Check Your Recall Perception . Interpreting Reality Sensation is the first stage of perception in which physical energy in the world is transduced into neural activity. Perception is the second stage in which an internal representation is formed and a percept of the external stimulus is developed. Identification and recognition, the third stage of perception, assign meaning to percepts. Stages of Perception Distal stimulus is the physical object in the world.
Proximal stimulus is the optical image on the retina.
Bottom-up processing is taking sensory data into the system by receptors and sending upward for extraction and analysis of relevant information. Top-down processing involves a perceiver's past experience, knowledge, expectations, memory, motivation, cultural background, and language in the interpretation of the object of perception. Ambiguity and Distortion. An illusion occurs when your senses deceive you into experiencing a stimulus pattern in a way that is demonstrably incorrect. Learning the Lessons of Illusions.