Sensory receptors

Sensation: the process by which our sensory receptors and nervous system receive and represent stimulus energies from our environment. Perception: the process of organizing and interpreting sensory information, enabling us to recognize meaningful objects and events. Bottom-up processing: analysis that begins with the sense receptors and works up to the brain’s integration of sensory information. Top-down processing: information processing guided by higher-level mental processes, as when we construct perceptions drawing on our experience and expectations. Psychophysics: the study of relationships between the physical characteristics of stimuli, such as their intensity, and our psychological experience of them.