Top-Down Processing | Simply Psychology

Top-down processing involves the brain 'sending down' stored information to the sensory system as it receives information from the stimulus, ... Togglenavigation Theories ResearchMethodsMentalHealth A-levelStatistics InformationProcessing Perception Top-DownProcessing Top-DownProcessing ByVictoriaRousay,publishedJan21,2021 Take-homeMessages Top-downprocessingisperceivingtheworldaroundusbydrawingfromwhatwealreadyknowinordertointerpretnewinformation(Gregory,1970). Top-downtheoriesarehypotheses-driven,andstresstheimportanceofhighermentalprocessessuchasexpectations,beliefs,valuesandsocialinfluences. Throughoutourlifetimeweconstructschemas,whichconsistofpastexperiences,priorknowledge,emotions,andexpectations,andthenusetheseschemastoformhypothesesuponthearrivalofnewinformation. Gregory’stheoryarguesthatbecauseoftheceaselessstreamofstimulithatwearerequiredtoprocesseveryday,equallyattendingtoeachsensationwouldbeentirelytoodemandingandoverwhelmusasindividuals.Inotherwords,theuseofoursensestoperceiveincominginformationisnotenoughandtheuseofpriorknowledgeandexperiencesisnecessaryinordertohypothesizethemeaningsofnewinformation.  Tableofcontents Whatistop-downprocessing? Whyweusetop-downprocessing? Influencesontop-downprocessing Examplesoftop-downprocessing BayesianApproach WhatisTop-DownProcessing? Top-downprocessinginvolvesthebrain'sendingdown'storedinformationtothesensorysystemasitreceivesinformationfromthestimulus,enablingaplausiblehypothesistobemadewithouttheneedtoanalyzeeveryfeatureofthestimulus. Thus,top-downprocessingisusingthecontextualinformationofthingsthatwealreadyknoworhavealreadyexperiencedincombinationwithoursensestoperceivenewinformation. Intop-downprocessing,perceptionsareinterpretedfromindividualframeworksthathelpusperceiveandinterpretinformation.Theseframeworks,alsoknownasschemas,areconstructedfrompastexperiences,priorknowledge,emotions,andexpectations(Piaget,1953). WhyweuseTop-DownProcessing? BritishpsychologistRichardGregory(1970)proposedthattheprocessofperceptionisconstructiveandisdependentupontop-downprocessinginordertointerpretnewinformation. Hearguedthattheuseofsensoryinformationaloneisaninsufficientformofperceptualprocessingasthemajorityofinformation(over90%)islostbetweenthetimenewstimulireachestheeyeandarrivestothebrain,requiringtheuseofcontextualinformationfrompriorknowledgeandexperiencestoproperlyperceiveinformation. Gregory’sTheorystatesthatweuseourexistingknowledgeandrecollectionofpastexperiencesinordertoformspecifichypothesesaboutthemeaningsofnewinformation.Insteadofexhaustingvastamountsofenergytoindividuallyperceiveeachsensation,Gregory’stheoryarguesthatwecombineusingoursensestointerpretnewincomingstimuliwithpreviousknowledgeandpastexperiencestofindmeaning. InfluencesonTop-DownProcessing AccordingtoGregory(1970)differentfactorscaninfluencetop-downprocessingsuchasexpectations,emotion,motivationandculture. Thisisknownasperceptualsettheory. Context/Experience/Culture Thecontextorsituationinwhichwehavepreviouslyperceivedinformationcaninfluencefutureexpectationswhenreceivingnewinformationundersimilarcircumstances.Tonosurprise,previousexperiencesundoubtedlyinfluencehownewinformationisperceivedaswe,ashumans,usetheknowledgethatwegainedfromprioreventsinordertoconstructexpectationsforperceivingnewinformation.Ourbrainsareshapedbytheexternalworldandthroughcontextandexperienceourperceptionisalsoshapedbytheexternalworld.Forthisreason,theinfluenceofcultureonshapingourperceptionscannotbeignoredasculturecreatesdifferencesincontextsandexperiencesthatindividualsdrawfromwhenperceivingnewinformation(Deregowski,1972). Motivation