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The area of psychology associated with the functioning of sensory systems and how information from the external world is interpreted.

Psychologists have identified two general ways in which humans perceive their environment. One involves what is called "top-down" processing. In this mode, what is perceived depends on such factors as expectations and knowledge. That is, sensory events are interpreted based on a combination of what occurs in the external world and on existing thoughts, experience, and expectations. When a perception is based on what is expected, it is called a perceptual set, a predisposition to experience an event in a particular way. One example of such a predisposition involves