Perceptual Physiology

Perceptual physiology is the investigation of functional aspects of sensory perception on the basis of anatomical and biological knowledge.

This includes both the signal transduction processes in the sensory receptors as well as the subsequent processing steps of this stimulus information in the central nervous system .

Since conscious perceptions do not correspond to mere sensory stimuli, but rather represent the end result of central nervous processing, a distinction is usually made between unconscious sensory and actual perceptual sensory impressions. A classic example to illustrate this dichotomy is the comparison of the two-dimensional light projection on the retina (and the resulting two-dimensional receptor activation of the retina ) and the three-dimensional visual sensation that the brain calculates from this.

literature

• Dieter Lohmar: Phenomenology of the weak imagination . Springer Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, Berlin Heidelberg 2008, ISBN 978-1-4020-6830-0 .
• Sophia Prinz: The practice of seeing. About the interplay of bodies, artifacts and visual order. Transcript Verlag, Bielefeld 2014, ISBN 978-3-8376-2326-0 .

Web links

• Basics of visual perception (accessed February 18, 2016)
• Between the Lines: How We See Film (accessed February 18, 2016)