Perception Shifts and Top-Down Influences

Excerpts from the Paper

Perception Shifts and Top-Down Influences
Abstract
With consideration for race and emphasis on top-down processing theory, the current report examines to what extent perception is influenced by life experiences. Analysis is also provided concerning to what extent top-down influences may be more universal. Findings of the current study suggest that top-down processing results in perception shifts naturally and often. Perception shifts, more exactly, can take place in everyday settings where inferences are based on experience, knowledge, and patterns. In other cases, however, preconceptions about race can contribute to top-down perception shifts that are irrational in nature but culturally based. The current study concludes that perception...

.....se shifts are universal and can occur quite often and naturally. But cases based on stereotyping Black people represent the type of top-down processing that arises from racial biases and preconditioned thought patterns. Unfortunately, these types of perception shifts probably occur far more often than most people realize. Thus, in the final analysis, it is reasonable to conclude that top-down influences are both universal and culturally specific in nature.
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