Motivationcanalsoinfluencetop-downprocessingasyoumaybemoremotivatedtoperceivethingsdependingonyourneedsanddesires(Swets,1964).Forexample,let’ssayyouarewaitingforaphonecallthatdetermineswhetherornotyouwerechosenforarecentpositionthatyouhaveinterviewedfor,andyouhearthephoneringwhenyouaretakingashower,wheninfact,thephoneneverrang.Thisisaperfectexampleofhowmotivationcaninfluenceperceptionbecauseyourneedanddesireforthephonetoringwiththatveryimportantcallissostrongthatyouareimagininghearingthephoneringwhenitisnotinfactringingatall. ExamplesofTop-DownProcessing Youcanunderstandhowtop-downprocessingworksbyconsideringexamplesofthisphenomenoninaction. Typos Thehumanminddoesnotreadeveryletterindividually,butratherwordscollectively.Aslongasthefirstandlastletterofthewordareinthesamespot,weareabletoidentifythecorrectword,despitethetypo.Goldstein(2018)arguesthatourabilitytomakesenseoftyposandmisspellingsisanotherexampleoftop-downprocessingbecauseweareactivelyapplyingourpreviousexperiences,knowledge,andexpectationstocorrectlyidentifymisspelledwords! StroopEffect TheStroopeffect,namedaftertheAmericanpsychologistJohnRidleyStroop(1935)conveyshowinterferenceaffectsreactiontime.Forexample,imaginethatyouaregivenalistofcolors,butthewordandthecolorofthewordspresentedonthelistdonotmatch.Afterstudyingthelistofcolors,youareaskedtosaythecolorofthewordsonthelist,butnotthecoloroftheworditself. Althoughthisseemslikeaneasytaskatfirst,Stroopdiscoveredthatparticipantscouldeasilyidentifythecolorofthepresentedwordifitmatcheditssemanticmeaning.Whenthecolordidnotmatchthesemanticmeaningoftheworditrequiredparticipantstopaymoreattentiontothetaskathand. VisualIllusions TheNeckerCubeisavisualillusionofanambiguousfigurethatwascreatedbyLouisAlbertNecker(1832).Thecubemaintainsperceptualambiguitythroughitswireframedesignthatallowsitsviewertointerpretthecubeashavingtwodifferentfrontsquares:anupperrightsquareoralower-leftsquare. AccordingtoGregory,viewerscaneasilychangebetweenthetwoorientationsbecausethebrainhascreatedtwoseparatehypotheses,bothhavinganequalpossibilityofbeingtrue.Becauseoftheirequalplausibilitythebraincannotdecidewhichhypothesisistrueandisabletocontinuallyflipbetweenvisualorientationsofthecube.Thisisanexampleoftop-downprocessingbecausethesensoryinputofinformationhasnotchangedsincetheviewerinitiallysawthecube.Whathaschangedistheirperceptionofthecube,concludingthatperceptionofinformationisflowingfromtoptobottom,notbottomtotop. AuditoryIllusions PhonemicRestorationisanauditoryillusionthatoccurswhenwehearpartsofwordsthatarenotreallythere.ThetermforthisphenomenonwascoinedbyRichardWarren(1970),wherehesoughttoexplainhowbackgroundnoisesthatseeminglycoverparticularphonemeswithinverbalconversation,humanityisstillabletounderstandindividualphonemes.Toputitsimply,Warrensoughttodiscoverhowpeoplecanunderstandverbalcommunicationinspiteofnoisesthatcovereduppartsofthewordsbeingcommunicated.Imaginethatyouareaskedtolistentoasentenceandthenwritedownverbatimwhatyouheard.However,duringthesentencethespeakercoughsatthebeginningofoneofthewords,eliminatingsomephonemes.TheillusionofPhonemicRestorationarguesthatdespitethespeaker’scough,thelistenerwouldbeabletowritedownthemissingphonemes.Forexample,Warrenfoundthatwhenhepresentedthesentence,“Itwasfoundthatthewheelwasontheaxle.”,andreplacedthephonemeswh-withacough,everyparticipantstillwrotedownthewordwheel,despitethemissingwh-phonemes.Thisisanexampleoftop-downprocessingasparticipantsareusingpreviousknowledge,experiences,andexpectationstocorrectlyidentifytheworddespiteitsmissingphonemes. BayesianApproach Bynowitisclearthathumanperceptiondoesnotfunctioninisolation.Onecannotrelysolelyontheirsensesoronpreviousknowledgeandexperiencestoaccuratelyinterpretnewstimuli.Rather,Kerstenetal.