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Different Aspects of Visual Perception
Vision is one of the five main senses. This sense enables people to perceive their surroundings. There is no debate that light enables people to see. However, how people interpret their vision may be different. There are different aspects of visual perception that various scholars and theorists have addressed throughout history. This essay aims to examine specific aspects of visual perception, as explained by Diane Ackerman, Richard Gregory, and James Elkins, and how they relate to personal experiences.
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Diane Ackerman argued that visual imagery is an interpretation of how people relate to what they see. Vision is a spectacle to express how the world touches us (29). When people perceive something, the meaning they attach to it depends on their brain’s interpretation of the importance of that thing. People might see the same thing, but they relate to it differently, depending on their perceived meaning of what they see. When people see something that they relate to positively, they gain more interest in it. For example, when a person sees an attractive person, their pupils may dilate, almost like the brain wants to see more of the image. Therefore, Ackerman’s point is that vision is more than the image. Seeing and analyzing causes an understanding of the image as something more. In my own experience, I find that when something means more to me, I see it more. This means that my brain pays more attention to images of the things it can interpret. For instance, I may not know about a certain brand, but I start seeing it everywhere as soon as I find out about it. The chances are that I had seen the brand before, but since my brain could not interpret it, I was not really perceiving it.
Similarly, Richard Gregory argued that we see what we already know. Gregory argued that visual perception is a constructive process that relies on information that is already stored within the brain. The brain holds information about representations that are far more than pictures. It also includes information related to the images, such as the definition of an object and what it is used for. To perceive things, people need to have much information about the world (36). People can perceive illusions because of the information that the brain already holds. Sometimes, a person can visually perceive something without the stimulus because of the information their brain already holds. Several experiences confirm Richard Gregory’s arguments about perceiving what we already know. For example, this social media post includes a paragraph with letters within words written wrongly, but with just the first and last letters being correct. For example, “I am giong to the sohp”. Most people could read the wrong words correctly because the brain interprets the words correctly based on the information they already have. Upon seeing the first and last letters of the words, the brain naturally fills in the middle letters. This proves that visual perception can just be a representation of what we already know.
James Elkins argued that context matters in visual perception. The contexts within which a person visualizes an object affect the meaning they attach to it (41). For example, the painting “Mona Lisa” is currently hanging in the Louvre. Many pay money to see this painting behind a glass frame. If the same exact painting was hung at a gas station, many would barely pay attention to it because there is no meaning attached to it. This concept implies that vision depends on the meaning that a person attaches to it. Two people can see the same exact object and attach different meanings to it, thus perceiving it differently. In my opinion, James Elkins’ explanation of contexts in perception is the reason why the statement, “beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder,” holds water. People perceive Physical features differently depending on their different contexts of what is beautiful.
In conclusion, the authors Diane Ackerman, Richard Gregory, and James Elkins show that visual perception is more than just seeing an image. The interpretation of what people see is dependent on their brain’s interpretation. This interpretation can depend on the information stored in the brain, the meaning attached to the image, or the contexts within which the person sees the image.
Works Cited
Plate, S. Brent. Religion, art, and visual culture: A cross-cultural reader. Palgrave, 2002.
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Question 
Different Aspects of Visual Perception
ASIAN/RELSTY 271L: RELIGION AND THE ARTS; FALL 2020 PROF. AYESHA IRANI
READING RESPONSE PAPER – 1 (RRP1)
Answer the following question in 750 words:
Different Aspects of Visual Perception
Diane Ackerman, Richard Gregory, and James Elkins each highlight a different aspect of visual perception.
Referring to their writings in the textbook (pp. 27–45) answer any ONE of the following:
1) Focus on one key idea of each of these three authors, and compare and contrast each author’s approach to the subject of visual perception, noting how their approaches differ or overlap with each other.
OR
2) Focus on one key idea of each of these three authors, providing an example for each idea from your own experience. Remember that whenever you quote or paraphrase the author’s ideas, you should cite the author accurately by last name and page number). For example, “(Gregory, 36).”
Grading Criteria
This reading response paper (RRP), is the first of five, and constitutes 5% of your final grade. All RRPs will be graded on a modified Pass/Fail basis. The grading criteria are as follows:
Satisfactory, good, or very good: A–
Deficient but acceptable: C
Unacceptable: F
Excellent or outstanding: A
No submission: 0
Submission of Assignments
1) All written work is to be uploaded as a Word document or RTF file on Blackboard. Please note that the document should be named in the following manner: Yourlastname_RRP1, i.e. if the participant’s last name is “Irani,” the file should be named: Irani_RRP1.
2) All assignments should be formatted in a double-spaced, standard 12-point font, such as Times New Roman, with one-inch margins.
3) The word count should be provided at the end of the paper.
4) All assignments will be screened via SafeAssign—Blackboard’s plagiarism detection tool.