Editing Perception (section)

== Reality ==
In the case of visual perception, some people can see the percept shift in their [[mind's eye]].<ref name="Wettlaufer2003">{{Cite book|title=In the mind's eye : the visual impulse in Diderot, Baudelaire and Ruskin, pg. 257|last=Wettlaufer|first=Alexandra K.|publisher=Rodopi|year=2003|isbn=978-90-420-1035-2|location=Amsterdam}}</ref> Others, who are not [[Picture thinking|picture thinkers]], may not necessarily perceive the 'shape-shifting' as their world changes. This [[esemplastic]] nature has been demonstrated by an experiment that showed that [[ambiguous image]]s have multiple interpretations on the perceptual level.

The confusing ambiguity of perception is exploited in human technologies such as [[camouflage]] and biological [[mimicry]]. For example, the wings of [[European peacock|European peacock butterflies]] bear [[Eyespot (mimicry)|eyespots]] that birds respond to as though they were the eyes of a dangerous predator.

There is also evidence that the brain in some ways operates on a slight "delay" in order to allow nerve impulses from distant parts of the body to be integrated into simultaneous signals.<ref>[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104183551 The Secret Advantage Of Being Short] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090521081301/http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104183551|date=21 May 2009}} by Robert Krulwich. ''All Things Considered'', NPR. 18 May 2009.</ref>

Perception is one of the oldest fields in psychology. The oldest [[Quantitative research|quantitative]] laws in psychology are [[Weber-Fechner law|Weber's law]], which states that the smallest noticeable difference in stimulus intensity is proportional to the intensity of the reference; and [[Weber-Fechner law|Fechner's law]], which quantifies the relationship between the intensity of the physical stimulus and its perceptual counterpart (e.g., testing how much darker a computer screen can get before the viewer actually notices). The study of perception gave rise to the [[Gestalt psychology|Gestalt School of Psychology]], with an emphasis on a [[Holism|holistic]] approach.