When there is damage to our brain, it leads to problems like face Agnosia and Achromatopsia (Unsplash) 
Medicine

Perceptual Constancy and its association with faulty perception

A large part of learning disabilities occur due to faulty perception, that is, weaker the ground perception, stronger the disability becomes. This is known as Perceptual disability.

Nithya S

Perception is the organization, selecting and interpretation of sensory information. When our sensory organs pick up on a stimulus (called a distal stimulus or a distal object), the brain translates that into chemical impulses or neural activity through a process called transduction. When there is damage to our brain, it leads to problems like face agnosia (inability to recognise faces), achromatopsia (inability to see colour), etc. Brain mapping techniques like fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) help to specifically locate neural activity related to perception.

An example of perceptual constancy is colour constancy. In this, we recognise the same colour under different intensities and lights of different colours (Unsplash)

The brain responds to gestures as well and interprets them using different areas and to varying degrees based on age. In fact, the way the brain processes gestures, is not just to understand it but also to predict what it thinks will happen next. The human brain is so powerful that it processes multiple things at the same time, despite how different and rapid they are.

For me, Perceptual constancy is more of a physical or material phenomenon therefore with the given situation and environmental conditions the perceptions or the features of the object change but it has no or minimal effect on our feelings towards the object. Faulty perception and perceptual constancy, both require that the subject has some fundamental knowledge of the objects and surroundings. Learning disabilities can be diagnosed at the developmental ages, i.e usually at the early years of life on basis of school performances, behavioral patterns, and general reaction to stimuli. My question is if the person is unable to associate the color red with danger due to learning disabilities then how will the person differentiate between a Gas cylinder and a Fire-extinguisher in life? He will have no reaction or similar reactions towards them. And if it is faulty perception, then the person will be terrified of everything red
Dr Darshit Patel, MD, Mumbai

There are various kinds of perception. Perceptual constancy is the ability to recognise the same object from varying sensory outputs. An example of perceptual constancy is colour constancy. In this, we recognise the same colour under different intensities and lights of different colours. Or take, roughness constancy, wherein no matter how fast or slow you move your hand, the brain helps you perceive the right roughness. A perceptual illusion occurs when the sensory organs transmit misleading information to the brain. It is a cognitive phenomenon and not a sensory one.

Reading is such an interesting aspect that includes the left temporal and parietal lobes (Unsplash)

Reading is such an interesting aspect that includes the left temporal and parietal lobes. Apart from the frontal lobe selectively excluding a word, it also pays attention to the size, the font, the position, and other aspects. A lot of our perception occurs on the basis of past experiences, or similar ideas. So, with this idea, a large part of learning disabilities occur due to faulty perception, that is, weaker the ground perception, stronger the disability becomes. These kinds of learning disabilities are called perceptual disabilities. They can occur at any point during the input, integration, memory or the output, but most disorders take place at the processing level. However, the use of processes such as neurofeedback attention and perception processes can be improved.

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