ISBN Perception: A Very Short Introduction English

Perception is one of the oldest and most deeply investigated topics in the field of psychology and it is also raises some profound philosophical questions. It is concerned with how we use the information reaching our senses to guide and control our behaviour as well as to create our particular subjective experiences of the surrounding world. In this Very Short Introduction Brian J. Rogers discusses the philosophical question of what it means to perceive as well as describing how we are able to perceive the particular characteristics of objects and scenes such as their lightness colour form depth and motion. What we perceive however does not always correspond to what exists in the world and as Rogers shows the study of illusions can be useful in telling us something about the nature and limitations of our perceptual processes. Rogers also explores perception from an evolutionary perspective explaining how evolutionary pressures have shaped the perceptual systems of humans and other animals. He shows that perception is not necessarily a separate and independent process but rather part of a 'perceptual system' involving both the extraction of perceptual information and the control of action. Rogers goes on to cover the significant progress made recently in the understanding of perception through the use of precise and controlled psychophysical methods single cell recordings and imaging techniques. There have also been many insights from attempts to model perceptual processes in artificial systems. As Rogers shows these attempts have revealed how difficult it is to programme machines to perform even the most simple of perceptual tasks that we take for granted. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts analysis perspective new ideas and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.