Perception and attention

Abstract

Perception is the process by which an organism obtains information about the state of the environment and the states of its own internal functions. Man contacts his environment through the various senses, of which we generally consider he has seven, namely sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell, pain and proprioception (sense of body and limb position). In this chapter on perception and attention it is to the first two in the above list that we will direct our focus since they are the principal ones by which we derive information from the environment.