Perception, explained in 3 minutes | Alva Noë

What is perception, really? Philosopher Alva Noë on why perception is a puzzling phenomenon.
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Does perception exist outside of our own nervous system? Philosopher Alva Noë thinks so. We can visualize the back of a tomato, even if our eyes cannot see it. We aren’t offended by profane statements written in a language we aren’t fluent in. This is because our perception is based on more than our five senses; it relies on experience and context as well.
Alva Noë unpacks this puzzle with a few examples, from being able to visualize things we are not looking at, to a phenomenon called “change blindness.”
Ultimately, this information can be used to challenge our original understanding of perception, and can expand on the idea that the way one person assesses an object may not precisely match the assessment of another.
Read the full video transcript: bigthink.com/the-well/what-is...
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[@152manoj]

Another way of explaining it (a simpler way, I think) is this: we perceive not only from the data received through our senses, but also from our memories associated with the data

[@The-Well]

Very, very well said!

[@RealBamboo]

nah but in all seriousness, this channel is doing really well in terms of the content you guys are producing, definitely my favorite channel right now

[@Lucyelle]

We see more than what meets the eyes because of what we have learned through experience since childhood, so we presume.

[@The-Well]

That's a great way of looking at it! (pun intended!)

[@sofimazi555]

That is exactly what I thought, What a great way? not at all, that is evidence.

[@bretnetherton9273]

Awareness is known by awareness alone.

[@NewLife-qj9mx]

This is a great topic and certainly worth elaberating on. What we percieve in our day to day lives.

[@AdenwalaM]

There are several dimensions to this idea. I think that we end up perceiving more and less of what is around us is true for all the creatures. All living creatures, quickly and inaccurately sift through the available information and direct and limit their attention only to those that are relevant to their immediate purposes. That is why we are directed, even fooled, by advertisements and propaganda, and this is why predators can kill and prey can run away to safety. This points to two things: the attention, and the purpose. We don't know much about attention - for example we hardly know how the infant directs or chooses to direct its attention. Second, it has been proved experimentally that when we count the number of passes of ball we miss the gorilla in the room. Finally, there is the question of limitation of the sensory apparatus. We can see, smell, taste, only a limited spectrum of the attributes of the stimuli. All this points to our ignorance about what is possible, what matters and why.

[@jaybingham3711]

Also highly relevant, we're forever cutoff from experiencing all that's there.

[@AWal31994]

We perceive invariant and timeless representations of the world from limited amounts of sensory information, and the vast majority of the time we are correct. We do indeed perceive something more eternal than what is before our eyes, while at the same time perceiving less of the physical thing than we thought. It makes you wonder, if we are so good at perceiving reality using this strategy, then what really is reality?

[@rayjames3266]

He was my professor at Cal! Go Prof. Noe!

[@GabrielRodriguez-co1td]

In the video's conclusion, you mentioned that it's more about our success or failure in understanding the events unfolding around us. So, how can I improve my ability to accurately perceive the reality of my surroundings?

[@Robinson8491]

Awesome

[@The-Well]

Thanks for watching! 🙂

[@z0uLess]

I wonder if some keys to understand autism is how their perception dont make the same types of interpolations. I also wonder if we interpret the object as having a backside because we are conditioned to think that way, and that it is not a natural way of thinking in a strict sense. As an example, children have to develop their perceptions to have object permanence.

[@grahaminglis4242]

So, access to what’s going on around us is produced from memory rather than the actual visual experience itself and it’s not true because it’s just a simulation of what memory is guessing about what is going on around us. This means that the past knowledge and experience is constantly evolving and changing the new ‘what is’ and we aren’t aware of it going on.

[@ckpchaudhari]

Emmanuel kant sensation is unorganized stimulus. Perception is organized sensation. Conception is organized Perception. Science is organized knowledge. Wisdom is organized life.

[@sscavenger]

How does this explain what perception is?

[@yagots2feelit]

It doesn't. A better title would have been "One aspect of perception, discussed for 3 minutes."

[@MicahScottPnD]

The tomato and graffiti is a very worthwhile combination to explain this complex topic, if you ask me. You can call me impressed. 😉👍

[@calmxi]

I would know if someone took one. My third eye seen it coming

[@touchheartyoga]

Did you just say "We have bias awarenesses"?

[@gustavopena5032]

It’s all just a really good guess by our brains. Think about that?

[@NewLife-qj9mx]

5th 😏 I know theres no trophy for 5th place, but still . . . .

[@The-Well]

Surprise! 🏆

[@NewLife-qj9mx]

@@The-Well lol, thanks *blushes

[@mykldean]

Fascinating. Thank you. Perception and perspective is fundamental to our consciousness.

[@MicahScottPnD]

​@@The-Well☺️

[@RealBamboo]

W

[@zzzzzz69]

"we perceive more than what we perceive" "we also perceive less than what we perceive" That just means our perception is different from what we perceive, "more" or "less" maybe, but discrepant surely

[@MicahScottPnD]

Nice 👍

[@theanaesthetist1]

I must be thick

[@DrDIYhax]

My videos will definitely leave you questioning your perception 😂

[@kforest2745]

You’re talking about dimensions. Naturally the brain already knows dimension by the time it’s born. Or in your examples the living thing has ALREADY experienced the tomato and the graffiti beforehand, so it knows what to expect. If a 2D alien and a 3D alien approached you, which would be expected? Lol

[@AWayOfLiving84]

☯️🌏🕵🏻‍♂️♻️🌌

[@maha-madpedo-gayphukumber1533]

It's like the higer consiousness or higher level of consciousness of human brain is operating from higer Dimensions of spacetime and then make senve if this 3d world.

[@m.dgaius6430]

The brain makes predictions in order to direct action and thought. Simple. It uses past input to make those predictions. Simple. There is no thought or action without cause. Simple. End of story.

[@arzoo_singh]

A idea which rationalists and scientific mind may not like? I am talking about Indian concept, Siddhis having supernatural capibilities? Rationalists :Really 😂😂😂 Okay, what is siddhis? You have abilities to see hear and understand beyond a normal human mind. So how do we perceive, see hear and understand.? A complex process but at the brain level some neurons firing. Now dear Rationalists, do you know about brain operating at various level alpha, beta that's and delta...and gamma and unexplained state... Now imagine I am a Indian Monk and I can easily put my mind to Gamma state (It's not easy state, I am just giving example) Will my perception be same as yours? Okay so a man with alpha level of awareness and Gamma level of perception will have the perception capibilities... Please answer so called scientific mind or rationalists... Also brain creates in dimensions when this state changes it affects sobmsmy thinghs.

[@mikel5582]

While I appreciate the interesting considerations presented in this video, perception is a phenomenon best understood by biology, not philosophy. Unraveling the underpinnings of human perception requires insights into the biochemical and biophysical processes that evolved to interact with an organism's environment from bacteria through so-called "higher" organisms.

[@HomesickFaery]

Yeah, he's basically saying, "We're only human. We're limited." It's due to biology.

[@milodemoray]

And do bacteria dream too?

[@LookDeeper]

Do bacteria dream of protozoa

[@PuBearsticks]

This approach completely ignores the hard problem of consciousness. The experience of the color red cannot be explained by processes and interactions. How it happens can but qualia can't be quantified. In other words I could explain everything about light and the visible spectrum and prisms and mirrors and neurobiology and every bit of information possible to a blind person and yet unless the experience of red is had directly the only part of understanding red that actually matters is wholly missing.

[@HomesickFaery]

@@PuBearsticks No one can experience everything, obviously.

[@tryggvisbergbjornsson2367]

He sounds a bit like Trump

[@anamikas2567]

This was garbage