending on one’s current circumstances one´s perception will change accordingly.

The fifth factor that influences our perception is actually the source of where we get the information. Senses which senses the environment sends the information so that the brain can perceive the world around us. However, the senses could be different which means that one's perception will be different. For example tetrachromacy. “Nearly 12 percent of women may have this fourth colour perception channel. […] Men are actually more likely to be colour blind or unable to perceive as many colours as women. This is due to inherited abnormalities in their cones. […] Tetrachromats have a fourth type of cone featuring a photopigment that allows perception of more colours that aren’t on the typically visible spectrum.” (Healthline, 2018) This means there is a group of people who perceive the world different from normal trichromats. How do they see the world? They could explain it but the question is can we understand their description of their world?

We use perception all day every day so that we barely notice that it is there. Just like the subconscious. Without the subconscious, you will have to think about breathing and blinking. When you constantly have to think about day-to-day activities like breathing and blinking you won´t have time for anything else since the brain can only process that much information. This brings me to my next point. When does our perception change? Perception is dependent on awareness; therefore, if one is too invested in an activity then it is easier to scare that person. Mainly because that person was not paying attention, in other words, their perception is focused on something different. The senses are not focused on the surroundings, which in the end means that your perception is not perceiving the surroundings either. This is when our perception change. However, this is not the only time when perception may change. If any of the factors mentioned above change so will your perception of certain things. In the past, you may have wanted to be a grown-up but now as a grown-up, you would rather be a child. As children, we perceive adults as these mature and respected beings, so we want to be adults. However, after growing up you will realize that adults also have crushing responsibilities and need to work nine to five. Your perception changed because your experience, knowledge and belief of adults change. It is truly fascinating how tiny trivial changes in knowledge can lead to a drastic change in perception.

Believe it or not, our perceptions can also be tricked. That is probably the reason why we like optical illusions so much. Optical illusions show us that our perception can often not be trusted. The link leads to a german site that shows common 94 optical illusions.

https://michaelbach.de/ot/index-de.html

I found another video about how illusions work. The video goes into detail about perception, therefore I suggest that you check it out. 

Perception is not a straight forward thing but rather a complex network that works together so that one can perceive the world in a way that is accurate in one owns mind. There are normally multiple factors that change our perception and there are other factors that I did not mention. However, from the examples above one will know that there is more to perception than we might give it credit for. Normally, multiple factors work together so that one can perceive reality. It may not be accurate but the mind believes it to be therefore you believe it. This leaves us with a less accurate view of the world, which is neither a good thing nor a bad thing. All I am saying is that we need to keep that in mind whenever we start to argue with other people about what we perceive. What you may see may be correct but that does not necessarily mean that the other person is incorrect.