Skip to content

Brain Puzzle: What is Perception?

Perception is not a process in the brain, but a kind of skillful activity of the body as a whole.
Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

“Perception is not something that happens to us, or in us,” writes the philosopher/cognitive scientist/neuroscientist Alva Noë. “It is something we do.” 


In the video below, Noë tells us that, paradoxical it sounds, “just because something does enter our eyes, provides a stimulus to the nervous system, doesn’t mean we experience it.” In fact, what shows up for us is not so much a matter of what is happening inside of us, but how we are achieving or failing to achieve access to what’s going on around us.

Watch the video here:

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.

Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Related
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Curabitur in sem nisi. Donec at convallis felis. Curabitur id mattis libero. Nunc maximus dolor eget iaculis lobortis. Mauris eros mi, mattis […]
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Aenean volutpat ultricies nibh, ac placerat urna. Vivamus augue arcu, consectetur vitae est mollis, laoreet congue ante. Quisque a aliquet eros, ac […]
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nulla finibus bibendum ligula, malesuada placerat libero vehicula vestibulum. Nulla ut tincidunt arcu, quis scelerisque dolor. Nunc pretium justo tristique nunc eleifend, […]

Up Next
The stories come in surprising ways.  An unexpected confession over a meal or a few drinks. A warning, perhaps, to keep your distance from a particular person before a conference.  […]