ABSTRACT
Perception and cognition are profoundly connected. Perception is a cognitive process in which our senses take in stimulus and our brain makes sense of it. Our brains have depended on strategies for perceiving distance and spatial depth. One cue we use is overlap: When one object is partially covered by another, we know that the one being covered must be farther away than the one doing the covering. Another cue is relative size: When we look at a set of objects we believe to be similar in size, those which appear to be smaller are perceived as farther away. These are examples of perspective: visual cues about size, location, and distance. The principle of symmetry says that once we have seen half a symmetric shape, our mind predicts the other half. An automatic recognition known as preattentive processing occurs unconsciously and at very high speed before the conscious mind is involved. Emotion enhances our ability to form vivid memories.
