Sensory Perceptions - Essay Example

Sensory perception Sensory perception All the human senses; touch, taste, smell, hearing and vision, work together to give reliableinformation of the world and where we belong in it. To actually understand the kind of person we are, our surrounding and the exact place we are, we have to incorporate all our senses. The first reason to believe in the accuracy or inaccuracy of sensory information is the reliability of the facts observed. If the observations are accurate and first hand then the facts and data is vital for sensing and decision making, that can happen if there is tangible evidence.

If the source of the information is mare rumors then that will automatically hinder accuracy of sensory information (Oppapapers.com, 2012). Secondly, interpretation of the information received from the senses by the brain. The interpretation will depend on various factors such as the developmental stage of an individual; a juvenile might not interpret information that is symbolically coded as opposed to an adult (Nickel, 2006). For example, people thought the world was flat as they viewed a uniform horizon and interpreted it as they saw it; sense of sight.

In addition, the cognitive ability and the data source of an individual determine the inaccuracy and accuracy of our sensory information. The source of data determines a lot, for example a mad person can say something although sensible at times but nobody can take it serious or even think about it as opposed to an influential person maybe in the government who is obviously given the first priority by the media (Oppapapers.com, 2012). There are several factors which contribute to the accuracy of the sensory data.

First, the reliability of facts observed. Solid sensory data received through the accurate observations would provide data and facts that are vital for accurate sensory perception or thinking connection. The Brain and interpretation of data received contributes to the accuracy of sensory data. A healthy brain is very vital in cognitive ability to analyze sensory data. When the information is received in the brain, the power of the sense is manifested (Oppapapers.com, 2012). This means that any inaccurate data which has been sent by our senses to our brain will actually be inaccurately interpreted Thirdly, the accuracy of sensory data can be determined by the source of data and cognitive ability.

The data source must be received through the senses of touch, hearing, sight, smell to obtain accurate sensory data (Green, 2009). The senses should be acutely sensitive like senses, particle detectors, amplifiers and gauges to feed the brain to accurately produce sensory perception the obtained data. Nature versus nurture is very important in interpretation and evaluation of the sensory data. Nature relates to heredity i.e. genes inherited from the parents. Although philosophers like John Locke argued that a child is born with an empty slate mind, tabula rasa, and everything is fed to the child from the environment.

Charles Darwin’s evolution theory advocated the fact that the child inherited everything from the parents (Nickel, 2006). However, behaviorists like Skinner and Watson claimed that a child can be molded into any kind of a person, regardless of their genealogy .Most psychologists agree that nurture, environment, plays an important role and nature, genes, is equally important as they interact together. The environment in which one is brought up determines how one perceives things and that affects the interpretation and evaluation of sensory data.

For example, a Christian sees a cross and perceives it as very holy and a as the backbone of his/her faith while a person of different religious background will simply see it as without any significance and might not even recognize it (Nickel, 2006). The genes a child inherits from the parent contribute a lot towards the intelligence of that child and this affects the sensory operations. A clever person understands quickly and this translates to easy encoding of sensory codes as opposed to a slow learner.

Research shows that 30 to 70 percent of a person’s personality develops from the environment; it also shows that 30 to 70 percent intelligence is as a result of genes. This means that the interaction of both determines how one interprets and evaluates the sensory data (Green, 2009).ReferencesGreen, M. (2009). Eyewitness memory is unreliable. Retrieved fromhttp://www.visualexpert.com/Resources/eyewitnessmemory.htmlNickel, J. (2006). Making sense of human rights. Boston: Wiley-Blackwell. Oppapers.com. (2012). Sensory. Retrieved from http://www.oppapers.com/essays/Sensory/968137