![]() Thus it can help us to quickly make sense of the environment by simplifying our understanding of the world. Top-down processing is what enables us to streamline the sensory inputs we get from our five senses based on the context, our motivation, and our knowledge that we have already gained out of experiences to perceive and understand the stimuli so that we are not continually overwhelmed by external stimuli. We often use this without realising that we are using this processing in the way we make sense of our own interactions and it also influences the way we interact with the world. Top down processing is an automatic process by which we make sense of the world around us and our experiences. For example, when you are hungry and motivated to seek out food to satisfy your hunger, you might perceive ambiguous pictures and objects as food. Motivation can also make it more likely for one to interpret something in a particular way. The context, or circumstances in which the stimuli- the event or an object- appears and is perceived, can influence the way we perceive and understand the stimuli.įor example, if the stimuli such as a shadow is perceived in a situation where one is feeling fear and a threat to their survival, they might understand the shadow as something to be afraid of or something dangerous.Īnother example can be, when you are reading something related to construction and you come across an unfamiliar word you might just interpret the word as something related to construction. Some of the factors that influence the process of top-down processing include: Context What affects the process of top-down processing? It is through this cognitive process of taking what we already know and bringing it down to our sensory system to make sense of what we are smelling, seeing, tasting, touching, hearing that we are able to simply the world around us and make perceptions with which we further interpret our experiences. It can help us to streamline the millions of sensations that we are feeling as well as to make sense of the novel experiences that we might come across on a day to day basis. Top down processing allows us to limit the potentially limitless experiences that we come across on a second to second basis. The concept of Top down processing was introduced by psychologist Richard Gregor who claimed that the way we perceive things is usually constructive and replies on context and prior experiences to interpret new information.Īccording to this psychologist, perception is mostly testing of a hypothesis that involves us using our existing knowledge, what we remember and recall of past experiences to hypothesise what we are perceiving so as to make meaning and understand what it is that we are looking at, or sensing from our sensory system. These perceptions add to a schema or a framework constructed from past experiences, prior knowledge which is then used to perceive the world, others, oneself, and other external stimuli. This cognitive process makes use of contextual information of what we already know or have already experienced and combines it with what we are experiencing in the present and make interpretations and develop perceptions. Through this process, an individual is able to make a plausible hypothesis about what the stimulus is or what it means without having to spend time analysing every facet of the stimuli to understand it. It ultimately means to send down information that has been stored due to prior experiences to the sensory system as it perceives new sensations to make sense of the new senses and stimuli. Top-down processing starts with our thoughts and usually moves down to our lower levels of functioning such as our senses. Top-down processing refers to the cognitive process by which our brains make use of information that is already present in the brain by various sensory systems to interpret new information. We will also briefly discuss why we use this form of perception, where we apply it, and what are the positives and negatives of top down processing. This blog post will explore what Top down processing is and what affects top down processing.
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