(2004)arguethathumanperceptionisacombinationofusingbothoursensesaswellaspreviousknowledgeandexperiencestointerpretnewstimuli. Thecombinationoftop-downandbottom-upprocessingisreferredtoastheBayesianApproach.Bayesian’sTheorystatesthatinterpretingtheambiguityoftheexternalworldrequiresanoptimaldecisionstrategythatallowsuswiththemostfeasiblestateoftheworld.Thisapproacharguesthatthisperceptualdecisionisacarefulbalanceofthereliabilityofcurrentsensorystimuliandthelikelihoodofpriorstimuli. WecanseetheBayesianApproachinactionwhenwecreatedscenesandobjectsthatarewithinourvisualfield.AccordingtoBayesian’sApproach,ourenvironmentconsistsofprobablestructuresandscenepropertiessuchasanobject’sshape,light,andilluminationarenomorethanmerestatisticalregularities(Kerstenetal.,2004).Itisthisstatisticalregularitythatallowsthebraintoperceivemorethanjustthecurrentsensoryinputbutinadditiontopriorinformationtocreatescenesandobjectswithinourvisualfield.Forexample,whenourbrainattemptstodistinguishshapesfromshadingpatterns,itisourpriorknowledgethatcorrectsforthisambiguityinstructure.Toputitsimply,theBayesianApproachstatesthatweareabletotakeambiguousshadedpatternsandinterpretthemasshapesbecausewehaveseenashapesimilartotheoneinfrontofusbefore. Ourvisualsystemsusethestatisticalregularitiesofanobject’sshape,light,andilluminationtointerpretprobableconclusionsofnewinformation(Kerstenetal.,2004).Wecombineprobabilitiesofpriorexperiencewithcurrentsensorystimulitomakesenseofwhatweareperceiving. AbouttheAuthor VictoriaRousayisacurrentstudentintheMasterofLiberalArts,AnthropologyandArcheologydegreeprogramatHarvardUniversity'sExt.PriortohergraduatestudiesVictoriasuccessfullygraduatedwithaB.A.inPsychologyfromTexasA&MUniversityin2019.Sheisinterestedinexaminingtheimpactsofpreventioneducationonissuesofhumanrightswithinchildrenandschools. Howtoreferencethisarticle: Howtoreferencethisarticle:Rousay,V(2021,Jan21).Top-downprocessing.SimplyPsychology.www.simplypsychology.org/top-down-processing.html APAStyleReferences Deregowski,J.B.,Muldrow,E.S.&Muldrow,W.F.(1972).PictorialrecognitioninaremoteEthiopianpopulation.Perception,1,417-425. Goldstein,E.B.(2018).Cognitivepsychology.MasonOH:Cengage. Gregory,R.(1970).Theintelligenteye.London:WeidenfeldandNicolson. Kersten,D.,Mamassian,P.,&Yuille,A.(2004).ObjectperceptionasBayesianinference.Annu.Rev.Psychol.,55,271-304. Necker,L.(1832).LXI.ObservationsonsomeremarkableopticalphenomenaseeninSwitzerland;andonanopticalphenomenonwhichoccursonviewingafigureofacrystalorgeometricalsolid.TheLondonandEdinburghPhilosophicalMagazineandJournalofScience,1(5),329-337. Piaget,J.(1953).Theoriginofintelligenceinthechild(Internationallibraryofpsychology,philosophy,andscientificmethod).London:Routledge&Paul. Stroop,J.R.(1935).Studiesofinterferenceinserialverbalreactions.JournalofExperimentalPsychology,18,643–662. Swets,J.(1964).Signaldetectionandrecognitionbyhumanobservers;contemporaryreadings.NewYork:Wiley. Warren,R.M.(1970).PerceptualRestorationofMissingSpeechSounds.Science,167(3917),392-393. FurtherInformation Bottom-UpProcessing:HowItInfluencesPerception PerceptualSet Costall,A.(2017).1966andallthat:JamesGibsonandbottom-downtheory.EcologicalPsychology,29(3),221-230. PerceptionTheories InformationProcessing Howtoreferencethisarticle: Howtoreferencethisarticle:Rousay,V(2021,Jan21).Top-downprocessing.SimplyPsychology.www.simplypsychology.org/top-down-processing.html Home|AboutUs|PrivacyPolicy|Advertise|ContactUsBacktotopSimplyPsychology'scontentisforinformationalandeducationalpurposesonly.Ourwebsiteisnotintendedtobeasubstituteforprofessionalmedicaladvice,diagnosis,ortreatment.©SimplyScholarLtd-Allrightsreserved reportthisad reportthisadx