Cognition: Sensation, Perception, and States of Consciousness

According to Cross Cultural Psychology: Critical Thinking and Contemporary Actions, “on the whole, environmental conditions, as well as activities and experiences, determine culture- related differences and similarities in sensation and perception (Shiraev& Levy, 91, 2013).”Sensation and Perception states that there are six posited theories of sensation and perception (Foley & Matlin, 6-9, 2010), and of these six at least one should be relative to a particular culture. Behaviorism describes an organism’s behavior all the while remaining objective and unbiased. Empiricism exemplifies experience based upon sensation, yet, perception is determined based upon the principle of nurture and previous learned experience. This theory also advocates for nativism and the natural innate abilities of an individual. The Gestalt approach emphasizes perception as an organized whole rather than separate isolated parts and Gestalt actually means configuration and pattern. While the Empiricists and Gestaltians advocate for indirect perception, another theory, Gibsonian approach advocates for a more mindful approach in which direct perception is a result of the momentary experience and the immediate stimuli created from the current surrounding environment. The information-processing approach advocates for informational processing that requires both long term and short term memory and a more specific processing pattern in information flow. The computational approach within sensation and perception requires problem solving at a physical level and is more scientific (Foley & Matlin, 6-9, 2010).

When theexperiences within a particular environment shape perception, the expectations become a perceptual set that is interpreted and only relative to that particular culture (Shiraev& Levy, 90, 2013). This relative description of nativism and empiricism becomes a starting point for the desire to understand cognitive development. Cultural relativity is only a starting point to cognitive development as for change to occur new developments have to take place between the separate entities. This exhortation removes the relative nature and universal standards can then be created. This is also true for cognitive development as change must occur between distinctly separated parts of ones psyche or brain. The article What is neoconstructivismelaborates upon this stating that the brain is an organized entity similar to modules that operate separately from one another. It is this separation that becomes the starting point for cognitive development and when new knowledge is gained an interaction between the parts occurs and developmental change may take place (Newcombe, 157, 2011).

This art image, namedThe Halo Effect, describes a process of cognitive change and development. The Gestalt principles of similarity, continuity, closure, and proximity represent the parts that when combined result in the whole.

Illustration of Halo Effect provided for by Warren Isensee,Danese Corey Gallery.

Instead of attempting to try and understand the six theories of sensation and perception as being separate parts, instead, envision them as a whole. By doing this we now have a new concept that explains cognitive development and how it can be used across a variety of cultures as well as contexts. This concept is neoconstructivism and it can better explain interaction both direct and indirect. Neoconstructivism allows the universal nature to become assimilated, yet, not so much that it doesn’t allow for the cognitive starting points necessary for a society to retain its own unique history, tradition, and individual autonomy.

Within neoconstructivismconsideradtion is taken in regards to the adaptive value of thinking and its evolutionary development. There is respect for natural or innate experience expectancy. Within the world there are and will be perceptual redundancies and correlations that will support the experience expectancy (Newcombe, 158, 2011) of each cultures own uniqueness. Computing probabilities can benefit each culture creating more structure and a more explicit sense of reason. Multiple cues are integrated into the experience expectancy framework with probabilistic reasoning allowing for conclusions to be drawn. “Action plays a key role in learning and development (Newcombe, 158, 2011).

To learn more about neoconstructivism, the website Norway describes some of the optical and kinetic forms of geometric abstraction associated with its form. This website describes artists and works, upcoming events, and literature associated neoconstructivism. http://monoskop.org/Norway#Geometric_abstraction.2C_Neo-constructivism.2C_Op_art.2C_Kinetic_art. Another website that exemplifies sensation and perception and how it relates to cognition is the Comparative Cognition Society. This science based website exemplifies research in human and non-human cognitive representations. Any one is welcome to join if they have an interest in how sensation and perception affect us. http://comparativecognition.org/ .

Date: 2015-01-11; view: 1326