Top-down processes and bottom-up processes are two approaches to understanding the process of perception. Some debate that perceptual processes are not straight forward, but depend on the perceiver's expectations and prior knowledge as well as the information presented in the stimulus itself. Processing involves the brain, the body, and emotions. In order to understand the top-down and bottom-up theories, we must understand perception and what it entails.
In order for us to receive information from our surroundings, we are equipped with sensory organs. Our eyes, ears, and nose are part of a system that takes in sensory inputs and transmits this information into the brain. The brain begins to process the material, analyzes it, and then draws conclusions. It is difficult to explain the process of how sense organs receive physical energy and turn it into a perceptual experience so we rely on the theories of top-down and bottom-up. These two theories raise theoretical questions as psychologists are torn between the extents to which perception relies completely on the information existing in the stimuli. Some debate that perceptual processes are not straight forward, but depend on the perceiver's expectations and prior knowledge as well as the information presented in the stimulus itself (McLeod, 2007). .
In order to understand the top-down and bottom-up theories, we must understand perception. Perception represents the immediate existence of what is happening all around us and along with sensation; it provides the raw material for cognition. Our perceptions are not just a simple registration of sensory stimuli (Kosslyn, 2006). Almost immediately our cognitive processes begin to function, producing the brain's interpretation of the outside world. Incoming stimuli are analyzed and then stored information directs these active processes. .
The pattern of light that is hitting the retina gives us visualization, but the retina alone cannot explain the sensation of smell, touch, taste, and hearing (Kosslyn, 2006).