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perception

Each generation has a different perception — view, idea or understanding — of what is cool. You wouldn't want to walk around in the paisley patterns of the 1960s or the big hair of the 1980s today!

Based on the Latin root cipere "to grasp," perception refers to the way you take in the world through your senses. Have you ever thought a stair was bigger than it really was so your step was too heavy? Your depth perception was off. The noun also means the opinions and beliefs you've formed about something. Your perception of your room after you've cleaned it is different than your parents' — you see clean and they probably don't.

DEFINITIONS OF: perception

n the process of perceiving

Types:: show 32 types...; hide 32 types...; constancy, perceptual constancy
(psychology) the tendency for perceived objects to give rise to very similar perceptual experiences in spite of wide variations in the conditions of observation; detection, sensing
the perception that something has occurred or some state exists; beholding, seeing, visual perception
perception by means of the eyes; auditory perception, sound perception
the perception of sound as a meaningful phenomenon; aesthesis, esthesis, sensation, sense datum, sense experience, sense impression
an unelaborated elementary awareness of stimulation; somaesthesia, somatesthesia, somatic sensation, somesthesia
the perception of tactual or proprioceptive or gut sensations; feeling, tactile sensation, tactual sensation, touch, touch sensation
the sensation produced by pressure receptors in the skin; brightness constancy
the tendency for a visual object to be perceived as having the same brightness under widely different conditions of illumination; color constancy, colour constancy
the tendency for a color to look the same under widely different viewing conditions; shape constancy
the tendency to perceive the shape of a rigid object as constant despite differences in the viewing angle (and consequent differences in the shape of the pattern projected on the retina of the eye); size constancy
the tendency to perceive the veridical size of a familiar object despite differences in their distance (and consequent differences in the size of the pattern projected on the retina of the eye); contrast
the perceptual effect of the juxtaposition of very different colors; face recognition
the visual perception of familiar faces; object recognition
the visual perception of familiar objects; visual space
the visual perception of space; speech perception
the auditory perception (and comprehension) of speech; musical perception
the auditory perception of musical sounds; limen, threshold
the smallest detectable sensation; masking
the blocking of one sensation resulting from the presence of another sensation; vision, visual sensation
the perceptual experience of seeing; odor, odour, olfactory perception, olfactory sensation, smell
the sensation that results when olfactory receptors in the nose are stimulated by particular chemicals in gaseous form; gustatory perception, gustatory sensation, taste, taste perception, taste sensation
the sensation that results when taste buds in the tongue and throat convey information about the chemical composition of a soluble stimulus; auditory sensation, sound
the subjective sensation of hearing something; synaesthesia, synesthesia
a sensation that normally occurs in one sense modality occurs when another modality is stimulated; feeling
a physical sensation that you experience; prickling, tingle, tingling
a somatic sensation as from many tiny prickles; creepiness
an uneasy sensation as of insects creeping on your skin; cutaneous sensation, haptic sensation, skin sensation
a sensation localized on the skin; pressure, pressure sensation
the somatic sensation that results from applying force to an area of skin; pain, pain sensation, painful sensation
a somatic sensation of acute discomfort; temperature
the somatic sensation of cold or heat; fusion, optical fusion
the combining of images from the two eyes to form a single visual percept

Type of:: basic cognitive process
cognitive processes involved in obtaining and storing knowledge

n becoming aware of something via the senses

Synonyms:: sensing

Types:: show 19 types...; hide 19 types...; look, looking, looking at
the act of directing the eyes toward something and perceiving it visually; hearing, listening
the act of hearing attentively; lipreading
perceiving what a person is saying by observing the movements of the lips; taste, tasting
a kind of sensing; distinguishing substances by means of the taste buds; smell, smelling
the act of perceiving the odor of something; auscultation
listening to sounds within the body (usually with a stethoscope); coup d'oeil, glance, glimpse
a quick look; scrutiny
a prolonged intense look; peek, peep
a secret look; squint
the act of squinting; looking with the eyes partly closed; stare
a fixed look with eyes open wide; evil eye
a look that is believed to have the power of inflicting harm; rubber-necking, sightseeing
going about to look at places of interest; observance, observation, watching
the act of observing; taking a patient look; lookout, outlook
the act of looking out; sight, survey, view
the act of looking or seeing or observing; dekko
British slang for a look; rehearing, relistening
the act of hearing again; sniff, snuff
sensing an odor by inhaling through the nose

Type of:: sensory activity
activity intended to achieve a particular sensory result

n a way of conceiving something

“Luther had a new perception of the Bible”

Type of:: conceptualisation, conceptuality, conceptualization
an elaborated concept

n knowledge gained by perceiving

“a man admired for the depth of his perception”

Types:: discernment, perceptiveness
perception of that which is obscure; insight, penetration
clear or deep perception of a situation; cognizance
range or scope of what is perceived

Type of:: cognition, knowledge, noesis
the psychological result of perception and learning and reasoning

n the representation of what is perceived; basic component in the formation of a concept

Synonyms:: percept, perceptual experience

Types:: show 8 types...; hide 8 types...; figure
a unitary percept having structure and coherence that is the object of attention and that stands out against a ground; ground
a relatively homogeneous percept extending back of the figure on which attention is focused; visual image, visual percept
a percept that arises from the eyes; an image in the visual system; eye candy
visual images that are pleasing to see but are intellectually undemanding; field, field of view
the area that is visible (as through an optical instrument); sight
an instance of visual perception; aspect, panorama, prospect, scene, view, vista
the visual percept of a region; field of regard, field of vision, visual field
all of the points of the physical environment that can be perceived by a stable eye at a given moment

Type of:: internal representation, mental representation, representation
a presentation to the mind in the form of an idea or image

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