Danielle module 1.1

Danielle: Module 1.1

When laboring to declare if the two major theoretical views of perception, one being that  individual perceptions are part of a lifelong process of building an ever-changing map of our everyday world, and the other that perceptions are a facet of the decision action process, it is my personal opinion that these two outlooks are not inherently different. By contrast, it is my contention that in fact, it is the combination of these two vistas that create the full, robust, and vivid picture of what perception really is.

 

According to Goldstein (2011), perception is defined as experiences that result or develop from stimulation of the senses. Moreover, he also posits that the process of perception is dependent both on the incoming stimulation (bottom-up processing) and the knowledge that the individual brings to the situation (top-down processing) (Goldstein, 2008). It is this suggestion that has provided the foundation for my opinion that the two views are not very different at all, just merely two sides of the same coin.

 

When assessing the value of the ‘perception coin,’ one must also consider the worth of a self-referencing system (Riding & Rayner, 2001). One of the major concerns for the contemporary philosophy of mind involves the debatable notion of qualia. According to Silby (1998), qualia is defined as individual instances of subjective, conscious sensory experiences (including the way things look, smell, sound, and even the way it feels to have pain) and includes the properties of our experience that cannot be located in the world external to our minds; however, that is challenged with the advent of artificial intelligence. Even though androids are programmed to understand what things look, sound and smell like, I do not believe that they are truly, currently, sentient; however, it is that humanistic property that, I believe, makes plausible the idea of qualia of any view of perception, in that our sensations are the essence of our experiences (Silby, 1998) and our experiences guide our perceptions.

 

In summary, when evaluating my complete view of perception, it is not a ‘this’ or ‘that’ definition. Perception is our experimental life map, guiding our direction, and employing our acquired knowledge to provide support for our subsequent actions. In other words, it is the bluest blue representative of the ocean of cognizance, the reddest red indicating our full decision making awareness, and the greenest green acknowledging our complete appreciation of the world around us.

 

Danielle

 

References:

 Goldstein, E. B. (2011). Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research, and everyday experience (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

 Goldstein, E. B. (2008). Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research, and everyday experience (2nd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

 

Riding, R. J., & Rayner, S. (2001). Self perception. Westport, Conn.: Ablex Publishing.

 

Silby, B. (1998). The problem of qualia. Retrieved from: http://www.def-logic.com/articles

Terrence Sawyer  Module 1.1

Cognition process although similar in general have unique patterns between individuals (Perry, 2001).  Each aspect of cognition, perception, attention, memory, language, reasoning, problem solving, and decision making, involve similar mechanisms (Goldstein, 2011). A person’s experiences and what is developed from those experiences makes up the individuality of a person (Hill, 2009).  Qualia is subject to individual construction of how the Individual mind will perceive (Hill, 2009).  To report properties of a sensation, feeling, you must be inclusive of thought and desires (Perry, 2001).  Perception is only a part of decision making, decisions are made with the cognitive character (Goldstein, 2011).  Perception is both top down and bottom up continuously combining and revealing itself in a mystery that is the selective process (Goldstein, 2011).

QUALIA: What it is like to have an experience, perception is the defining quality of the experience one is the result of the other (New York University, n.d.).  Qualia are experiential properties of sensations, feelings, perceptions and, more controversially, thoughts and desires as well, a conscious representation (Perry, 2001).  Defining qualia as conscious experience in both a distinct and abstract instance of an entity fuel perception as such involving conscious thought requires the existence of qualia (Hill, 2009). A person’s life experiences establish one’s qualia, a universal quale or a combined set of similar experiences.  Perception is dynamic, both universally and individually and is a resultant from lifelong experiences incorporated into memory through bottom up or top down processing creating a unique cognition mapping (Goldstein, 2011). Qualia is one aspect in the selective process and in which perception plays a role on the controlling aspect of how decision making and reaction get linked (New York University, n.d.).

 

Goldstein, E. B. (2011). Cognitive psychology: Connecting mind, research, and everyday experience (3rd ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.

 

Hill, C. S. (2009). Theories of qualia. Consciousness. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511804274.002

 

New York University, (n.d.) Qualia. Retrieved from http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/philo/faculty/block/papers/qualiagregory.pdf

Perry, J. (2001), Knowledge, Possibility and Consciousness, MIT Press: Cambridge, Knowledge, possibility and consciousness by John Perry (2002).Philosophy, 77(03), . doi:10.1017/s0031819102220392