Chapter 5. Sensation and Perception

Approximate reading time: 3.5 minutes

Close your eyes and picture a pink elephant floating on a cloud. Can you see it? How vivid is it? Now, try to imagine a creature you’ve never seen or heard of — harder, isn’t it?

There’s an age-old saying: “seeing is believing”. We’ve been conditioned to trust what we see and remain sceptical of the unseen. Yet, in the realm of psychology, particularly sensation and perception, our scientific evidence tells us the reverse is true: “believing is seeing”.

When our beliefs dictate what we see, it’s not merely a trick of the mind or a creation of our imagination. Our brain is like a masterful editor, cutting, pasting, and altering the raw footage of the world based on our beliefs, experiences, and expectations. As an example, let’s look at how gaming can change beliefs, which can then alter our perceptions of the world.

You’re nestled into your chair, controller in hand, eyes fixed on the screen. The sounds of the virtual world surround you, and for the next few hours, you’re not just playing a game — you’re in the game. The line between reality and the digital realm blurs. But did you know that these gaming experiences can reshape how you sense and perceive the real world?

Recent research has found that avid video gamers often demonstrate enhanced visual attention, improved hand-eye coordination, enhanced ability to distinguish shades of grey, and even altered depth perception (Bavelier et al., 2012). Perception is about more than just enhanced abilities, however. Gamers often report instances where, after prolonged play, the real world briefly takes on a game-like quality. A phenomenon termed game transfer phenomena manifests as gamers experience involuntary game-related perceptions, thoughts, and behaviours in their everyday lives; these can range from visual or auditory illusions, dreaming about the game, and involuntary movements mimicking game controls, to verbal outbursts related to the game. Of particular interest here is that some players might momentarily perceive the real world through the logic or physics of the game world. For instance, perceiving real-world structures as if they were constructed in a game environment, or expecting real-world objects to behave as they do in a game. Total immersion in their game has momentarily changed their created game-based beliefs, which then change perceptions of the world. Game elements can bleed into real-world cognition, showing just how profoundly our beliefs and experiences can shape perception (de Gortari, 2019; Ortiz de Gortari & Griffiths, 2014).

What we expect or believe can powerfully shape what we perceive. It’s not about disregarding the information our senses provide, but rather understanding that our brain has the final say in the narrative we construct from that information. This is why we must always examine the stories we tell ourselves and others because those stories can radically change how we — and others — perceive our world. In this chapter, we’ll dive deep into the science of our senses and discover how and why our perceptions are formed by our beliefs.