Is Perception Cognitively Mediated?

Abstract

Recent theories of perception tend to divide into two rather broad theoretical orientations. The constructivist approach holds that perceptual processes are the result of mediating operations which construct the perceptual representation from sensory data, and that such operations are cognitive and inferential in nature. A second approach, the Gibsonian theory, holds that such constructive operations are not necessary in order to account for perceptual processes. A common assumption of both approaches is that if constructive operations are needed, then these must be cognitive operations which are similar to those which characterize thinking, reasoning, inference, and problem-solving.