A topic that we have discussed in this course to date, and one that I find interesting, is that of bottom-up processing. This part of our perception begins with stimulation of receptors by stimuli from the environment (Goldstein, pg. 50). All of our sensory experiences begin with bottom-up processing. Stimulation of the receptors triggers a series of events in which electrical signals are transmitted from the receptors toward the brain (Goldstein, pg. 50). After these signals reach the brain, we are then able to perceive objects as what they are.

A behavioral approach to bottom-up processing was proposed by Irving Biederman. His idea, which was called recognition-by-components theory or RBC, proposed that we perceive objects by first perceiving their elementary features. These features are called geons. Geons are perceptual building blocks that can be combined to create objects (Goldstein, pg. 51). For example, if an airplane has 9 geons, we are able to recognize it if only 3 geons are present because we are familiar with the composition of airplanes.

I am a preschool teacher and bottom-up processing, and even more specifically RBC, is something that I am able to witness on a daily basis. My toddlers are able to recognize objects that may not be complete as long as they are familiar with what the end result object should be. For example, if I am drawing a snowman, they are able to perceive the snowman after I’ve only drawn the 3 circles. They do not need to see the stick arms, eyes or carrot nose. They are familiar with the composition of a snowman and can safely assume that will be the end result. This is an example of the principle of componential recovery which says that if we can see an object’s geons, we can identify the object (Goldstein, pg. 51). If I was however to draw the Statue of Liberty, they may just guess “girl” or “person” or “princess” because they do not know yet what the Statue of Liberty is.

My students are using their bottom-up processing and RBC to perceive objects in their environment. Bottom-up processing is important to the study of cognitive psychology because it is one of the basic ways that we are able to perceive and understand our environment and the bigger world around us.

References:

Goldstein, Bruce E. (2011). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research and Everyday Experience. Wadsworth Cengage Learning.