Psikoloji Semineri: Emre Özgen (Yaşar Üniversitesi)

Sabancı University
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

PSYCHOLOGY SEMINAR

Perception as a Flexible, Adaptable Bridge between the Mental and the Physical

Prof. Dr. Emre Özgen
(Yaşar University)

Friday, April 4, 2014

13:30  FASS 2054

We perceive the world not as passive observers but active, calculating, constructing, comparing information systems. Very little of what we perceive flows in a one-way, bottom-up traffic. What we know, what we need, expect, or want all have an influence on how we make sense of the influx of information that surrounds us. Perception is the immensely complicated process that makes this possible by continually learning and adapting. Like any bridge, it needs to bend and sway maintaining a good level of flexibility. In this talk, I will summarise research from our labs that demonstrates such flexibility in very low-level perceptual abilities. We have observed for example that culture, more specifically language can help shape colour discrimination. Most recent findings in this area will be included in the talk. We have also shown that the most fundamental building blocks of visual perception in the form of spatial frequency processing can be influenced by our expectations. The talk will also touch upon this research.

P.S.: The seminar will be held in English.