Cognition does not affect perception: Evaluating the evidence for “top-down” effects

Abstract What determines what we see? In contrast to the traditional “modular” understanding of perception, according to which visual processing is encapsulated from higher-level cognition, a tidal wave of recent research alleges that states such as beliefs, desires, emotions, motivations, intentions, and linguistic representations exert direct, top-down influences on what we see. There is a growing consensus that such effects are ubiquitous, and that the distinction between perception and cognition may itself be unsustainable. We argue otherwise: None of these hundreds of studies – either individually or collectively – provides compelling evidence for true top-down effects on perception, or “cognitive…

• TM
  Taipei Medical University
• TM
  Taipei Medical University-Shuang Ho Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare